We’re outta here

That’s all, folks.

The Vermont Legislature adjourned for the year, and for the 2025-26 biennium, Friday night. Senators finished up their work just before 6 p.m., and the House followed suit two hours later. I’m not complaining about the time. I was happy, in fact, to be on the road home with a sliver of daylight left.

The House took longer to finish in part because its adjournment got tangled up in a bill, ultimately doomed, that as originally proposed would have barred federal officers such as ICE agents from wearing masks.

The bill, S.208, emerged from a joint House and Senate conference committee Thursday. In order for the latest version of the legislation to be taken up on the floor so soon after, though, the House needed to suspend its rules. Such a procedural move needs three-quarters approval. And while rules suspensions are common late in the session, when it came to taking up S.208 “for immediate consideration,” that was not the case.

House lawmakers voted 81-51 in favor of expediting the bill’s timeline, falling 18 short of the 99 needed to meet the threshold to cast aside the chamber’s rules.

After that, the House took up and passed, with no debate, this year’s budget bill, H.951. Then, House Speaker Jill Krowinski, in her last floor session holding the gavel, brought up the last thing lawmakers had to approve for the year: a resolution formally dictating the terms of adjournment.

But some lawmakers weren’t ready to be done with S.208. Rep. Brian Cina, P/D-Burlington, stood and asked for a roll call vote on the adjournment resolution itself, “due to the important impact of S.208 on our open democracy.” 

His comments mirrored those of several senators earlier in the night who had lamented on the chamber floor how the bill was falling by the wayside. The Senate also adjourned without taking any floor action on the compromise version of S.208.

Ultimately, 15 other House members joined Cina voting against the adjournment resolution in a vote of 114-16. After it was approved, the rest of the formalities of adjournment played out, including a requisite speech from Gov. Phil Scott.

“I’m going to try and make this brief,” the governor said at the outset of his remarks. “I guarantee it’ll take less time than it did to roll call the adjournment address.”

Beyond debate over S.208, adjournment in both chambers was marked by emotional farewell remarks from Krowinski, D-Burlington, and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, both of whom aren’t seeking reelection.

Krowinski said her favorite memories from her 14 years in the House have been “the quieter moments most Vermonters never witness,” such as “members helping one another through difficult days, offering support regardless of politics and members coming together to support a colleague through a rough time.”

Baruth at times teared up as he recounted his 16 years in the Senate. And the English professor closed his speech with a nod to some of his favorite literature.

“It will hurt not to find my seat when the bell rings next session,” Baruth said. “But even Frodo Baggins — and you know that ‘The Lord of the Rings’ means everything to me — even Frodo Baggins knew when it was time to follow Bilbo to the Grey Havens.”

OK, our turn now

VTDigger reporters fanned out this session to bring you the news from Montpelier. Clockwise from top left, Shaun Robinson, Ethan Weinstein, Charlotte Oliver and Corey McDonald. File photos by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

Before we go, some thanks are in order. 

Putting together an originally-reported newsletter every day of the session — on top of the traditional news stories our readers expect — is no easy task. While you’re used to seeing my byline, and that of our fearless Statehouse Bureau Chief, Ethan Weinstein, there are a host of others who make this work possible. 

Several other VTDigger reporters took the lead on issues of Final Reading this year, including Charlotte Oliver, Olivia Gieger, Theo Wells-Spackman and Corey McDonald. Meanwhile, ace photographer Glenn Russell captured many of the moments — like this one — that defined this year’s session.

Chad Lorenz, contributing editor on the politics desk, and Ruth Hare, VTDigger’s managing editor, brought their decades of experience and watchful eyes to each day’s newsletter. Noel Clark, VTDigger’s digital editor, and Night Editor Nathan Allen turned the plain text of a Google Doc into the email that landed in your inbox every night. Taylor Haynes, the newsroom’s audience and product director, made sure that email looked as good as it did. 

And of course, we’re grateful to all of you — almost 8,000 subscribers — who turned to this newsletter, and do so year after year, to stay on top of the news under the Golden Dome.

If Final Reading has helped you cut through the noise and understand our government better, please consider supporting VTDigger in an amount that works for you. 

This week, every donation helps fund our reporting and provides a new book to a Vermont child through the Children’s Literacy Foundation. 

Reliable information matters. So does helping young readers discover the power of reading. Today you can support both with one donation. Pretty cool!

— VTD editors

While we’re gone

Even though the legislative session lasts just five months, our coverage of state government and politics is year-round. Your tips and pitches help us find the stories readers care about and that need to be brought to light. So don’t be a stranger, even if it’s just a little harder to reach us than flagging us down in the Statehouse hallways.

Reach me at srobinson@vtdigger.org and Ethan at eweinstein@vtdigger.org. You can send a secure tip on our website here, and find other reporters’ contact information here.

Until next year!

— Shaun Robinson