Peter Hirschfeld

Where Vermont gets its energy, and how many tons of greenhouse gas emissions it generates, will be one of the most pressing policy questions for lawmakers and the governor when they return to Montpelier on Wednesday.

The road to getting anything big accomplished this year in Montpelier is going to require collaboration between Democrats and Republicans. Here are some of the key issues to watch.

Jill Krownski was elected to a third session leading the House of Representatives, defeating a independent challenger. The leader of the Senate, Phil Baruth, also retained his seat as president pro tempore.

But in the broad strokes, Scott teased a plan that would overhaul Vermont's byzantine school governance structure and see the state assume a direct role in deciding how much districts spend.

Scott used his weekly media briefing Wednesday to announce legislation that would create clearer legal standards for when a defendant can be held without bail. He said the provision will address a practice that his administration has coined “catch and release.”

A first-in-the-nation policy that seeks to reduce the amount of fossil fuels Vermonters use to heat their homes would add an estimated 58 cents per gallon to the cost of heating fuel over the next 10 years, according to a report issued this week by a key regulatory body.

The overriding question for lawmakers this year isn't how the Legislature is going to hit its emissions-reduction requirements, but whether to keep them in law.

Old medical bills that have reached “terminal bad debt status” can be purchased for pennies on the dollar from collectors and health care providers. Officials are planning to introduce legislation to utilize that opportunity for Vermonters.

Economists say the Vermont and national economies are performing far better than economists predicted six months ago, and that “aggregate measures of economic activity have rarely been better.”

Money. School choice. Local control. The governor's plan wades into treacherous political waters.