Rep. Sibilia: September 5th 2025 Update

Friends and Neighbors,

I hope you’re finding a little time to enjoy these last summer days. Between back-to-school, harvest season, and everything else that keeps us busy in Vermont, I know Fall can feel hectic.

A quick update on some local events: My Dover office hours are canceled this month, Saturday, September 6, due to a death in our family. Thank you for understanding. Wardsboro office hours will still take place on Thursday, September 18, from 6 to 7 pm at the Library, and Dover hours will return on Saturday, October 4, from 11 to noon at the Dover Free Library.

There are also a couple of community events to check out. On Saturday, September 6, the East Dover Volunteer Fire Department is holding its open house from 11 to 3 with music, food, and kids’ activities. And on Sunday, October 5, Senator Wendy Harrison and I are hosting a free screening of Can’t Look Away at 4 pm at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro. The film looks at the risks kids face on social media, including fentanyl sales on Snapchat. If you’d like to help bring another screening to the Deerfield Valley or West River Valley, let me know.

There are some important public comment items below, Please stay in touch, you can reach me anytime at lsibilia@leg.state.vt.us or (802) 384-0233.

Current Use Forestland Standards: Public Comment Open

The Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation is updating standards for forestland enrolled in Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal (Current Use) program. Changes reflect new policies: reserve forestland, sugarbush standards, e-signatures, and extensive input from consulting foresters.

Comments are due by October 17, 2025. Email Keith Thompson at keith.thompson@vermont.gov with the subject “UVA Draft Standards Input.”
Learn more here.

Act 250 Housing Exemption and Tier 3 (Automatic Act 250) Draft Maps

Temporary exemptions in Act 181 (2024) allow some housing projects to proceed outside Act 250 until new tiered land use maps take effect in 2026. These exemptions encourage homes in walkable, village-center areas and discourage siting homes in working lands and natural resources. Their are no exemptions in our district.

The Land Use Review Board has now released a draft Tier 3 map, identifying possible resource areas (rare natural communities, habitat connectors, headwaters) plus road buffers and conserved lands.

Tiering will shape where and how projects move through Act 250. For our rural towns, accuracy is critical. The Land Use Review Board has started rulemaking on Tier 3 “resource areas” as part of Act 181. The first draft map uses existing Agency of Natural Resources data to identify potential Tier 3 areas like very rare/rare natural communities, statewide habitat connectors, and headwater stream areas. It also shows reference layers such as the Road Rule buffer (800 and 2000 feet), conserved lands, and basemap layers. This is a draft for discussion, not a final map. Final boundaries will be set by the Board after public input.

Help me help you: Check the map for the Windham-2 district (Dover, Jamaica, Wardsboro, Stratton, or Somerset.) If something looks wrong, note the location (E911 address or parcel ID) and what you know. I’ll make sure your feedback is entered in the rulemaking docket. If you are not in the Windham-2 District, I encourage you to reach out to your legislator with the same information. View the draft map

Pink & Blue shading show temporary Act 250 exemption areas (none) Windham-2

Healthcare Costs

This week the Governor talked about the Green Mountain Care Board’s insurance rate decisions and the hospital budgets now under review. He’s right that Vermonters are struggling with unaffordable healthcare, and past fixes haven’t always delivered. I would also note that cutting government without building the tools communities need has often left us short of solutions to some of our largest challenges. Both the Legislature and the Administration have to do better.

One change that seems to be helping In June, lawmakers and the Governor capped what hospitals can charge insurers for outpatient prescription drugs at 120% of the Average Sales Price. That single step cut proposed 2026 premium hikes almost in half:

Blue Cross VT individual plans +9.6% (down from +23.5% requested)
MVP +1.3% (down from +6.2%)

It’s the first time in decades we’ve seen a policy truly slow premium growth. A second law sets up “reference-based pricing,” tying hospital reimbursement to Medicare rates. That won’t start until 2027 at the earliest, but other states have shown it can lower costs while keeping hospitals viable. Read the Seven Days article: Ways and Means: Legislation, STAT!

Education

There is a lot of attention right now on how Vermont pays for and governs its schools. Last week I shared that the House will be revisiting both education finance and district maps. Since then, two important developments have arisen.

First, under Act 73 the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office has issued a request for proposals to bring in independent experts to look at our current finance system and propose refinements to a new “foundation formula” for funding schools. That review will update student weights, consider how to count career and technical education, and recalculate the base cost of an adequate education. A final report is due by December 1, 2026 and will directly shape what the next system looks like. More information here.

Second, a recent Seven Days story highlighted how some districts are beginning to work together voluntarily on governance and services. These local efforts will matter as the Legislature weighs maps and finance changes, and it’s important for communities to stay engaged as proposals take shape.

Federal Clean-Energy Credits

The federal “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” shortened deadlines for several tax credits, but savings are still available:

EV tax credits: Up to $7,500 for qualifying new EVs (through Sep 30, 2025).
Residential solar/storage/geothermal: 30% credit if in service by Dec 31, 2025.
Home efficiency upgrades: Insulation, windows, efficient appliances (through Dec 31, 2025).
Elective/Direct Pay lets towns, schools, and nonprofits receive credit value as cash.

See the full timeline Elective Pay guide If you need help sorting options or stacking state and federal programs, reach out and I’ll connect you with the right people.

Aging in Southern Vermont

Senior Solutions is helping older Vermonters age where they choose, with connection and support. Find services / Donate / Volunteer A few highlights from their latest outreach:

Fundraiser: Dancing Through the Decades, Thursday, Oct 24, 6–10 pm, The Barn at Fox Run, Ludlow. Heavy hors d’oeuvres, music by Brandy Band, first Outstanding Aging Advocate award.
Tickets: $125 single / $200 couple. → [Get tickets]
Medicare Open Enrollment starts Oct 15. Presentations and 1:1 help are available.
Helpline: 802-8th-2669
Health fairs: Brattleboro (Oct 4, BUHS) and Deerfield Valley (Oct 17).
Caregiver support: Free online training, memory cafés, help with 3SquaresVT, Fuel Assistance, community meals.

Climate Change in the U.S. and Vermont

ProPublica’s summary of Rhodium Group projections (2040–2060, high-emissions scenario) shows big shifts in where it’s comfortable to live and farm in the U.S.hotter, more humid conditions in the South and Midwest, bigger wildfires in the West, rising seas on the coasts, and crop losses in the Plains. Together, these risks could drive migration north. These projections are national, but they highlight why Vermont must prepare for both climate impacts and possible in-migration. Many Vermont counties score on the lower end of climate risk. We won’t face sea-level rise or western-style wildfires, and our crop losses are expected to be less severe. But we are already dealing with heavier floods, stressed roads and culverts, and hotter summers.

Americans for Prosperity in Southern Vermont

Some of you have asked about the postcard mailers and ads from Americans for Prosperity, and recently they have announced public events here in southern Vermont. AFP is not a Vermont-based organization. It is part of a national network funded by fossil fuel interests, with a long record of opposing renewable energy, climate science, and consumer protections in many states. Earlier this year, the Vermont Attorney General fined AFP for failing to follow lobbying disclosure rules.

They’ve already spent tens of thousands here trying to undo our energy laws. Their message is wrapped in the word “affordability,” but the truth is their policies would leave us more tied to volatile fossil fuel markets and higher costs over the long run. You can read more about their Vermont campaign in this VTDigger investigation.

Vermonters deserve better than out of state scare tactics designed to mislead. I will keep fact-checking their claims, I will always share the primary sources so you can judge for yourself, and I will keep fighting for policies that lower costs and protect consumers while keeping decisions in Vermont hands.

If you get a mailer or attend one of their events and something doesn’t add up, please send it to me.

Please stay in touch,

Laura

Rep. Laura Sibilia
Dover, Jamaica, Somerset, Stratton & Wardsboro
lsibilia@leg.state.vt.us | (802) 384-0233
Office hours: Wardsboro (3rd Thursday, 6–7 pm) | Dover (1st Saturday, 11–noon)