Education reform consumed most of the oxygen in the Statehouse this past session. Regardless, lawmakers managed to pass dozens of other consequential pieces of legislation.
They banned the toxic pesticide paraquat, repealed land-use restrictions that riled rural residents and boosted funding to expand “accountability courts” to address repeat criminal offenders.
Not all of the bills they favored will be signed into law. Gov. Phil Scott vetoed one that would have regulated data centers, for instance, and lawmakers couldn’t muster the votes to override him.
Many, though, will soon become the law of the land. Here are several bills you should know about.
Face Value
The governor signed legislation last month that positions Vermont among the first states in the nation to cap resale prices for tickets for entertainment and sporting events — a measure meant to curb ticket scalping.
The law establishes a 110 percent cap on ticket resale prices for concerts, sports and other events sold through business resellers. It also prohibits selling tickets not yet owned at the time of sale, a practice known as ticket speculation, and targets deceptive online practices that can steer consumers toward third-party sellers posing as official box offices.
The changes are a huge win for Vermont’s artists and venues, said Susan Evans McClure, executive director of the Vermont Arts Council. Evans McClure commended state lawmakers for protecting consumers despite strong pushback from lobbyists for the largely unregulated national ticket-resale companies.
Artists and venues in recent years have complained that inflated resale prices have become ingrained in the live-event experience. Vermont musician Noah Kahan, who testified in support of the bill, said the system erodes access for fans and weakens trust between artists, venues and audiences.
The new law’s impact is expected to become clearer after it goes into effect on July 1, as fans, venues and resale platforms adjust. Lawmakers added language to repeal the law in two years unless they opt to extend it.
Data Privacy Do-Over
Lawmakers took another stab this session at drafting a data privacy bill that Gov. Scott would sign, two years after he vetoed a similar measure he deemed too burdensome for businesses. With the latest version, legislators sought to provide the digital privacy rules that consumer groups are demanding — without again provoking fierce pushback from businesses.
The legislation details how businesses in Vermont can collect, use, share and sell consumer information. It requires businesses to get consumers’ consent before selling sensitive data about health, genetics, biometrics, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and geolocation. It limits advertisements that target minors and prohibits the sale of their personal information. It also gives people the right to see the data collected by companies, correct it, have it deleted and to opt out of future collection.
Prominent businesses around Vermont, including Killington Resort and the Vermont Country Store, warned that overly strict rules would put them at a competitive disadvantage by making it harder for them to market their businesses.
Lawmakers listened. At the behest of Vermont Chamber of Commerce lobbyists, they rewrote the bill at the last minute in ways that some lawmakers and consumer advocates decried as caving to Big Tech.
“I feel the weight of billion-dollar national entities, not our Vermont County Store, that is having its say here,” Rep. Herb Olson (D-Starksboro) said.
Several argued that the final bill was riddled with so many compromises, loopholes and exemptions that any protections are virtually meaningless. “I am deeply concerned that we can and should be doing much more here,” Rep. Chloe Tomlinson (P/D-Winooski) said.
Rep. Mike Marcotte (R-Coventry) told colleagues that the bill “walks a fine line” and that the tougher consumer protections that some wanted would have led to another veto.
In the end, most agreed that getting something on the books was better than nothing.
“We have to start. This is where we start,” Rep. Edye Graning (D-Jericho) said.
The governor is expected to sign the bill into law.
Dim Solar Prospects
A low-cost solar technology gaining popularity in Europe needs to overcome safety and regulatory hurdles before making its way to the United States. But Vermont lawmakers laid the groundwork this session for so-called “porch solar,” which allows people to plug panels directly into wall outlets in their homes to reduce their power bills.
Technical, safety and legal issues, though, will likely limit the technology’s rollout.
To ensure the panels are safe, the bill mandates that they can only be plugged into outlets equipped with special wiring — a type that most buildings in Vermont don’t have. The measure also requires various additional safety features, including special plugs that help prevent electrical shocks. The legislation clarifies that renters only have the right to install the required wiring with their landlord’s approval. Renters need to give landlords 10 days’ notice of their plans to install porch solar, and landlords can say no.
The Vermont Public Interest Research Group and supporters including Sen. Anne Watson (D/P-Washington) had pushed for a bill that would give people the right to install these panels in their homes without going through the red tape involved in permitting larger rooftop systems.
Ben Edgerly Walsh, climate and energy program director at VPIRG, acknowledged that the restrictions could slow the adoption of the technology in the short term. But when “true plug and play” versions emerge, he said, “Vermonters will be able to use those systems right away without a landlord veto.”
The governor is expected to sign the bill.
Teens in Need
Vermont lawmakers have passed what supporters are calling the most significant youth welfare reform package in years.
The bill expands access to services for homeless youths, strengthens protections in residential treatment settings and increases transparency around how children in state care are treated. In addition, it would prohibit the Department for Children and Families from taking federal Social Security benefit payments intended for youths in its care, a practice that advocates and the federal government have criticized.
The “youth-centered bill” is designed to empower and protect young people, rather than lead them into state custody, according to Matthew Bernstein, who leads the independent Office of the Child, Youth and Family Advocate, which monitors DCF. Provisions allow homeless 16- and 17-year-olds to access resources such as health care, housing assistance and financial services without requiring parental consent.
Rep. Teddy Waszazak (D-Barre City), who has spoken publicly about his experience with homelessness as a teenager, described the bill as an important measure for young people who are suffering like he once did.
“At 15 years old, I did not receive medical care, mental health care, food assistance, access to education and so many other necessary supports because I was an unaccompanied youth,” he said in May, after the House passed the bill by a 133–2 vote.
The measure includes reforms of restraint and seclusion practices for youths in care and adds due-process provisions, stronger data collection requirements and increased public accountability for how children in DCF custody are treated.
It remains unclear whether the governor will sign the bill.
Attending to Attendance
Lawmakers approved a bill designed to modernize state laws governing student absenteeism and to standardize the way schools respond when kids miss too many days, and Gov. Scott signed it into law on Monday.
Research shows that when students are chronically absent, typically defined as missing 10 percent of instructional days in the school year, they’re more likely to perform poorly in class, drop out and be unemployed as an adult. During the pandemic, chronic absenteeism rates spiked in Vermont, mirroring national trends, and still haven’t recovered.
During the 2024-25 school year, one in four Vermont students was chronically absent.
The bill takes a nonpunitive approach, stressing the importance of identifying the root causes and working collaboratively with parents and caregivers. Taking legal action against families for truancy should be considered an option “only after reasonable school-based interventions have been attempted and have not resulted in improved attendance,” the bill says.
The measure directs the Vermont Agency of Education to work with educational leaders to develop a model policy for addressing chronic absenteeism. School districts would be required to adopt the state policy, or create one of their own that is at least as rigorous, before the 2027-28 school year.
Dollars for Scholars
The state budget includes $700,000 for Read Vermont, an Agency of Education literacy initiative that was a key component in a bill the legislature passed two years ago. But for a time, that funding was in question.
Appropriations Committee chairs in both chambers resisted allocating the money, contending that the Agency of Education hadn’t requested it through appropriate channels. The Scott administration, however, argued that the funding is critical to address declining reading scores. Lawmakers ultimately got on board.
The funds will be used to train teachers in effective reading instruction. Toren Ballard, the ed agency’s director of policy and communications, called the investment “a critical first step in regaining Vermont’s national leadership in literacy.”
Also included in the budget is $12 million to help the University of Vermont build a massive “multipurpose center” for athletic events, concerts, lectures and conferences — a project that broke ground in 2019 but stalled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
UVM initially requested the legislature fund the project with $15 million from the Higher Education Endowment Trust Fund, which provides financial aid to students attending Vermont colleges. UVM president Marlene Tromp told legislators that the one-time investment would draw more students to the university and boost the state’s economy. Gov. Scott supported her request.
But legislators balked at using scholarship funds for a construction project. In the waning days of the session, though, the State Treasurer’s Office alerted lawmakers that the state had around $10 million more in its unclaimed property fund than initially thought. That money was allocated to the UVM complex, along with $2 million from the scholarship fund. The remaining $88 million needed for the project will be raised primarily through philanthropy, UVM has said.
Changing a Charter
Within the past five years, Burlington voters have resoundingly approved charter changes that would protect renters from no-cause evictions, establish a new police oversight model and ban guns from bars. But when these measures and three others were submitted as state bills, as required, they went nowhere. At least not until this year.
As the 2026 legislative session drew to a close, lawmakers approved — and the governor signed — a measure that officially codifies in the city charter the Department of Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. Roughly 57 percent of Queen City voters approved the charter change on Town Meeting Day.
The change enshrines an office formed in 2019 to inject the city’s departments and decision-making processes with anti-racist and racially equitable policy and to promote cultural events such as the city’s Juneteenth celebration.
The charter change bill sailed through committees and was signed into law.
The original print version of this article was headlined “The OtherBills | Vermont Statehouse, new laws, bills, Gov. Phil Scott, veto, data privacy, education, ticket scalping”
This article appears in June 10 • 2026.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
