Biography
Ruth Hardy has served in the Vermont State Senate since 2019, representing the Addison District. She currently serves on the Health & Welfare Committee and chairs the Government Operations Committee. Her work this past session focused on health care access and affordability, and government accountability. She was also the lead sponsor for Act 76, Vermont’s historic childcare legislation. Prior to her election to the Senate, Ruth served three terms on local school boards and has served on several early childhood education boards. She was the Executive Director of Emerge Vermont, which recruits and trains women to run for office, and served in finance and budget leadership roles for Middlebury College and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. She was also Executive Director of the Open Door Clinic, a free healthcare clinic for people without adequate insurance. Currently, during the off-session she teaches at Middlebury College and works as a substitute middle school teacher. She is a graduate of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT-Austin and Oberlin College. She grew up in a small town in rural central New York. For the past 20+ years, Ruth has lived in East Middlebury with her husband and three kids.
Candidate occupation
Visiting Lecturer at Middlebury College
Why are you running for office?
I am running for re-election because I believe in public service and being an advocate for my community and constituents. For the past six years, I have worked hard to show up for the people I represent, communicate about my work, and advocate for the needs of my district. I believe that government should work for everyone and when it doesn’t, I help my constituents navigate the system to get what they need or make their voice heard. I have worked especially hard for my constituents during times of crisis, including the COVID pandemic and the 2023 floods. I am running again because I want to continue to be their advocate in the State House.
I am also running because I am good at developing and shepherding sound public policy through the legislative process, and there is more work to do. I was the lead architect and sponsor of Act 76, the historic 2023 Child Care Law, and have worked extensively on health care, education, and government accountability legislation. Next session, the focus must clearly be on the cost of health care and education, to make both systems more sustainable and affordable for Vermonters. I have deep experience with school finance as a former school board chair and education finance analyst, and with health care finance from my policy and professional work. My expertise and experience will be crucial to have at the table if the Legislature is to make progress in these areas.
Issues in brief
Do you believe Vermonters are better off now than they were 10 years ago?
No
Do you believe Vermont needs a new education funding formula?
Yes
Do you support imposing new taxes on the wealthiest Vermonters?
Yes
Do you support the establishment of overdose prevention centers?
Yes
Do you support a ban on flavored tobacco products?
Yes
Do you support increasing penalties for property crimes such as shoplifting?
Yes
Do you believe Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election?
Yes
Issues in depth
What would you do to help grow Vermont’s economy?
The biggest barriers to economic growth in recent years have been the lack of affordable childcare and housing. I have led efforts to address the childcare crisis, as sponsor of Act 76 Vermont’s 2023 Childcare Law that invests in expanding access and affordability of childcare programs, so more parents can go to work. I have also supported expansion of affordable housing, including investing significant funding into housing supports and development during and after the pandemic. The Legislature also revised Act 250 to make it easier to build new housing in towns. While there is more work to be done, we have started to see the seeds of these efforts sprout, with major housing projects coming online and smaller infill housing taking root.
We must next address the high cost of health care and education in Vermont. This year we saw school budgets balloon, in part due to the high cost of health care and the lingering impacts of the pandemic. It’s clear that neither health care nor education costs are affordable for many Vermonters and are also hampering economic vitality, so reforming these systems must be a focus next session. However, we cannot let the quality of our public education system suffer. Strong public education, including career & technical and community & state college education, are crucial for workforce development. Finally, we must continue to enhance the vitality of Vermont’s downtowns, including humanely addressing public safety and the opioid epidemic, to ensure business viability and community health.
What changes, if any, would you make to the way Vermont funds its schools?
Vermont has one of the most equitable, and complex, school funding systems in the country. We also have one of the most expensive K-12 systems per pupil in the country, due to our small, rural schools and commitment to high-quality education. With declining enrollments and increasing student needs, our funding formula isn’t fully working to equitably offset increasing costs. Exploring a modified foundation or tiered formula would be helpful, as would evaluating the efficacy of the pupil weighting changes. We also need to simplify the formula, particularly the property tax calculations, so more people understand it.
Further, Act 46, while controversial, was successful at streamlining governance and reducing administrative costs. There is more work to be done to reduce administrative costs and potentially create regional school districts. It may save money to combine some schools, rather than invest in renovating under-enrolled, facility-challenged schools. We also need to reduce the categories of costs that are funded through the Education Fund. Vermont’s school voucher program has increasingly been subsidizing private and religious schools with public tax dollars and this needs to stop. Schools are also increasingly on the hook for paying for social & health services for kids. While these services are effectively delivered through schools, they should not be funded through property taxes. Finally, Vermonters are protective of their local schools and want to maintain local control. I respect that, and in our small state we can do more to create a more cohesive & equitable statewide system.
Is Vermont doing enough, too much or not enough to address climate change? Please explain.
We have done a significant amount of work in recent years to address climate change. Major pieces of legislation include the Climate Superfund Act, Global Warming Solutions Act, Environmental Justice Act, Affordable Heat Act, Renewable Energy Standard update, Thirty by 30 Land Preservation Act, Flood Resiliency Act, and updates to Act 250. I am proud of our comprehensive and decisive work to address the existential threat of our time.
With all this legislative work over the past four years, it’s now time to ensure the effective implementation and evaluation of these laws. We need to make sure they are set up appropriately, with the necessary resources and administrative support, and that they are working as intended. The Agency of Natural Resources, Public Utility Commission, and other state entities that are tasked with implementing many of these laws, need time to hire staff, create rules and systems, collect data, engage with private partners and local communities, and measure the results of the work.
Good laws are only effective if the implementation is successful. Next session the Legislature will get major reports back about many of these climate initiatives. We need to take the time to ensure we don’t rush into the next steps without understanding the data and impacts on climate change, state infrastructure, and the economy. We should not create more new initiatives without fully implementing, adjusting, and evaluating the significant work we’ve already done.
Is Vermont doing enough, too much or not enough to regulate gun ownership? Please explain.
Starting in 2018, Vermont has incrementally improved its gun safety laws to better address the nationwide gun violence epidemic. While the vast majority of gun owners in Vermont are safe and law-abiding and the state has escaped some of the worst gun violence incidents, Vermont does have one of the highest suicide rates in the country, most undertaken with a firearm. Our state also has a high domestic violence rate, again with most deaths resulting from the use of a firearm. Finally, the opioid epidemic has brought instances of gun violence to Vermont that we generally don’t see in our mostly rural state.
Thus, while much progress has been made, there is more work to be done. Unfortunately, the recent Supreme Court Bruen decision, will likely hamper some efforts, but I don’t think that should prevent trying to move forward with common sense legislation on assault weapons, for example. I also believe that more work needs to be done on gun manufacturer liability and regulation, public health & gun safety education, and effective disposal of firearms that have been turned in to state and local law enforcement agencies.
What would you do to help ease Vermont’s housing crisis?
To address Vermont’s housing crisis, we need a multi-faceted approach, and must also acknowledge that some factors, such as interest rates and material costs are beyond our control. The Legislature has provided significant funding for housing supports and development during and after the pandemic. We also revised Act 250 to make it easier to build new housing in town centers and designated areas across the state, while encouraging accessory dwelling units and duplexes everywhere. We have also increased housing development tax credits, which spur housing development and provide funding for energy-efficient manufactured homes.
Tax reform is also an effective tool for addressing the housing crisis. We must reduce property taxes for many Vermonters to ensure affordability. As part of the package to reduce the education property tax rate this session, the Legislature created a 3% surcharge on short-term rentals, which have been identified as one of the factors driving the housing crisis. Further, we modified the property transfer tax to exempt the first $200,000 in value of a property and imposed a 3.4% tax on the sale of second homes to ease the cost of buying a primary residence and shift some burden to second home sales, which also have been identified as a factor driving the housing crisis.
Finally, we must focus more attention and funding toward supportive housing and long-term care residences. We have provided some funding to recovery residences and done work to improve housing options for adults with developmental disabilities, but more work is needed.
How would you address rising homelessness in Vermont?
To address homelessness, we must address the housing crisis, which is discussed in the previous answer. We must also continue to address the opioid and mental health crises, which can lead to homelessness. Finally, a growing number of families with young children and seniors are facing homelessness. As a member of the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee, I have been a leading advocate in the Legislature to ensure we focus on harm reduction measures that keep people alive and lead to treatment and support for people who are struggling with opioid use disorder. Again, supportive housing for people in recovery, with disabilities, recently incarcerated, or struggling with mental health issues is crucial to solving the housing and homelessness crisis. There are many amazing community-based organizations statewide that are providing these types of supportive housing services, but the issue hasn’t received the attention that general housing access has. Finally, the state’s general assistance emergency housing program has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, as the pandemic-era motel housing program and community shelters have become crucial for so many people. We made significant changes to the program this session, but the implementation of those changes is yet to occur. To truly address the housing crisis in Vermont, we can’t brush aside these housing needs.
What would you do to increase access to health care services for Vermonters?
First, we must reduce the cost of health care, which in Vermont is driven by high hospital and prescription drug costs. Second, we must provide publicly funded health care to more Vermonters. Third, we must ensure access to crucial & protected health care services, including abortion and gender affirming care. Lastly, we must ensure that primary care, including mental health & dental care, are supported and provided throughout the state.
We have made great strides in protecting reproductive and gender affirming health care, through a passing strong shield laws and a reproductive liberty constitutional amendment. We have passed legislation to better regulate the pharmaceutical industry and implement a high-cost drug review board. However, we must do more to bring down hospital costs – a major report will be released this summer with recommendations about how to restructure Vermont’s struggling hospitals while maintaining crucial health care services in rural communities. Hospital leaders, the Administration, Green Mountain Care Board, and the Legislature must together focus on this issue.
Finally, this session, I introduced legislation to expand eligibility for the state’s Medicaid program. While some provisions passed, including expanding support for low-income seniors, other provisions for pregnant individuals and young adults did not. In addition, work on providing a public option for small businesses to buy into Medicaid for healthcare coverage did not move forward. If re-elected, I will re-introduce these provisions which would have significant impact on health care access.
Financial disclosure
Candidates for state and legislative offices are required to submit a financial disclosure when filing to run. These disclosures include each source, but not the amount, of personal income of each candidate, and of their spouse or domestic partner, that singly or jointly totals more than $5,000 for the previous 12 months. The information provided is an opportunity for voters to learn about candidates’ potential conflicts of interest.
You can find Hardy’s financial disclosure here.
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