Vermont
2026 Vermont Legislative Guide – VTDigger
This year’s legislative session will help decide what the future of Vermont’s schools will look like under Act 73 and how the state plans to navigate federal funding cuts. Lawmakers will also be weighing housing, climate, health care and other issues that affect daily life across the state.
Use this guide to keep up with the people, bills and budget decisions shaping Vermont. You’ll find tools to help you stay informed and understand what’s happening, along with our latest reporting from the Statehouse.
Our Legislative Guide is free to use. If you value this kind of public‑service reporting, please consider supporting VTDigger.
This week at the Statehouse
During the session, our Final Reading newsletter rounds up what’s happening under the Golden Dome. Here’s what’s on deck this week:
- 1/6 – the Legislature kicks off
- 1/7 – Gov. Phil Scott expected to deliver State of the State address
- 1/9 – First week in the books
Sign up for our free Statehouse newsletter. Delivered Tuesday through Friday evenings.
What we’re watching in 2026
Charting the future of Vermont’s public schools and responding to the actions of President Donald Trump’s administration could define the 2026 legislative session.
Education reform and Act 73
Vermont’s new education reform law, Act 73, sets in motion a multi-year effort to restructure how the state funds and governs its public schools.
Why it matters: Changes to school funding and governance could affect your tax bill, the future of small schools and the services available to students in your community.
Catch up on the latest:
Federal funding cuts and Vermont’s budget
Almost every day, decisions out of Washington D.C. impact programs here in Vermont. Our job is to sort through the noise.
Why it matters: As a small state, Vermont relies disproportionately on federal funding. Social services like food, heating and rental assistance rely on money from Washington. This year, lawmakers will need to make tough choices on what the state can afford to pay for and can’t afford to lose.
Catch up on the latest:
Bill tracker
Track this year’s key policy themes as they move through the Legislature. Each category highlights a small set of bills our newsroom is watching closely. You can browse the bills below using the arrow buttons or search by name or topic. This tool will be regularly updated throughout the session.
Look up your legislators
Use the maps below to find the legislators in your senate and house districts. Each name clicks through to their contact information on the State of Vermont website. Reaching out with questions or input is one of the most direct ways to make your voice heard and engage in the legislative process.
Most recent legislative coverage
“We’re coming back to the basic hierarchy of needs here,” said Rep. Theresa Wood, who chairs the House Committee on Human Services.
The online educational materials for students in grades 3-12 were created by members of the four groups recognized as Abenaki by Vermont’s state government.
Zoie Saunders, in an interview with VTDigger, said that it was “really of paramount importance that we stay the course” with lawmakers due to address a critical part of reform envisioned in Act 73 this upcoming session.
Lawmakers’ ethics and financial disclosures
This tool includes state legislators’ disclosures as they were submitted to the Legislature at the beginning of the 2025-2026 legislative session. Each is a snapshot of what occupations, volunteer roles and other involvements legislators hold outside of the Legislature. VTDigger plans to update this tool with updated information as it becomes available.
Use the search bar below to look for a particular legislator or browse through the pages with the arrow key. The table contains pdf links to each legislators’ disclosure forms, along with a link to their profile page on the legislative website to learn more about the individual.
Senate:
House:
Become a member
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If you think you’ve caught an error or are having issues accessing the information on this page, please contact us at admin@vtdigger.org.
Volunteers from across the region gathered at the Canadian Club in Barre to pack 30,000 meals for families facing food insecurity, according to a community announcement.
The Jan. 10 event, organized by Vermont Lions Clubs, brought together club members and volunteers to assemble meals for local food shelves and community partners, according to the announcement.
The project has been running in Vermont for nine years, starting with 10,000 meals in 2017.
Carol Greene, organizer for Vermont Lions, said the project reflects a longstanding commitment to hunger relief from the organization.
Volunteers worked in assembly-line fashion, scooping, weighing, sealing and boxing meals. Teams cheered each other on and paused to recognize milestones.
The event included volunteers from Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut, who came to learn how to bring the meal-pack program to their own communities.
“This is what Lions do best: serve together and multiply impact,” according to the announcement.
This story was created by reporter Beth McDermott, bmcdermott1@usatodayco.com, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.
Vermont
New federal funds to help Vermont keep up with rapid changes to child care and Pre-K – VTDigger
Theo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.
Vermont has received a nearly $13 million federal grant to strengthen its child care and pre-Kindergarten programs, among other early childhood services, officials said Monday.
The grant comes from the Preschool Development Grant Birth Through Five program in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which has supported parts of Vermont’s early childhood landscape for a decade, advocates said. This year’s award is the largest one-time amount the state has received.
READ MORE
It’s a separate award from the regular $28 million in funding that Vermont receives via the federal Child Care and Development Fund, monies President Donald Trump’s administration sought to withhold from five Democratic-led states this month. Vermont Department for Children and Families Deputy Commissioner Janet McLaughlin said Monday that the state has not received such warnings, though a memo last week increased her team’s reporting requirements when accessing the funds.
Both the application process and the birth-through-five grant itself were much more compressed than usual, according to Morgan Crossman, the executive director of the childhood policy nonprofit Building Bright Futures.
“Generally, these grants take three months to write,” she said. “We wrote it in six days.”
A 12-month clock for the funding means that the state will be without the standard window for planning and engaging contractors, Crossman added. Nonetheless, she called the funding “critical” in a year where state lawmakers face especially tough budgeting decisions.
This new allocation will help Vermont build child care capacity, improve data management and facilitate cooperation between state agencies, advocates, and local providers, according to McLaughlin.
“We’re thrilled to have these resources right now,” said McLaughlin, adding that her team was working with “urgency and focus” to “draw down every dollar that we can.”
The grant comes in a period of fast change for Vermont’s child care ecosystem. The 2023 passage of Act 76 allowed thousands of kids to newly enroll in the state’s expanded child care tuition assistance program, and over 100 new care providers have launched statewide.
But aside from these central investments, McLaughlin said there was a “long list of projects” that could continue to expand and improve the state’s care offerings for young children and families.
Two priorities will be ensuring that child care providers have the business planning assistance necessary to survive or expand, and developing a workforce in Vermont that keeps pace with the industry’s expansion, McLaughlin said.
The state’s focus on workforce will include improvements to data and technology. The grant will allow the state to update its fingerprint-supported background-check system, delays in which have caused years of headaches for child care providers. The upgrades should “dramatically reduce the turnaround times” for checks, McLaughlin said.
Crossman said sharing information effectively between agencies and providers improves the experience of individual families, and also allows her team to do its job monitoring progress in areas like child care coverage, literacy and use of public aid programs. Vermont’s Early Childhood Data and Policy Center, a division of Crossman’s organization, is tasked with making data-based childhood policy recommendations to lawmakers based on such information.
“We’re making sure that we’re centralizing data and making it publicly available,” Crossman said.
Powerball, Mega Millions jackpots: What to know in case you win
Here’s what to know in case you win the Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
The Vermont Lottery offers several draw games for those willing to make a bet to win big.
Those who want to play can enter the MegaBucks and Lucky for Life games as well as the national Powerball and Mega Millions games. Vermont also partners with New Hampshire and Maine for the Tri-State Lottery, which includes the Mega Bucks, Gimme 5 as well as the Pick 3 and Pick 4.
Drawings are held at regular days and times, check the end of this story to see the schedule. Here’s a look at Jan. 12, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from Jan. 12 drawing
05-27-45-56-59, Powerball: 04, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Gimme 5 numbers from Jan. 12 drawing
07-26-27-34-36
Check Gimme 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lucky For Life VT numbers from Jan. 12 drawing
21-23-24-28-39, Lucky Ball: 01
Check Lucky For Life VT payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from Jan. 12 drawing
Day: 7-3-8
Evening: 6-6-6
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from Jan. 12 drawing
Day: 8-6-8-3
Evening: 4-9-0-6
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Megabucks Plus numbers from Jan. 12 drawing
02-19-23-32-33, Megaball: 04
Check Megabucks Plus payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
For Vermont Lottery prizes up to $499, winners can claim their prize at any authorized Vermont Lottery retailer or at the Vermont Lottery Headquarters by presenting the signed winning ticket for validation. Prizes between $500 and $5,000 can be claimed at any M&T Bank location in Vermont during the Vermont Lottery Office’s business hours, which are 8a.m.-4p.m. Monday through Friday, except state holidays.
For prizes over $5,000, claims must be made in person at the Vermont Lottery headquarters. In addition to signing your ticket, you will need to bring a government-issued photo ID, and a completed claim form.
All prize claims must be submitted within one year of the drawing date. For more information on prize claims or to download a Vermont Lottery Claim Form, visit the Vermont Lottery’s FAQ page or contact their customer service line at (802) 479-5686.
Vermont Lottery Headquarters
1311 US Route 302, Suite 100
Barre, VT
05641
When are the Vermont Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 11 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Gimme 5: 6:55 p.m. Monday through Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 10:38 p.m. daily.
- Pick 3 Day: 1:10 p.m. daily.
- Pick 4 Day: 1:10 p.m. daily.
- Pick 3 Evening: 6:55 p.m. daily.
- Pick 4 Evening: 6:55 p.m. daily.
- Megabucks: 7:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
What is Vermont Lottery Second Chance?
Vermont’s 2nd Chance lottery lets players enter eligible non-winning instant scratch tickets into a drawing to win cash and/or other prizes. Players must register through the state’s official Lottery website or app. The drawings are held quarterly or are part of an additional promotion, and are done at Pollard Banknote Limited in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Vermont editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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