Town Meeting
I strongly encourage you to attend your town meeting. It’s a great way to get informed and see old friends. Here’s the schedule for our district:
Ferrisburgh - Saturday 2/28, 10:00 am
Waltham - Monday 3/2, 6:00 pm
New Haven - Monday 3/2, 6:30 pm
Addison - Monday 3/2, 7:00 pm
Panton - Monday 3/2, 7:00 pm
Vergennes - Monday 3/2, 7:30 pm
Matt and I plan to attend all meetings except we will split Addison and Panton which occur at the same time. I’ll see those in Addison (Lord willing)!
For those that don’t make it to your town meeting, here is my report.
Town Meeting Day 2026
I continue to be honored and humbled by the opportunity you have given me to serve you as your Representative and I’ve enthusiastically embraced it. I am making every effort to bring about the changes that I promised during my campaign. Thank you for your trust in me.
Vermonters deserve to live, work, raise a family, and retire here without facing an affordability crisis. I am committed to working with Governor Scott and my colleagues in the Legislature to make Vermont affordable.
2025-2026 Legislative Biennium Overview
The first half of the 2026 legislative session has been busy, with roughly 400 bills filed so far, in addition to the 500 from last year, in the House of Representatives alone. In his State of the State and Budget addresses in January, Governor Phil Scott focused on the need for education financing reform to stop Property Taxes from skyrocketing and General Fund spending that stays within our means. I am supportive of the Governor’s efforts and have worked closely with his team, while also reaching across the aisle to find common ground. As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback on any of the issues we are grappling with.
Successes We’ve Already Achieved
Let’s celebrate the victories we have achieved so far this biennium that directly affect Vermonters!
Repealed the Military Pension Tax for most veterans
Cut income taxes for seniors and families with young children
Stopped the Home Heating Fuel Tax and Ended the Clean Heat Standard as declared by the PUC
Expanded infrastructure tools for home building in rural communities
Initiated a more common-sense education funding formula
Added resources to send more criminals to justice in our largest city
Installed Gov. Scott's VT Supreme Court appointments
Legislative Priorities
Education Reform: Since the 1990s, Vermont has lost roughly 30,000 students, yet our education structure remains the same—with massive overhead, redundant bureaucracy, and inequities across towns. The latest report card from the Agency of Education shows that student performance in Vermont is mediocre and declining. Our students deserve an education system built for their future—one that puts their outcomes first, not the outcomes of special interests or the status quo. I remain committed to working with Governor Scott to put our kids first.
Property Taxes: In 2023 and 2024, the average Vermonter faced back-to-back double-digit property tax increases. This is unaffordable, unsustainable, and unacceptable—which is why many Vermonters went to the polls in 2024 to help restore balance in Montpelier. Rest assured that your trust in us is paying off. Last year, the average property tax increase approved by the Legislature was just 1%, compared to 13.8% the year prior. We also passed a bipartisan education finance reform package that included the shift to a cost-containment Foundation Formula budgeting method starting in FY29. While many are working against that critical goal, I promise to work to make it come to fruition in your property tax bills. We must keep this on track.
Affordability: We have introduced numerous pieces of legislation to lower the cost of living in Vermont, including: stabilizing our health insurance market to lower premiums; easing red tape to develop housing to lower costs; further reducing taxes for vulnerable populations like retirees living on fixed incomes; and much more. I am supportive of any and all these efforts to make Vermont a more affordable place to live, work, raise a family, and retire.
Bills I Have Written or Sponsored
I have written and sponsored many bills to help make Vermont affordable. This is a sampling of some of them:
H.43 An act relating to exempting military retirement & survivor benefit income from Vermont income tax
Effectively signed into law in Act 71
H.74 An act relating to exempting Social Security benefits from Vermont income tax
Partially signed into law in Act 71
H.54 An act relating to cell phone-free schools
Effectively signed into law in Act 72
H.162 An act relating to repealing the three-acre rule stormwater permit
While this bill I wrote was not fully achieved, our Environment Committee did pass H.481 which was signed into law as Act 37 which initiated a study to construct Regional Stormwater Districts which would have the authority to effectively replace the 3-acre rule with other more equitable and cost effective means. I am actively engaged and following this study team.
H.730 An act relating to delaying Act 250 location-based jurisdiction implementation
As a member of the House Rural Caucus I helped sponsor this bill to push out some of the aggressive dates in Act 181 Land Use law that unfairly penalizes landowners in rural Vermont.
H.774 An act relating to a three-year education property tax freeze
This is a critical stop-gap measure to eliminate further property tax increases on Vermonters until the Education Foundation Formula goes into effect. It recently got some air-time in the House Ways & Means Committee but is unlikely to be approved by that committee. A shame!
H.805 An act relating to permit reform regarding water resources of the State
A comprehensive bill I wrote to reduce bureaucratic delays and reduce property taxes on land restricted by Act 250. There is interest in this bill, but my committee Chair won’t take it up.
H.843 An act relating to monitoring of municipal wastewater discharges
A simple bill I wrote to require municipal water treatment facilities to test for pharmaceuticals and pesticides in their treated water output.
H.848 An act relating to limiting facility fees for certain outpatient services and telehealth
A simple bill I wrote in response to a constituent request to ban unrelated “facility fees” on your doctor’s and hospital bills.
Environment Committee Update
I am assigned to the House Environment Committee. We have taken testimony on a variety of topics from cougars to old-growth forests, and logging to PFAS. Last year we achieved restriction of dangerous “forever chemicals” called PFAS and a study to replace the 3-acre rule. This year we are addressing the bottle redemption process, dam safety, and land posting laws. A few of us are pushing hard to take credit for our state’s great Current Use land conservation program toward our stated conservation goals to reduce further upward pressure on land prices.
I remain honored to be your Representative,
Rob North
Addison, Ferrisburgh, New Haven, Panton, Vergennes, and Waltham
