Shap Smith

At the Democratic Party's unity rally Wednesday morning, the party prepared for its effort to put the first woman in the governor's office since Madeleine Kunin left it in 1991.

This year's field for Lieutenant Governor is almost as crowded as the gubernatorial race. Three Democrats are running in the primary for the right to face Republican Randy Brock in November.

We start three days of looking at the Democratic field by talking to House Speaker Shap Smith of Morristown.

For the last six years, the same four men have occupied the most powerful stations in Statehouse politics. Their era came to an end shortly after midnight early Saturday morning, when the Vermont Legislature closed the books on the 2016 session. And the building that lawmakers left this past weekend will be a much different place in 2017.

Following the defeat this week of a marijuana legalization bill, House Democratic leaders are exploring the possibility of putting the issue to Vermonters in November with a non-binding referendum.

House Speaker Shap Smith says the House will debate a bill legalizing marijuana Monday.

The 2016 legislation session is in its final days with a number of key issues yet to be decided. Issues like the legalization marijuana, the creation of an ethics commission, and an energy siting bill.

We’re talking with House Speaker Shap Smith about his top priorities for the rest of the session.

Gov. Peter Shumlin wants House Speaker Shap Smith to bring a bill legalizing marijuana to the House floor for a vote, but Smith says he's not going to do this at this time because there's not nearly enough support in the House to pass the legislation.

With the House and Senate deadlocked on a bill legalizing marijuana, a possible compromise is to present this issue to voters in a nonbinding referendum in November.

While Vermont's political system calls on voters to approve proposed Constitutional amendments using a statewide referendum, the process doesn't allow for the consideration of other issues using this approach.

House Speaker Shap Smith says the House will spend the second half of the session closely reviewing a Senate bill that legalizes marijuana. Smith says supporters of the bill have a lot of work to do and doesn't think the proposal has the votes needed to pass at this time.

Town Meeting Day traditionally marks the midpoint of the Legislative session. In the weeks ahead, the Legislature will continue to debate the legalization of marijuana, the siting of renewable energy projects and a new tax on independent doctors and dentists.

It appears likely that more candidates are going to jump into the Democratic race for governor.  Former Windham Sen. Peter Galbraith says he's seriously considering running to ensure that "economic justice" issues are prominently discussed in this year's gubernatorial contest.

Remember those controversial spending thresholds that lawmakers used to try to control school spending in Vermont? Well, they worked. Or not, depending on who you talk to. And new budget numbers from districts across the state have done little to resolve the debate over education spending.

The future of a bill to legalize marijuana is very much in doubt on this first day of the 2016 session. House Speaker Shap Smith says there are still many outstanding questions about the plan, and he doesn't think it's ready for a full debate at this time.

Vermont Lawmakers returned to Montpelier on Tuesday to kickoff the 2016 legislative session. The proceedings included all the ceremonial pleasantries that accompany opening day, but legislators will have to tackle some contentious and uncomfortable issues from the outset.