Vermont Legislature

Gov. Peter Shumlin and legislative leaders say this is the year to take action to clean up Lake Champlain and other polluted waters. The sense of urgency was heightened last week when the legislature held an unusual joint assembly to hear dramatic testimony from business and environmental advocates about Lake Champlain in crisis.

A bill that would make it more difficult for parents to avoid mandatory vaccinations for their children is unlikely to be debated this year. Legislative leaders say they have other, more pressing, priorities.

A central part of Gov. Peter Shumlin's plan to boost Medicaid reimbursement rates is his guarantee that the plan will reduce private health insurance premiums by 5 percent. But a top state health care official says that guarantee is anything but certain.

The annual election of the Statehouse sergeant-at-arms doesn’t usually carry much drama. But there was plenty of intrigue on Thursday, when lawmakers ousted longtime incumbent Francis Brooks in favor of his challenger, Janet Miller.

With the national outbreak of measles, there's been a lot of focus at the Statehouse on exemptions to Vermont's mandatory childhood immunization law. But some lawmakers want to be certain that all teachers are fully immunized as well.

In his budget address at the start of the session, Gov. Peter Shumlin proposed a small payroll tax to provide new revenue that would be used to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates that are paid to health care providers.