laurasibiliavt.com · Rep. Laura Sibilia · September 7, 2026
Rep Sibilia: Labor Day Update – Vermont State Representative Laura Sibilia
# Rep Sibilia: Labor Day Update
On September 7, 2026 By Rep. Laura Sibilia In Uncategorized
Good evening friends and neighbors,
I hope you’ve had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend.Tj and I were able to spend time in our gardens, with family and friends and got on a great hike in the White Mountains.
Welcome home to the members of Vermont’s 158th Fighter Wing after long deployments overseas. I am very glad to see our Vermonters coming home to their families. This has been an unusually demanding and uncertain period for many people connected to our military, service members, officers, civilian employees and especially military families. Please check in on the military families you know.
Labor Day grew out of the labor movement in the late 1800s. The first Labor Day celebration was held in New York City in 1882, and Congress made it a federal holiday in 1894. There is also a direct connection to Labor Day and this year’s election. Vermonters will vote in November on Proposal 3, a proposed amendment to the Vermont Constitution to establish a constitutional right for employees to organize and collectively bargain over wages, hours, working conditions and workplace safety. I’ll include information on Proposal 3 and the other constitutional amendment on the ballot in my voting guide so you can read what they actually do before you vote.
As Election Day gets closer, I am watching federal actions around voting very closely. I have confidence in the local and state Vermonters who run our elections, but I am concerned about actions and rhetoric that can confuse voters. More on that below.
## Voting
Since my last update, the federal government has continued seeking voter data from states, including Vermont, and there is an ongoing legal fight over federal rules affecting voting by mail. Vermont has declined to provide protected personal voter information and is challenging those demands.
Vermonter’s voting options have not changed.
The State is proceeding with mailing General Election ballots to active registered voters. Ballots will begin going out during the last week of September. You can vote early through your town clerk, or vote at the polls November 3.
My advice is to make a plan for how you will vote, and encourage your family, friends and neighbors to do the same.
I recently put together a voting guide specifically for Dover, Jamaica, Somerset, Stratton and Wardsboro with voting options, candidates, polling information and other useful details. Read my Windham-2 General Election and Voting Guide
You can also check your registration, mailing information and ballot status through Vermont’s Voter Portal at vote.vermont.gov.
## Windham Regional Plan
S econd Public Hearing on Draft Windham Regional Plan A second public hearing on the draft Regional Plan will be held on Monday, September 21st at 6:00 p.m. The hearing will take place at WRC’s office, 139 Main Street, Suite 505, Brattleboro, and remotely via Zoom.
- For additional information and remote meeting access, click here. - Guidelines for Requesting Tier 1 Exemption & Revisions to Future Land Use Map, click here - Report on Conformance with State Planning Goals & Required Plan Elements, click here
## AI: What Do Vermonters Need To Know?
In my last update, I wrote about the increasingly difficult to answer questions artificial intelligence is elevating on privacy, cybersecurity and government accountability.
Last month, at the Vermont Digital Government Summit, state officials shared that Vermont is participating in the State, Local, Tribal and Territorial version of Project Glasswing, an AI cybersecurity initiative run by Anthropic, the company that created Claude.
Project Glasswing reports to give selected organizations access to a powerful AI model which has been designed to find cybersecurity weaknesses. Anthropic says the technology is powerful enough not only to find vulnerabilities, but also to develop ways to exploit them.
I have asked the Agency of Digital Services what Vermont agreed to, what the model can access, what safeguards and human review are required, who approved the arrangement and what legal or financial obligations Vermont assumed. While I have received some information, I do not have answers to all of those questions yet. I’ve also requested that the Joint Information Technology Oversight Committee, which I serve on, take this up at our September 30 meeting.
Separately, I have asked Legislative Counsel to draft legislation establishing a basic principle as Vermont government uses more AI: legal responsibility must remain with a human being.
High powered tools for finding vulnerabilities could make our state IT systems safer, AND Vermonters have a right to know when their government begins working with technology this powerful, what it is being used for and what protections are in place.
Winter Heating: I am increasingly concerned about heating costs this winter. Heating oil prices are heavily affected by volatile national and global markets. We won’t have the federal government’s full winter price outlook until October, but I am concerned.
The current price spike is one reason I have spent so much time looking for ways to help Vermonters use less heating oil and propane, or at least have more protection from unpredictable prices when they still need those fuels. Unlike electricity and utility natural gas, the retail price of heating oil and propane is not regulated by the State. Those prices can move quickly with regional and global markets.
Efforts to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and efforts to place more responsibility on the fossil fuel industry, have faced significant organized and well-funded opposition, both nationally and here in Vermont. That doesn’t mean every policy Vermont has contemplated has been the appropriate one, but the underlying problem remains: too many Vermont families depend on fuels whose prices we have very little ability to influence.
If you think your family may need help, don’t wait for a heating emergency. Vermont’s Seasonal Fuel Assistance can help eligible homeowners and renters, and Crisis Fuel Assistance is available for heating emergencies. Fuel Assistance recipients may also qualify for free weatherization.
Consolidated/Fidium I continue hearing concerns about telecommunications service, including especially Consolidated Communications/Fidium. If you are experiencing repeated outages, long repair times, billing problems or other service failures, please report them.
The Department of Public Service’s Consumer Affairs and Public Information Division (CAPI) helps consumers resolve utility disputes and creates a record regulators can use to identify broader service problems. Please don’t assume someone else has already reported the problem. Regulators need actual customer data.
Vermont’s $92.7 Million Meta Settlement Vermont is set to receive $92.7 million from Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, in a settlement over allegations involving harm to young people. Meta denies wrongdoing, and the settlement still needs court approval. The suit was brought by Attorney General Charity Clark.
Rep. Monique Priestley has been one of the leaders in Vermont and nationally on children’s online safety and privacy. She has proposed putting substantial settlement dollars toward youth mental health and using a portion to build stronger privacy and digital-protection enforcement in the Attorney General’s Office. I agree we should do both. The Legislature and the Governor will have to decide how Vermont uses this money.
Help with Medicare More Vermonters can now get help paying their Medicare premiums. For one of the programs, the 2026 monthly income limit is $2,687 for one person and $3,645 for a married couple. There is no asset limit, and Vermont doesn’t count all of your earnings from work. Other Medicare Savings Programs can also help