With the final fall of the gavel in the Senate and House within sight (God willing), the 2023 session is soon to come to a close.
What feels like a lifetime ago (speaking personally), lawmakers filed back into the Statehouse for the first fully in-person legislative session since the Covid-19 pandemic upended life as we know it.
I’m going to warn you now: This final Final Reading is going to veer into the territory of navel-gazing.
Throughout the past four months, your humble servants at VTDigger worked hard to follow state lawmakers’ every move, ranging from their hard-fought political battles and policy debates, to the deeply unserious shenanigans that ensue when hundreds of egomaniacs gather under one Golden Dome for weeks on end.
While often fun, funky and fresh, this newsletter frankly takes a lot of work to put together. My name goes at the top, but many hands, some invisible, contribute to make it all happen.
VTDigger’s fleet of reporters — Emma Cotton, Peter D’Auria, Lola Duffort, Kristen Fountain, Alan Keays, Erin Petenko, Shaun Robinson, Tiffany Tan, Fred Thys and Ethan Weinstein — all contributed regularly to fill these daily missives. Glenn “the Lens” Russell consistently provided the most gorgeous glamor shots. VTDigger’s creative director Taylor Haynes designed our sick logo. Eagle-eyed Jeralyn Darling, our nighttime editor, caught our silly typos and did the painstaking work of manually sending these emails every night. Senior editor Natalie Williams always (perhaps begrudgingly) entertained my unhinged photoshop ideas, and mostly obliged. And our fearless leader, deputy managing editor Alicia Freese, oversaw all of the chaos.
It’s cliche to say, but none of it would happen without our dear Final Readers. (A moment of sincerity! How embarrassing.) I’m quite proud of the fact our subscriber count peaked to nearly 5,500 this legislative session, up by nearly 1,000 readers since January. And a humble brag: This year, the New England Newspaper and Press Association awarded Final Reading second place in its “outstanding newsletter” competition.
Now, it just so happens that the final week of the legislative session, and therefore this newsletter, coincides with VTDigger’s springtime member drive. I wish I could say that I planned that, but the fact of the matter is, I have no power in either the Legislature’s schedule (I wish!), nor my employer’s high-level decisions. But I’m going to ride this fateful wave, put on my best public radio voice and offer a humble plea:
If you’ve enjoyed this newsletter this year and have the means, please consider subsidizing my colleagues’ and my salaries and making a donation to VTDigger during our spring member drive. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, which means we depend on our readers to help keep the lights on.
Until next time.
— Sarah Mearhoff
IN THE KNOW
Legislation that would make a series of changes to Vermont’s voting laws narrowly advanced in the Senate on Friday, but its fate remains uncertain.
The bill, H.429, would create new restrictions on candidates running in multiple party primaries, allow limited electronic ballot submissions and make it easier for towns to adopt ranked-choice voting. It won preliminary approval on a 16-14 vote.
With the legislative session coming to a close, the bill — which still needs to clear a final vote in the Senate and then return to the House — is unlikely to become law until at least January.
— Ethan Weinstein
ON THE MOVE
Lawmakers have agreed to legislation that would set property tax rates for the next fiscal year.
If signed by the governor, the “yield bill” — annual financial legislation that dictates property taxes — would push tax rates slightly down.
The non-homestead tax rate, which generally applies to businesses and second-home owners, would dip from $1.466 per $100 of assessed value to $1.391 per $100 of assessed value.
Average homestead property tax rates, which are linked to local school spending, would drop from $1.386 per $100 of assessed value to $1.311 per $100 of assessed value. At that rate, a $300,000 house would generate a $3,933 property tax bill.
— Peter D’Auria
MORE TO COME
We’re hitting send on our newsletter, but we’re not signing off for the evening. Check VTDigger.org later tonight for a recounting of the final hours and fiercest battles of the session, and the latest on last-minute budget and child care deals.
Already feeling nostalgic for Final Reading? You can find our past issues here. And, ICYMI, you can find all of our legislative coverage right here.
— The Final Reading team
WHAT WE’RE READING
3 years into the pandemic, Vermonters are still getting — and struggling with — long Covid (VTDigger)
Tiny bats provide ‘glimmer of hope’ against a fungus that threatened entire species (Associated Press)
Former Listen executive director charged with embezzling $230,000 (Valley News)
