House debates bills on conservation, family leave, school meals
The hours were long this past week at the Statehouse. We spent roughly 20 hours on the House floor debating policy and making thoughtful decisions. As we continue to move House bills to the Senate and receive Senate bills for committee consideration, longer days will continue.
Last week the House sent some large bills over to the Senate for additional consideration. Some include universal school meals, 30 by 30, and paid family medical leave insurance.
H.165 looks to make the currently operating universal school meals program a permanent program in Vermont schools. For the past three years, Vermont students have benefited from this program and have been provided healthy, nutritious breakfast and lunch during the school day. Under the pre-pandemic program, not all food insecure students qualified for free or reduced-price school lunch due to federal income thresholds being too low to meet existing needs.
As many as 40 percent of children living in food insecure households did not qualify under the old model. Beyond academic performance, universal school meals improve students’ mental health, reduce instances of both anxiety and depression and reduce visits to the school nurse.
H.126, an act relating to community resilience and biodiversity protection, looks to conserve Vermont’s natural landscape. This bill establishes conservation goals of 30 percent conserved land by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050. More than 20 percent of Vermont land is already considered conserved.
Vermont biodiversity has been declining at an alarming rate in recent decades. This bill charts a path to ensure Vermont can adapt and mitigate climate change impacts, for both human and natural communities. Additionally, conserving an intact and connected landscape will benefit the economy as open space and access to the outdoors are the foundation to working lands and outdoor recreation economies.
H.66, an act relating to paid family medical leave insurance, creates a program that will provide Vermonters up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. This program will allow those with eligible leave to receive 90 percent pay and job protections to ensure employees can meet their own personal or family needs and return to work. If enacted, benefits will become available in July 2026.
On Monday, Sen. Rich Westman, Rep. Dan Noyes and I had the pleasure of meeting with students at Lamoille Union High School and hearing about issues that are most important to them. Lamoille Union students have been following our work and fielded great questions. Some large topics of conversation included how the Legislature is prioritizing our climate and what we can do about housing, child care and workforce to further make Vermont a place where younger Vermonters can thrive.
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