*Cue “Closing Time” by Semisonic*

After weeks of contentious negotiations over this year’s landmark education bill, H.454, which the House and Senate both passed on Monday, Vermont’s 2025 legislative session has come to an end. Lt. Gov. John Rodgers brought down the gavel in the Senate, for the final time, just before 7:45 p.m., while House Speaker Jill Krowinski did the same about an hour later.

“It’s actually early though, right? I mean, we’ve had some pretty late-night years before,” Gov. Phil Scott joked to senators in his closing remarks Monday to the chamber. (That’s easy to say, I thought, for a guy who spent the morning hanging out with his buddies down in Boston.)

With lawmakers clearing out their desks and heading home for the summer, Final Reading is signing off, too, until the start of the 2026 legislative session next January. 

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

A number of VTDigger reporters took the lead on issues of Final Reading this year, including Carly Berlin, Emma Cotton (who’s now, in fact, an editor), Peter D’Auria and Habib Sabet. Interns Klara Bauters and Olivia Gieger also pitched in. Meanwhile, ace photographer Glenn Russell captured many of the moments — like this one — that defined this year’s session.

Kristen Fountain, senior editor on the politics desk, wrangled all the bits and bobs of each day’s newsletter, often writing copy and tracking key bills herself. Neal Goswami, VTDigger’s managing editor, brought his years of experience covering the Statehouse to the editing process.

Yardain Amron, VTDigger’s night editor, is the one who 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 looks as good as it does. Natalie Williams, senior editor for the digital team, helped us deliver the most engaging, accessible product possible.

And of course, we’re grateful to all of you — our more than 7,000 subscribers — who turned to this newsletter, and do so year after year, to stay on top of the news under the Golden Dome.

If you care enough about how Vermont works to read this newsletter, then you know that clear, fact-based reporting on government can be hard to come by these days. Vermont has lost 75% of its journalism jobs over the past quarter-century. Across the country, dedicated Statehouse reporting has long been in decline, too, but recent research shows that nonprofit newsrooms — like VTDigger — are helping to buck that trend. It’s something we can only do, though, with our readers’ support. 

So, if you don’t already, please consider making a contribution to our newsroom to support Final Reading — and all of the VTDigger journalism you rely on to make sense of our state. Thank you!

— Shaun Robinson

So, about that voice vote

Some House lawmakers, particularly those opposed to the year’s landmark education reform package, were pretty pissed that the chamber took arguably the year’s most important vote by voice. 

I’m talking about the vote on H.454, which, when no one asked for a roll call, House Speaker Jill Krowinski conducted by weighing the volume of the spoken (or bellowed out) “Yeas” versus “Nays.”

Rep. Kate Logan, P/D-Burlington, leader of the Progressive caucus, said she didn’t think the speaker intentionally rushed the vote, but she still took umbrage with the process. 

“I do think they took advantage of the fact that we all kind of froze after a complicated procedural vote,” Logan said. 

Logan argued that while H.454 had the votes to pass, a majority of Democrats would have voted against it — a possibility that can’t be known given the lack of roll call.

In order for the vote to be reconsidered, a lawmaker who voted “yes” would’ve needed to make a motion that was then voted on and approved. But no one made that motion. 

“I did not clearly hear or understand the question, did not have an opportunity to ask questions or debate, and did not vote because I was unsure of what she had said and what we were voting on,” Rep. Ela Chapin, D-East Montpelier, wrote in a text. She did not support H.454.

“I have not experienced anything like it in my three years as a state representative,” Chapin wrote.

Burlington independent Rep. Troy Headrick made his frustration with the voice vote known on the House floor and again in an email yesterday to Democratic leadership.

“As you know, this was arguably the most consequential bill of the session, both in scope and in its political sensitivity,” Headrick wrote. “While I understand this may fall within the boundaries of procedural correctness, I believe it represents a misuse of authority.”

Conor Kennedy, Krowinski’s chief of staff, said in an interview that representatives’ frustration was “misguided.”

“For the people who are upset, I’m kind of like, literally anyone there could have done it,” he said, referring to making the request for a roll call. 

Kennedy noted the speaker allowed people to share their opinions on the bill during a later motion, and any representative can make their position known to their constituents. He said the speaker’s staff reviewed a recording of the floor and found Krowinski allowed a normal amount of time to pass before calling the vote by voice. 

“For me there has to be a little bit more self reflection rather than placing this blame on the speaker,” he said. “You can be frustrated about a piece of legislation, but I would caution us about how that frustration is directed.”

— Ethan Weinstein

In the know

Just days after a gunman shot and killed one state legislator and injured another in Minnesota, security was tighter than normal at the Vermont Statehouse on Monday. Access to the building, typically available unchecked through a number of different entrances, was allowed only through a door by the loading dock, where Capitol Police were screening bags with a little-used X-ray machine and wanding down entrants with a metal detector.

State Rep. Melissa Hortman — the Minnesota House’s top Democrat and its former speaker — and her husband, Mark, were fatally shot at their home Saturday. Meanwhile, Minnesota Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were shot and wounded at their home, too. The gunman has since been apprehended.

The shootings, which Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has said were politically motivated, weighed heavily on Vermont legislators in recent days. Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, who said in a statement over the weekend that she and Hortman were friends, called the shootings “unthinkable” in remarks on the floor Monday morning.

“There are really no words to describe how tragic this event was,” she said, appearing to tear up.

— Shaun Robinson

Plans for the state to build a secure youth treatment facility are “on hold” after officials withdrew a proposal in Vergennes, according to the Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services.

The news came a day after state leaders informed advocates for justice-involved youth and other stakeholders that Vermont would consider a variety of options in its effort to build a new facility, five years after the closure of the scandal-plagued Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center.

Read more about the decision to reconsider the facilities’ location here. 

— Ethan Weinstein and Charlotte Oliver

Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Hibbert, left, shakes hands with Rep. Matt Birong, D-Vergennes, chair of the House Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee, after the House passed an election reform bill at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Monday, June 16. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

Don’t be a stranger

While the session is over, our coverage of government and politics is year-round. If you’ve got tips, scoops, story ideas or anything in-between, be sure to let our reporters know. We’ll be keeping tabs on the many bills lawmakers approved this year, with a focus on what works — and what, perhaps, does not. You can find the right person to contact, and their emails, on our staff page.

We’ll catch you on the flip side.

— The Final Reading team