2025 Legislative Session Recap

2025 Legislative Session Recap

The 2025 legislative session officially adjourned in mid-June — much later than has been the norm. It was a long and challenging session due to an abundance of budgetary needs and a scarcity of resources. Back in January, legislative leaders were clear that key priorities for the session were education finance reform, alleviating the housing crisis, and health care reform. Given this budgetary environment, Cathedral Square’s top three priorities fared pretty well!

As in past years, our priorities centered around the need for additional investments in long-term care, affordable housing, and SASH.

Key Legislative investments in our 2025 priorities:

1. Increase Funding for Long-Term Care – A modest increase of 2% was approved for Medicaid providers as well as an increase for Enhanced Residential Care (ERC) and home-based Choices for Care Services to get those rates closer to the recommendations of the 2023 DVHA Rate Study.
2. Investment in Affordable Housing – Approximately $36.9M was allocated to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB), the primary state funder for affordable housing. This amount is the full statutory share of the Property Transfer Tax to VHCB — a big accomplishment! Additionally, another $5M in one-time funds was allocated to VHCB for housing. A new program called the Community and Housing Infrastructure Program (CHIP) was created which will provide a new source of funds needed for infrastructure for future housing projects.
3. Preserve and Expand SASH – Crucial funding was provided in the 2026 budget to ensure SASH continues during the gap year between when the All-Payer-Model ends (12/31/25) and the start of the AHEAD model (1/1/27) as the primary funding source for the statewide SASH model. Also included were the funds for CS to administer SASH across the state which includes staff training, data management and reporting, and quality assurance.

We could not have made this positive progress on our own. We are fortunate to work in partnership with similar mission-focused organizations through coalitions such as the Long-Term Care Crisis Coalition (LTCCC), the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont (HHAV), and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Coalition (VHCC), to name a few. We are grateful to the Legislature and the Administration for the support they provided for our 2025 priorities.

Other valuable legislation passed that will support older adults, including S.51 which increases military retiree pension exemptions and raises the income threshold at which Social Security income can be fully exempted — from $50,000 to $55,000 for single and from $65,000 to $70,000 for married tax filers.

A bill regarding Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services will require that the Agency of Human Services develop a calculation of the true cost of providing care in community-based settings and communicate it on an annual basis to the Legislature. The bill does not require that the calculated rates are funded but will provide the quality data needed for full consideration in the budget process.