| | Register for our upcoming Issue Spotlight on Monday, March 10, from 3:30 to 4:30 pm to hear status updates on the Alliance’s ’25 Legislative Agenda as the Legislature passes the half-way point of their annual session. More information below. | | | | | |  | 2025 Legislative Agenda Status Update – Early Childhood Issues in the State House With the Town Meeting break here, legislators are approaching the half-way point of the 2025 legislative session. Many issues on the Alliance’s 2025 Legislative Agenda are moving through the legislative process. House policy committees have sent their FY26 Budget letters to the House Appropriations Committee, with recommendations for spending to be included in the House budget. The Committee is currently considering the requests and recommendations, and needs to finalize their FY26 Budget proposal by Friday, March 21. Lead organizations continue to work on legislative strategy, develop talking points, and support advocates 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. We are looking forward to seeing many of you next week at ECDL! Registration is currently full, but if you have any questions about the Day please get in touch with Matt Levin, Alliance Executive Director, at matt@vecaa.org. | | | | | The Governor’s Recommended FY26 Budget contained no funding increase for BBF. The House Human Services Committee has supported the Building Bright Futures funding request for an additional $322,445 in base funding in FY26 to support monitoring, accountability, technical assistance/building state and legislative capacity, and advisement in their Budget recommendations memo to the House Appropriations Committee. Lead Organization: Building Bright Futures | | | | | The revenue this year from the Child Care Contribution (the official name for the new payroll tax which was created by Act 76) is projected to be $19 million higher than original estimates. LGK and VTAEYC are asking lawmakers to use this funding to further expand child care capacity, make child care more affordable, and grow our early childhood educator workforce. The Governor’s FY26 Recommended Budget proposes instead to use that additional revenue to offset costs in other parts of the state budget, resulting in a permanent $19 million reduction to the base General Fund appropriation for child care. Both the House Human Services and House Commerce and Economic Development Committees’ FY26 Budget memos to the House Appropriations Committee recommend rejecting the Governor’s proposed reduction to base child care funding. Human Services is also recommending an increase in reimbursement rates for infants and toddlers receiving tuition assistance through CCFAP, as well as support for workforce development programs. The Vermont Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) has recommended that the Legislature establish early childhood education as a profession with a license to practice. OPR’s recommendations are very closely aligned with those developed by Vermont’s early childhood educators through the consensus-based Advancing Early Childhood Education as a Profession initiative. Legislators have taken OPR’s recommendations and introduced them as a bill, H.182. A Senate bill is expected to be introduced soon. Lead Organizations: Let’s Grow Kids (LGK) and Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children (VTAEYC) | | | | | Advocacy continues in support of additional support and investments in the CIS system. Advocates have shared a number of issues with legislators, including the challenges of the current 80/20 Medicaid/General Fund funding percentage and the need for more financial support overall. The focus is currently on securing funding to increase the monthly rates. The Governor’s Recommended FY26 Budget contained no funding increase for CIS rates. The House Human Services Committee has included a recommendation to increase the CIS per member/per month rate from $650 to $675, which would require an additional appropriation of $450,000, in their Budget recommendations memo to the House Appropriations Committee. Lead Organization: VT Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance | | | | | 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. They are working to urge members of the committees responsible for raising revenues – the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee – to be open to raising revenue to respond to the state’s budgeting challenges. Lead Organization: Fund Vermont’s Future Campaign | | | | | The Governor's FY25 Recommended Budget Adjustment (BAA) did not include a proposal to increase expenditures to support the state’s emergency housing programs, which will serve significantly fewer households on April 1 unless changes are made. The Legislature’s FY25 BAA bill does include funding to allow for the suspension to continue through the end of the fiscal year (June 30) thereby keeping many vulnerable Vermonters sheltered. At this time, it is unclear if the Governor will veto the BAA. The House Human Services Committee is currently drafting a bill (H. 91) to create a new emergency shelter program, starting in FY27. Meanwhile the Committee is also recommending to the House Appropriations Committee that their FY26 Budget include significant investments in emergency shelter, services, and the development of affordable housing. Lead Organization: Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont | | | | | The Senate Government Operations Committee has approved legislation, S.53, that would create a voluntary certification process for community-based doulas and enable future Medicaid reimbursement for these services. The Senate Health and Welfare Committee will review the bill next. The full Senate is expected to vote on the bill in the coming days. The House Government Operations Committee has had preliminary discussions about this issue, and is awaiting the completion of Senate action on S. 53 before they take up the issue. The House Health Care Committee will follow. Lead Organization: Doula Association of Vermont | | | | | The House Human Services Committee 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 Parent Child Centers to provide screening, cessation program referrals, education, and prevention activities to support parents to stop smoking and vaping and maintain smoke-free homes. The Network is turning their advocacy focus to the Senate as they continue pursuing this request. Lead Organization: Vermont Parent Child Center Network | | | | | The House Human Services Committee has indicated their strong support for the Empty Arms request of $40,000 in one-time funds in their Budget recommendations memo to the House Appropriations Committee. Lead Organization: Empty Arms Vermont | | | | | The Governor’s Recommended FY26 Budget unfortunately built in a forecasted reduction in Reach Up caseload and would use the resulting “savings” in other areas of his budget. The House Human Services Committee instead has suggested utilizing those funds to fund a very modest decrease in the “ratable reduction” in their Budget recommendations memo to the House Appropriations Committee. The decrease in the reduction would result in a very small, but still meaningful, benefit increase for the families and children that are Reach Up recipients. Lead Organization: Voices for Vermont’s Children for the Vermont Reach Up Coalition | | | | | The Governor’s FY26 Recommended Budget provides $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 recommends adding an additional $332,000 in base funding for Vermont 211 in the House FY26 Budget in their Budget recommendations memo to the House Appropriations Committee. Lead Organization: United Ways of Vermont | | | | | Both the Governor and lawmakers have taken steps toward improving fully refundable anti-poverty tax credits. H. 90 was introduced in the House Ways and Means Committee with bipartisan backing, and would support the Coalition’s proposal. The Governor’s FY26 Recommended Budget and H.135, also introduced in House Ways and Means, include part of this request – increasing the EITC for filers not claiming children. The Governor’s Budget and H.135 also propose to expand the state Child Tax Credit, currently for children under six, to those under seven. Lead Organization: Public Assets Institute on behalf of the Vermont Anti-Poverty Tax Credit Coalition | | | |  | Alliance ‘25 Legislative Agenda Issue Spotlight – Mid-Session/ECDL Prep Update – 3/10 The Alliance’s series of virtual Issue Spotlights, which focus on issues from the Alliance’s 2025 Legislative Agenda, continues in March. The next session will be held Monday, March 10, from 3:30 to 4:30 pm, and will provide updates on the status of the issues on the Alliance’s ’25 Legislative Agenda as the Legislature passes the half-way point of their annual session. Led by Matt Levin, the Executive Director of the Alliance, this session is a great opportunity to learn more about all of the issues on our ’25 Legislative Agenda before Early Childhood Day at the Legislature, where they stand in the Legislature, and how to get involved. Register on Zoom to receive the meeting link. | | | | | |  | | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | | |
