Wired and wireless internet expansion projects in Stamford, Readsboro and Whitingham were announced by the Vermont Department of Public Service, Fairpoint and the southern Vermont Broadband Cooperative. While I wish that these expansions were all resulting from service providers seeing increased market opportunities to sell their products, in fact these projects are the result of sustained …
Author: Rep. Laura Sibilia
Six-term independent Vermont State Representative representing the citizens, students, towns and businesses of Dover, Jamaica, Somerset, Stratton and Wardsboro.
2017 Session perspectives
Happy late summer! I'm looking forward to seeing you all at a number of events in the coming weeks and months in the valley. An update on the end of the 2017 session: This year I served on a new committee focusing on Energy and Technology which was created by Speaker of the House Mitzi …
Vermont’s extended session: reality vs. hyperbole
The Legislature continues in session overtime as a major fight about fairness in our education system continues to unfold. Despite the dramatic headlines about the "assault" on employees and "stripping" collective bargaining away from school employees, the most common question I am getting back home is an incredulous "why is this such a big problem?". …
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Week ahead: paid family leave, ethics, property taxpayers and marijuana legalization
The coming week, presumably the final week of this year's legislative session, is loaded with significant bills that will likely generate heated debate on the floor of the House. My votes on these bills will be made after taking into consideration ALL of the language in the bill, as well as any amendments that may …
Session end in sight
As the final weeks of the 2017 Session wind down, legislative changes are moving quickly through both the House and Senate. Several items of interest to our area include changes to education legislation and increased tools for rural infrastructure and telecommunications. Two education bills most likely to impact our district are the Senate miscellaneous …
Budget, Taxes and Act 46 public hearing
"We always hear about the rights of democracy, but the major responsibility of it is participation" ~Wynton Marsalis April 1, 2017 Public Hearing on possible changes to Act 46: The Senate has passed S.122, which would make modifications to Act 153 and Act 46. The bills stated purpose is to provide increased flexibility for …
House to vote on S.79 ~ An act relating to freedom from compulsory collection of personal information
A month ago, Governor Phil Scott announced a series of steps his Administration is taking to protect the rights of all Vermonters, following executive orders from President Trump relating to immigration and refugee resettlement. Here is a link to read S.79, legislation which directly supports the Governor's actions and which has passed the Senate unanimously …
2017 Town Meeting update
Town Meeting Update March 2017 It’s an honor to represent you in our State Legislature and to communicate the activities of the General Assembly to you in this Town Meeting update. BUDGET: Governor Scott has provided a 7.93B budget to the Legislature which outlines his priorities for the state. Included were increases for early childhood education, …
2017 Windham-Bennington District Town Meeting Information
2017 Windham-Bennington District Town Meeting Information Times and locations for our districts Town Meeting and Australian Ballot items are below. Act 46 Australian ballot votes and other notable Town Meeting education articles are in green. On Monday night March 6th, I’ll be traveling to all of the Bennington County Towns, starting with Searsburg, then Stamford, …
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Vermont State Representative Laura Sibilia 