Good evening,
It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to have been elected to represent the Windham/Bennington district in the Vermont House of Representatives for the past four years. Despite our efforts, this district, which includes the towns of Dover, Readsboro, Searsburg, Somerset, Stamford, Wardsboro and Whitingham, was eliminated in the 2022 Vermont reapportionment and redistricting process.
Today I am announcing that I will run for re-election to the Vermont House of Representatives for the newly created Windham-2 District which includes the towns of Dover, Jamaica, Somerset, Stratton and Wardsboro.
In my four terms as an elected member of the House, I am proud to have brought the voices of my communities to the statehouse and that my collaborations with others in the House, Senate and Governor’s Office have brought about progress on policies related to rural equity, climate change and human rights.
I’ve have been relentlessly outspoken about the need to correct Vermont’s school funding formula and pupil weights, and was a driving force in legislation which has just been signed into law by the governor that begins to make those corrections. I’ve provided leadership for major broadband and climate change policy including broadband deployment bills in 2019 and 2021 which supported the creation of CUDS, the creation of the Vermont Community Broadband Board and which provided $250 million in funding for community fiber buildout; the 2020 Vermont Global Warming Solutions Act and a $45 million Municipal Energy Resilience Initiative passed this year.
One of the characteristics of Vermont that I find most hopeful is our continual collective efforts to ensure we treat all human beings with dignity and respect. In that spirit, I have been proud to co-sponsor significant human rights legislation H.57 of 2019 which protects Vermonter’s rights to bodily autonomy and banning the gay panic defense in this year.
Visit with Governor Scott and Senator Balint to Readsboro to hear about help needed for broadband issues.
If voters in the Windham-2 District elect me to represent them, I will do my best to advocate on their behalf and on behalf of our state. There is ongoing work on modernizing our infrastructure and ensuring our rural communities benefit from that modernization, helping our citizens adapt to changing climate, land use, improving our education system and protecting human rights. And while the state has been awash in federal funds these past few years, those funds are going away and solutions will require collaboration, hard work and long term strategic thinking. These are the traits I will bring with me to represent Windham-2 if re-elected to the House.
To the voters in Readsboro, Searsburg, Stamford and Whitingham:
In 2023, your towns will become a part of the Bennington-2 District along with Woodford and Pownal. This November you will elect a representative that lives in one of those towns to represent you in Montpelier. It has been a privilege working with community members in Stamford on broadband, school collaborations and emergency services coordination. Similarly, residents and voters in Readsboro sounded a statewide alarm about landline telephone service and the need for assistance to towns as they grapple with the effects of stronger storms due to climate change that has led to major legislative initiatives being passed, and Searsburg residents have insisted state transportation officials need to do a better job communicating with rural communities that experience regular emergency needs due to weather. Your local residents are often first responders to winter traffic pileups at the 2100′ elevation micro climate on Route 9. Thank you to Whitingham’s school and town officials who have worked so hard to correct our funding system. Thank you all for communicating with me and working with me to seek solutions for your communities.
While it is not possible to agree with the points of view of every citizen on every issue, I gave voice to your residents concerns and fought for your communities as hard as I could while serving on your behalf in the People’s House. I will still be your representative throughout 2022, and will ask to meet with your new representative to shed light on legislative issues that are undone in your communities. Thank you for the trust you placed in me to represent your communities interests.
I maintain a blog site with regular postings about legislative and district happenings at www.laurasibiliavt.com and will be hosting a campaign kickoff as well as multiple events which will be publicized in the coming weeks. Please invite me to your community events, and I will make every effort to attend. If you’d like to reach out, I can be reached by email at lsibilia [at] leg.state.vt.us or by phone at 802-384-0233.
Running to represent two new towns that I have not previously represented means volunteer and financial support are needed and appreciated. Those wishing to support my campaign can request signs and make contributions on my blog site, or mail to: Laura Sibilia for VT, PO Box 2052, West Dover, VT 05356.
Kind regards,
Rep. Laura Sibilia Dover, Readsboro, Searsburg, Somerset, Stamford, Wardsboro, Whitingham
running for election in 2022 to represent Dover, Somerset, Stratton, Jamaica and Wardsboro