New Vt. lawmakers receive crash course in governance

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) - When Vermont’s legislative session kicks off in a little over a month, there will be a historic number of fresh faces.

Newly elected state senators and representatives this week have been getting a crash course in lawmaking hosted by the Snelling Institute and the Joint Fiscal Office. The training covers everything from how to write a bill to working with the judicial and executive branches and the press.

One-third of the legislature is new and this is the longest orientation in the program’s 20-year history. Organizers say the new lawmakers will have a major impact on the legislative dynamic.

“There is a great loss of institutional knowledge and these people will have to build on that. They will have to lean on their colleagues and work to establish that institutional knowledge as they go forward,” said the Snelling Institute’s Mark Snelling.

The legislative session kicks off on January 4.

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