The Vermont House Ethics Panel has dismissed complaints filed against the legislators who took an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel last year, according to records made public Monday.
A Jewish group that opposes Israel’s military campaign in Gaza lodged the ethics complaints, which focused on Rep. Sarita Austin, D-Colchester; Rep. Matt Birong, D-Vergennes; Rep. Gina Galfetti, R-Barre Town; Rep. Will Greer, D-Bennington; and Rep. James Gregoire, R-Fairfield.
Jewish Voice for Peace argued that the five lawmakers ran afoul of state law limiting what gifts public officials can accept. In all, 250 legislators from all 50 states were on the September 2025 trip, which was sponsored by Israel’s government and billed as the largest-ever gathering of U.S. legislators there. The trip was valued at $6,500 per attendee, according to panel records.
Legislative ethics panel proceedings aren’t open to the public, and there are scant details available about them, unless one or both of the parties involved decides to speak publicly.
Contrary to the Jewish group’s assertion, the House panel determined that the trip did, in fact, meet standards for a “gift” that’s permissible under state law. The panel said that the benefits lawmakers received from the Israeli government, including their flights and lodging, “appear reasonable,” and said the trip met the law’s standard for “a cultural, political, or civic event.”
According to an Instagram post from Israel’s government at the time, the lawmakers “witnessed the magnitude of the (Oct. 7, 2023) tragedy, experienced Israel’s innovation and cutting-edge technology, tasted our incredible cuisine, and met with Israel’s leaders — including the Prime Minister, the President, the Foreign Minister, and many others.”
Jewish Voice for Peace argued that the trip actually amounted to a lobbying junket, largely because the U.S. legislators were urged by Israel’s foreign minister to pass laws in their states that would hinder the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. That’s the international movement aimed at using economic pressure to force Israel’s government to change its policies.
Moreover, the activist group said in its complaints, four of the Vermont legislators have sponsored a bill that would, among other measures, create a new definition of “antisemitic harassment” in Vermont law that includes “negative references to Jewish customs or the right to self-determination in the Jewish people’s ancestral and indigenous homeland,” a reference to Israel.
The ethics panel was more persuaded, however, by the defense the legislators submitted in response to the activists’ ethics complaints. It said the legislators did not know they would be lobbied for or against any legislation before going on the trip, with the panel writing that the foreign minister’s comments were “beyond the scope of their control.” The fact the legislators heard a lobbying pitch after agreeing to go on the trip “cannot retroactively convert this trip into an unethical, impermissible one,” the panel wrote in its decision, which it issued April 9.
The panel also found that the fact most of the legislators were sponsoring a bill related to Israel did not mean their trip was inherently unethical. The bill, H.310, has not advanced out of committee despite being introduced last February, the panel noted.
The panel wrote that “serious concerns in regards to Israel’s actions in Gaza and elsewhere” made the legislators’ attendance controversial. But it said that controversy was not relevant to its investigation; rather, the panel was focused on whether the event violated state ethics rules. And in the panel’s determination, it said, “the trip was permissible under those provisions.”
In the press release Monday, Liz Blum, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace’s Vermont and New Hampshire chapter, slammed the legislative panel’s decision.
“All a lobbyist for Israel has to do is omit mentioning that lobbying will happen as part of the coming trip — and the Panel calls that acceptable,” Blum said.
In the know
Dr. Steve Leffler, who now leads UVM Health, still takes an ER doc’s view of a hospital budget, he said as he gave the House Health Care Committee an update on the financial picture for the state’s largest hospital network Tuesday.
It’s a tight balance, he said, as expenses are quickly outpacing revenue: UVM Medical Center spends $460,000 a day more than it’s taking in, every day.
He estimated that amounts to a loss of about $48 million across the network in the first quarter of this year. “It’s not surprising to me,” Leffler said, “but it’s more than we can sustain at this pace, and it’s driving urgency to make changes quicker than we would otherwise.”
The network has propped up a sustainability council that’s striving to pull these numbers into better balance. They’re aiming to reduce expenses by $100 million by October.
Leffler highlighted how the hospital is doing that on the administrative side: reducing and combining leadership roles, sharing services like HR and finances across network hospitals and trying to fill doctors’ schedules to see more patients.
Also, there are no executive bonuses planned for 2026, he said.
Leffler has pledged not to cut services in 2026. But he noted how the high cost of health care is affecting how much care people are still able to access.
In the first three months of this year, people are seeking out less care, Leffler said. As people opt for cheaper insurance plans with lower premiums but high deductibles, he is noticing that they are scheduling fewer services.
It’s a trend he has only ever seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. “That’s the only time in my entire career I’ve ever seen utilization go down at UVM Medical Center,” he said.
— Olivia Gieger
On the move
The Senate advanced a bill Tuesday that would allow a person to sue a local or federal government employee in state court for alleged violations of constitutional rights.
Though the conversation around the bill, H.849, has largely centered around legal action against federal immigration authorities, the legislation does not limit the proposed right of action to a specific type of government worker.
The bill advanced on second reading in a 23-7 vote and will require one more vote in the Senate.
— Ethan Weinstein
On the trail
South Burlington resident Javen Sears is running for a Chittenden Southeast Senate seat as a Republican.
Sears, a recent South Burlington High School graduate, is a UVM student and youth football coach.
— Ethan Weinstein
What we’re listening to
While some of music’s biggest names are gracing the stage at the Coachella music festival in California right now, here in Vermont, we’ve got some *pretty exciting* music news of our own.
GlitchyArpeggio9750 — undoubtedly our state’s most famous artist — has created a self-described “protest song” about Act 181, the land use law that is dominating environmental and housing policy debate in the Statehouse. The four-and-a-half minute track, titled “Act 181 coming, Vermont Working Lands Squeeze,” employs a solemn Irish folk tune to criticize the 2023 legislation, in line with the sentiments espoused at a rally in Montpelier last month.
Remarkably, according to the conservative news site Vermont Daily Chronicle, the song was in fact created by former Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie. It’s clear that Dubie used AI — but to be honest, the chorus is pretty catchy, regardless.
— Shaun Robinson
