| |  | 2025 Legislative Agenda Status Update – Early Childhood Issues in the State House The ’25 Legislative Session has passed another critical milestone, with the House FY26 Budget coming out of the House Appropriations Committee and both chambers now very busy considering all the bills that made the annual “crossover” deadline. This newsletter provides a brief update on the status of the issues on the Alliance’s 2025 Legislative Agenda. We’re happy to report that many continue to move forward through the legislative process. Lead organizations for each issue continue to work on legislative strategy and support advocacy in the State House. You can learn more about the issues, read the full descriptions of their advocacy asks, and find ways to connect with these organizations on the Alliance’s Legislative Agenda page. If you would like to learn more about the status of any of these issues, please sign up to attend our Issue Spotlight session this coming Monday, March 31 at 3:30 pm. | | | | | | | The Governor’s FY26 Recommended Budget provided $1.3 million in base funding for Vermont 211, which is $332,000 less than the FY25 state funding that allowed Vermonters to access a staffed information and referral service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The House Human Services Committee recommended adding an additional $332,000 in base funding for Vermont 211. The FY26 Budget passed by House Appropriations includes the additional funding necessary for 24/7 operations, using a combination of General Fund and Global Commitment (Medicaid) funding. Advocates are supportive of this strategy, and are shifting their attention to the Senate’s budget writing process. Lead Organization: United Ways of Vermont | | | | | The Governor’s Recommended FY26 Budget contained no funding increase for CIS rates. The House Human Services Committee recommended that the CIS per member/per month rate be increased from $650 to $675, which would require an additional appropriation of $450,000. Unfortunately, that increase was not included in the FY26 Budget passed by the House Appropriations Committee. Advocacy on this issue will continue in the Senate. Lead Organization: VT Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance | | | | | This week advocates celebrated Senate passage of S.53, which creates a voluntary certification process for community-based doulas and enables future Medicaid reimbursement for these services. The bill would allow Medicaid coverage for service delivery to start in July 2026. Advocacy now moves to the House, where the House Government Operations and Health Care Committees are expected to take up the bill in the coming weeks. Both have been supportive of the proposal in the past. Lead Organization: Doula Association of Vermont | | | | | The House Human Services Committee Budget recommendation strongly supported the Empty Arms request for $40,000 in one-time funds to support the organization’s work to offer peer support programs. The House Appropriations Committee followed the recommendation and included this funding in their FY26 Budget. Advocates are now contacting Senators encouraging them to follow the lead of the House and include the funding in their FY26 Budget. Lead Organization: Empty Arms Vermont | | | | | The Governor’s Recommended FY26 Budget contained no funding increase for BBF. The House Human Services Committee supported BBF’s request for an additional $322,445 in base funding in FY26 to support monitoring, accountability, technical assistance, building state and legislative capacity, and advisement. Unfortunately, that increase was not included in the FY26 Budget passed by the House Appropriations Committee. Advocacy supporting the proposal will now shift to the Senate. Lead Organization: Building Bright Futures | | | | | The House Human Services Committee FY26 Budget recommendations did not include the PCCN request to allocate $500,000 of the State’s Tobacco Settlement funds to build the capacity and reach of the 15 PCCs to provide screening, cessation program referrals, education, and prevention activities to support parents to stop smoking and vaping and maintain smoke-free homes. Funding was not included in the House’s FY26 Budget. The Network is turning their advocacy focus to the Senate as they continue pursuing this request. Lead Organization: Vermont Parent Child Center Network | | | | | The FY26 Budget approved by the House Appropriations Committee accepted most of the Governor’s proposal to use funds available because of higher-than-forecasted revenues and projected lower CCFAP utilization rates for other budget needs, rather than investing in CCFAP and related programming. However, the House Appropriations Committee did follow the recommendation of the House Human Services Committee and the House FY26 Budget uses some of these funds to increase CCFAP rates for infants and toddlers by 4.5%. Discussions about these proposals now shift to the Senate, where advocacy is ongoing. Meanwhile the Senate has begun their consideration of S. 119, a bill to create a license to practice for the early childhood education profession. Hearings on the bill are underway in the Senate Government Operations Committee this week, with Committee discussion likely to continue into next week. Advocates are strongly supporting the bill. Lead Organizations: Let’s Grow Kids (LGK) and Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children (VTAEYC) | | | | | The Governor’s Recommended FY26 Budget unfortunately built in a forecasted reduction in Reach Up caseload and used the resulting “savings” in other areas of his budget. The House Human Services Committee recommended utilizing some of those funds to make a very modest decrease in the “ratable reduction”. Unfortunately, that proposal was not included in the FY26 Budget passed by the House Appropriations Committee. Advocacy on this issue will continue in the Senate. Lead Organization: Voices for Vermont’s Children for the Vermont Reach Up Coalition | | | | | As of today, the fate of the FY25 Budget Adjustment Act (BAA) is still unknown. The initial version of the bill passed by the Legislature included funding for a number of key housing initiatives, but was vetoed. That funding has been taken out of a new BAA bill, in an attempt to secure the Governor’s support for the Legislature’s proposal to extend access to GA emergency housing for all those currently being housed through June 30. The Governor and Administration oppose the extension, leading to the Governor’s veto. Negotiations are continuing. Meanwhile, the FY26 Budget passed by the House Appropriations Committee includes a wide variety of investments in affordable and emergency housing and services. The House Budget would essentially level-fund current emergency housing programs, and maintain the current room and day limits. These limits cause harm to households who are left with no other shelter options, and will continue to over-tax the community-based service providers that are working to support them. Despite the current lack of affordable housing options, the House Budget makes only modest increases to housing development investments. Advocates will continue to press for additional investments in the Senate Budget. Today the House Appropriations Committee is also expected to pass H. 91, a bill passed last week by the House Human Services Committee (see latest bill draft here). House passage of the bill is expected next week. The bill creates a new emergency shelter program that would start in FY27, using the five Community Action Agencies in the state as regional leads on coordinating shelter and service delivery. Advocates have been heavily engaged in the bill drafting process, and generally support the bill. Advocacy will continue as the bill moves over the Senate in the coming days. Lead Organization: Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont | | | | | The House Appropriations Committee’s FY26 Budget includes the Governor’s proposals to increase the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for filers not claiming children and to expand the state Child Tax Credit (CTC), currently for children under six, to those under seven. Other proposals to extend anti-poverty tax credits have been discussed in the House Ways and Means Committee. Advocates continue to support these and others proposals to expand the EITC and the CTC. Lead Organization: Public Assets Institute on behalf of the Vermont Anti-Poverty Tax Credit Coalition | | | | | The Fair Share for Vermont Campaign continues to reach out to legislators, advocating for the proposal to establish a new tax bracket on annual personal income over $500,000. This tax increase would generate over $74 million annually in state revenue to improve public goods and services. Discussions with both of the key committees of jurisdiction – the House Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee – continue on this and other possible ways to increase state revenue, as legislators consider possible impacts to state programs that would result from federal spending and tax cuts being discussed in Congress. Lead Organization: Fund Vermont’s Future Campaign | | | |  | Alliance ‘25 Legislative Agenda Issue Spotlight – Legislative Session Updates – 3/31 The Alliance’s series of virtual Issue Spotlights, which focus on issues from the Alliance’s 2025 Legislative Agenda, continues next week. The next session will be held Monday, March 31, from 3:30 to 4:15 pm, and will provide updates on the status of all of the issues on the Alliance’s ’25 Legislative Agenda. Led by Matt Levin, the Executive Director of the Alliance, this session is a great opportunity to learn more about the issues on our ’25 Legislative Agenda, where they stand in the Legislature, and how to get involved. | | | | | | | |  | | | | | The Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance is a statewide coalition formed in 2000 of early childhood professionals, parents, organizations, businesses, and strategic partners committed to improving public policies that impact young children between birth and age eight in the areas of health, safety, food security, economic security, and early care and education. The Alliance crafts an annual Legislative Agenda in partnership with early childhood organizations, provides year-round advocacy support, and facilitates meaningful interactions with policymakers at key times during the decision making process. | | | | 7 School Street | Montpelier , Vermont 05602 vecaa.org The Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance is a program of the Vermont Community Loan Fund. | | | | | | | | | |
