Kristi Morris - Representative

Legislative Week in Review
April 24, 2026

Last week my Environment Committee worked to amend S.325. This bill will repeal the Act 181 road rule and the Tier 3 natural resource areas and mapping. Within the original bill, the Land Use Review Board (LURB) was charged with standing up the rules to define Tier 3. Since the LURB was created late in 2025, and because they have an enormous amount of work to complete, they are behind in the rule making. We heard from hundreds of Vermonters who opposed Tier 3 and reached out expressing their opposition. With the partial repeal, the so-called Tier 1 areas are proposed to remain in effect, as several projects are under consideration or under way for housing development in downtown districts, village centers or neighborhood development areas. I anticipate this bill passing out of committee this week. With the biennium winding down the committee chairs of Environment and Senate Natural Resources have discussed the changes in anticipation of it being passed out of the House within the next week or two. With the enormous number of emails and messages received from Vermonters to repeal these sections, we have listened. It is a bipartisan effort contributing to the S.325 amendments and I anticipate it will pass out of the House. If not, Act 181 will remain in effect.

H.955, the Educational Transformation bill is in the Senate Education Committee for their review. As previously reported, there is not a wide range of support for this bill, as it passed out of the House on a vote of 79 -62. The bill contains enough controversy that most everyone is not happy with the results. It divides the state into seven district administrations and relies on voluntary school mergers for any consolidation. The foundation formula for school funding is still a year out at the least. The formula establishes what the state will pay to each district per student. There will be much more to report on within the next couple of weeks as this bill progresses. The Senate is expected to make revisions that will have to come back to the House for concurrence, or a Committee of Conference will be created to negotiate a compromise.

My article last week caused a large amount of controversy. At the request of the Lieutenant Governor, we met to explain each of our opinions of Act 181’s intentions. It was a good meeting and we agreed on some of the components and that it became very political. I also communicated with several other legislator's asked me of my position. Though not all agreed, they were understanding of my explanation. I mentioned in my previous article that Act 181 became political and most of those I talked with agreed. Coming from a selectboard approach, we don’t have party affiliation and the Montpelier experience can take one out of a comfort zone. Act 181 became a very political bill.

Another bill that passed out of the House was S.89. This Senate bill will provide a death benefit to family survivors from a line of duty death for law enforcement personnel, department of correction and DCF employees. The bill adds these employees to a similar benefit that is provided for firefighters. The House had a similar bill that I was advocating for that was not taken up. The Senate did and it is now headed to the Governor. The bill provides an $80K benefit to the family for the designated employees who experience a LODD. We all hope it never happens.

This coming weekend is Vermont’s traditional Green Up Day. Many within our community will support this event by coming out in large numbers to volunteer. There are several local agencies whose members participate annually for this event sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. The more people that volunteer will help make the task easier and shorten the day for all. If you are around this coming Saturday May 2nd, think about coming down to lend a hand. Collection bags will be available at the Coop parking lot Saturday morning. I am always impressed with the number of green bags lining the road post pickup and the large pile that grows in the Coop parking lot following the volunteers returning their collections

The school budget revote will be May 5th. I hope voters will get out to fill in the ovals with their vote. Regardless of your opinion, please get out and vote. A small turnout is not beneficial to our community would provide a minimum understanding of the community’s intentions. If that day is not a good day for you to get out to vote, you can visit the Town Hall and vote absentee. Since I am in Montpelier on May 5th, I have already voted and it was all of less than 10-minutes. We need to hear from you.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or need further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached at home by calling 802-885-2949. My legislative email is [email protected] or my personal email is [email protected]

Representative Kristi Morris

Legislative Week in Review
April 17, 2026

Like last week, I will focus on two bills that are in process and have had significant controversy. In order to incentivize housing, in our downtown districts, village centers and neighborhood development areas, Act 181 proposes to drop the state Act 250 duplicative permitting process. This is providing municipalities have zoning, water and/or wastewater infrastructure, or potable soils. This incentive applies only to proposed Tier 1 areas. These areas would need to have properties available for in-fill development and would occur in areas where housing already exists. There has been little controversy relative to these areas and dropping duplicative permitting is what developers have been asking for years.

Regarding Tier 3, the following is taken directly from Act 181 and describes the process the Land Use Review Board, the LURB, was supposed to follow. Please read carefully to uunderstand that the preliminary release of maps, by the LURB, was not approved or finalized. The rules surrounding the map development have not been created yet. Further, these critical natural resource areas are supposed to have regional planning and local input. That hasn’t happened yet.

Sec. 22 TIER 3 RULEMAKING: (a) The Board, in consultation with ANR, shall adopt rules to implement the requirements for the administration of 10 V.S.A. § 6001(3)(A)(xiii) and 10 V.S.A. § 6001(46) and (19) (subdivision). It is the intent of the General Assembly that these rules identify critical natural resources for protection. The Board shall review the definition of Tier 3 area; determine the critical natural resources that shall be included in Tier 3, giving due consideration to river corridors, headwater streams, habitat connectors of statewide significance, riparian areas, class A waters, and natural communities; any additional critical natural resources that should be added to the definition; measures to ensure that no municipality or region is disproportionately impacted by Tier 3 designation that would limit reasonable opportunities for Tier 1 or Tier 2 designations; and how to define the boundaries.

Rules adopted by the Board shall include: (1) any necessary clarifications to how the Tier 3 definition is used in 10 V.S.A. chapter 151, including whether and how subdivisions would be covered under the jurisdiction of Tier 3; (2) any necessary changes to how the jurisdictional trigger should be administered and when jurisdiction should be triggered to protect the functions and values of resources of critical natural resources; (3) the process for how Tier 3 areas will be mapped or identified by the ANR and the Board;

The Governor appointed the four LURB member's and they released the premature and obviously incorrect draft map, without defining the rules for the Tier 3 areas. The Administration, LT Governor, used this preliminary and incorrect information on how it would affect rural property owners. Coupled with the Facebook site Vermont Act 181, a campaign initiated to discredit the legislation and create alarm, this caused all the controversy. Why, you ask? Because they oppose the road rule and want development to occur anywhere and everywhere without regard to Act 250. Be careful thinking Act 250 should also be repealed. Those regulations have kept Vermont as we know it, and most are thankful for it. Imagine any type of development in your neighborhoods, including controversial business types, and leach fields next to your drinking water wells. Oversight is mandatory and necessary to avoid such conflicts. Without Act 250, there is no appeal process.

H.955 bill passed out of the House on Friday. This bill divides the state into seven districts and stands up a process for voluntary consolidation. This bill is not proposing forced mergers. Mergers are intended to be voluntary and would need to be voted on and accepted by each district proposing to merge. Some schools have already merged and others have closed. Each of these was based on local control and a vote by the citizens in that district.

Taxpayers can no longer afford the ever-increasing property taxes. However, transformation is going to change how our districts are managed and if we are going to reduce education costs, consolidation and/or closings will be part of the conversations. No one wants their historical schools to disappear. Continuing on the existing system path will only continue to increase costs.

The Governor is threatening to veto this bill and is advocating for forced mergers. I find it confusing that the Governor opposes Act 181 because he wants local control for development but then opposes local control for school mergers. But then, it is an election year, and he will discredit the legislature anyway he can in an attempt to unseat the democratic party members. I apologize for offending anyone reading this for my political opinion. However, follow the news and see that logic seems to be strained in favor of politics.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or need further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached at home by calling 802-885-2949. My legislative email is [email protected] or my personal email is [email protected]

Representative Kristi Morris

Legislative Week in Review
April 10, 2026

This week, I will focus on two bills that are in process and have much controversy. S.325 is in our Environment Committee and is proposing to delay action with Act 181. This bill proposes to drop the Act 250 permitting requirement for development in an attempt to provide incentive for housing. The Act 250 permits are duplicative should a municipality have zoning in place, water and/or wastewater infrastructure, or potable soils. This incentive applies to Tier 1 areas that are within downtown districts, village centers and neighborhood development areas. Additionally, the areas have existing development or has properties available for in-fill development where housing already exists.

Where the controversy enters is with the Tier 3 areas. These are considered to be critical natural resource areas. Specifically, areas where housing would be difficult to build without compromising sensitive resource areas. These could include very steep slopes, wetlands and swamps, wildlife refuge areas and their connectivity to similar areas. Tier 3 areas are being mapped by regional planning commissions with local input.

Act 181 also created a new Land Use Review Board consisting of the Director and four parttime board members. These new board members were appointed by the Governor and are charged with creating the rules and educating the district commissioners. The LURB posted the Tier 3 areas that incorrectly and prematurely covered a larger portion of lands than what is actually intended. The LURB has since taken down the Tier 3 maps, but the damage is done. The maps being created by the RPC’s are far from complete. I can’t help but think the release of the incorrect maps was calculated. The Governor was not a fan of the new restrictive “road rule” or lack of development in the rural parts of Vermont. Afterall, this is an election year and Governor Scott is advocating for additional democratic legislators to be unseated. I could be wrong with my statement, but he, the Lieutenant Governor, or the Vermont Act 181 social media platform have not made any statements relative to the error. The LURB testified before my Environment Committee a week ago and acknowledged the premature release of the preliminary maps. Unfortunately, they have not made any public comment to that affect.

S.325 is proposing to delay the road rule until 2030 and the Tier 3 rules until 2028. The LURB has requested these proposals because the board was staffed late in 2025 and they are not ready to adopt the rules. My Environment Committee continues to take relative testimony and there are other legislators advocating for repeal of the road rule and Tier 3 areas. I’m sure there will be motions to amend S.325 before it is passed out of the House floor.

The Education Committee H.955 bill has been processed out of committee, forwarded to Ways & Means and the Appropriations Committees. It should be on the House floor within the next week or so. This bill is not proposing to suggest forced mergers. It does outline a smaller number of school districts. Mergers are intended to be voluntary and would need to be voted on and accepted by each district proposing to merge. Some schools have already merged. Some towns have voted whether to close their school, or not and some of those have failed. Towns are passionate for their local schools and don’t want to merge with another district.

Taxpayers can no longer afford the ever-increasing property taxes. However, transformation is going to change how our districts are managed and if we are going to reduce education costs, consolidation and/or closings will be part of the conversations. No one wants their historical schools to disappear. Continuing on the existing system path will only continue to increase costs. This bill has a long way to go before passing. The Governor is threatening to not pass the states budget should education transformation not happen within a time frame he can accept. I expect this will continue to be a political issue, like Act 181, because it is an election year. I apologize for suggesting this is a political issue, but unfortunately, we have all heard these topics being discussed and fingers pointed at a specific party to cast blame.

Spring appears to be upon us. Thank goodness for warmer temperatures as we approach the planting and growing season. I continue to advocate for proper disposal of litter. Roadsides and parking lots are not dumping zones for our trash. Please do not dispose of litter in these areas. Take the effort to transport your trash to the next opportunity to dispose of it properly. I’m sure you have seen the trash alongside our roadways, parking lots and ditches. Take pride in your community and do your part to keep Springfield and Vermont cleaner than what you found it.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns or need further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached at home by calling 802-885-2949. My legislative email is [email protected] or my personal email is [email protected]

Representative Kristi Morris