2026 Legislative Mid-Session Update

As we approach the mid-point of the 2026 legislative session, known as crossover week, House and Senate lawmakers are scrambling to vote bills out of committees and send them “across” to the other chamber.

Now is a critical time to make your voice heard. If a piece of legislation does not cross over to the other chamber before the March 13 crossover deadline, it is unlikely to be signed into law this year. Since this is the second year of the two-year legislative session, legislation that does not pass will have to start over as a new bill next year.

Join us in urging your lawmakers to act now to defend and advance the civil liberties of everyone who calls Vermont home, as detailed below:

Protecting immigrants’ rights and accountability for law enforcement – especially ICE – have been top of mind in our communities and the legislature this session.

Right out of the gate, the Senate began work on requiring proper identification of state and federal law enforcement officers (S.208) and protecting sensitive locations from immigration enforcement (S.209). Both these bills cleared the senate with votes of 27-2 in support and are currently under consideration by the House Judiciary Committee. The Senate Education Committee is also working on a bill (S.227) to set standards for protecting students when faced with potential immigration enforcement in schools and hopes to send the bill to the House before the crossover deadline.

The Constitutional Accountability Act (H.849), which aims to provide people in Vermont the ability to sue federal agents for constitutional violations, got its first hearings in the House Judiciary Committee last week. The committee looks like they are trying to get the bill to the Senate before the crossover deadline.

There is also significant work being done across the State House and with the administration to improve legal access for people detained for immigration enforcement and the conditions they are experiencing in the Department of Corrections. We continue to advocate for H.742 a bill to provide legal representation in immigration proceedings and we will see how those efforts shake out in the coming weeks.

The strong public support for this work has been one of the primary drivers behind the legislature’s committed focus on these issues this year. Continue to contact your legislators and urge them to advance legislation that protects our immigrant communities and says no to secret, unaccountable police in our streets.

Legislative efforts to expand access to emergency shelter and create a comprehensive plan to address homelessness in our state have faced significant opposition from the Scott administration this session. Even at a time when only the most vulnerable can access our state’s General Assistance Emergency Housing program, the administration is still demanding further cuts that would put people out in the cold. It’s also rejecting proposals to create a plan to successfully transition away from this plan in the future.

We are deeply concerned that the administration’s commitment to unshuttering people will have devastating impacts on our communities and unhoused neighbors who are already bearing the brunt of the state’s decisions to reduce necessary supports over the past few years.

This is why we are asking you to contact your lawmakers and ask them to reject the governor’s proposals and move forward with solutions that will increase access to necessary shelter and services.

In December, the Agency of Health and Human Services announced proposed rules that would limit access to gender affirming care for youth by prohibiting Medicaid from using federal funds to cover this care and withholding federal funding from hospitals unless they stop providing this care. In response, ACLU VT has been working with our supporters to submit comments to the federal government opposing this rule change to document the potential harms to Vermonters and build a strong record of opposition. The ACLU and partner organizations are committed to challenging these rules in court if they are finalized.

To preserve access to care here in Vermont, we are continuing to support state-level conversations between providers, advocacy groups, and state officials work to find creative solutions to protect patient access, like H.576. We will continue this work in the state house and in the courts if necessary, and we hope you will continue to contact your elected officials and call on them to ensure continued access to essential gender affirming care in Vermont.

In recent years, we have seen significant increases in the number of people incarcerated by the state of Vermont, especially those being held pretrial who have not been found guilty of a crime. This session, we are working with our legislative allies to advance policies that reduce unnecessary interactions with law enforcement and to invest in people, not prisons.

S.144 and H.895 both aim to eliminate nonpublic safety traffic stops to address overpolicing and racial disparities in traffic stops on Vermont roadways. Unfortunately, neither bill has received a hearing as we near the crossover deadline.

Similarly, H.885 looks to reduce police interactions with pedestrians by stopping state entities from penalizing individuals for engaging in life sustaining activities like sleeping on public property. This bill was introduced this session but has not received a hearing.

Beyond these bills our advocates have been working with legislators to address concerning amendments to existing laws and to advocate for increased police accountability for all law enforcement officers, including federal officials.

Economic justice is central to our civil rights and civil liberties, and it's time for the wealthiest to pay their fair share. There are a lot of tough decisions facing lawmakers this session--but increasing taxes on Vermonters who make more than $500,000 a year shouldn't be one of them. In the face of cuts to federal programs that benefit all of us and will only further stretch state and local budgets, it is vital that our leaders act now.

With bills like H.621, We have an opportunity to recapture some of these funds by raising taxes on the wealthiest 1%. We can redirect that money towards essential investments in our communities: fixing our roads and bridges, investing in housing and health care, protecting the environment, and more – but lawmakers need to hear from you.

What happens in the next few weeks will have a significant impact on what polices become law this session and on the lives of the people who call this state home. We hope that you contact your legislators on these important issues using the links above and connect with them when they come back to their communities for Town Meeting week.

The voices of Vermonters are essential to ensuring our state moves forward with policies that advance and defend the civil rights and civil liberties of everyone who call this brave little state home.