Vermont This Week Vermont Public

As the 2024 legislative session comes to a close, lawmakers are reflecting on a particularly contentious year.Panelists discuss which bills made it to the finish line — and discuss the announcement of long-serving Sen. Jane Kitchel's retirement.Plus, Vermont’s health insurers are eyeing steep rate increases for the year ahead.

Mitch Wertlieb makes his debut as the new permanent host of Vermont This Week, leading a panel of journalists in discussion of the issues animating the 2023-2024 legislative biennium's closing days.State lawmakers agree on safe injection site legislation, but Gov. Phil Scott has indicated he plans a veto.Vermont's biggest energy bill of the session, which would force utilities to source all of their power from renewable resources by 2035, is headed to the governor’s desk.Plus, panelists provide updates on pro-Palestinian encampments on Vermont campuses.

This week in the legislature saw heated words and a rare no vote from Senate lawmakers on Vermont's education secretary nominee Zoie Saunders.Plus, Howard Dean, Vermont's longest-serving governor, is making rumblings of a potential run at his old job. And panelists take a deeper look at Vermont students camping out on campus to protest the war in Gaza.

In Montpelier, negotiations are finalizing on double-digit property tax increases."I worry that if this year doesn't spark real change, I'm not sure what will," said Craig Bolio, State's Tax Commissioner. At the statehouse, polarizing pick for Education Secretary Zoie Saunders defends her record at her confirmation hearing.Plus, protections to keep sexual assault victims from being blamed for their assaults.

After lawmakers advanced the annual bill used to set property tax rates, rhetoric between lawmakers and Gov. Phil Scott is escalating.“I don’t know what the plan B would be. If they’re not willing to do anything right now, then they are part of the problem and are accepting this 20% increase, which I’m not accepting,” Gov. Phil Scott said this week.The fight over school budgets is also coming to a head, as some communities around the state enter their second or third rounds of votes.Plus, panelists discuss why state officials are eyeing Addison County as the site of a new treatment facility for troubled youth.

With Monday’s much anticipated total solar eclipse behind us, state leaders are reflecting on the momentous occasion.Plus, Dick Mazza, the longest-serving member of the Vermont Senate, has resigned from his post after serving for more than 40 years.And Zoie Saunders, Gov. Phil Scott's nominee for Secretary of Education, faces pushback. Top local journalists discuss these stories and more on the latest Vermont This Week.