Peter Hirschfeld
ReporterHelp shape my reporting:
The Vermont Statehouse is often called the people’s house. I am your eyes and ears there. I keep a close eye on how legislation could affect your life; I also regularly speak to the people who write that legislation. The more I hear from you, the better I’ll be at my job. So, what issues do you want lawmakers to focus on? What info do you most urgently need?
I'm eager to hear from you. Get in touch here.
About Peter:
Peter Hirschfeld covers state government and the Vermont Legislature. He is based in Vermont Public’s Capital Bureau located across the street from Vermont’s Statehouse.
Hirschfeld is a Vermont journalist who has covered the Statehouse since 2009, most recently as bureau chief for the Rutland Herald and Times Argus. He began his career in 2003, working as a local sports reporter and copy editor at the Times Argus.
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The event, which draws about 20,000 people a year, has been held at the state airport in Highgate since 1985. But the state of Vermont will no longer let the organization use that site, and they’ve been unable to secure an alternative location. -
“I can’t ever remember feeling as bad about a vote as I do on this one,” Sen. Ann Cummings, the Democratic chair of the Senate Finance Committee, told her colleagues after voting to advance the education reform bill Thursday. “But it will move us forward.” -
A state budget plan that appears to have the support of Republican Gov. Phil Scott would hold back more than $100 million in anticipated revenue surpluses to deal with potential cuts to federal spending by Congress. -
Republican Gov. Phil Scott has postponed a rule that would have required 35% of all vehicles delivered to Vermont car dealers to be zero emission, starting in model year 2026. -
Lawmakers in Montpelier scramble to finish a bill aimed at alleviating Vermont’s housing crisis. -
The Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund aims to raise $1 million for the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, a Burlington-based nonprofit that has represented more than 300 people in immigration proceedings over the past year. -
Economic officials and immigrant advocates are urging lawmakers to consider bolstering supports for the 30,000 foreign-born Vermonters that make up a growing share of the state’s workforce. -
Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s nearly decade-old push to exempt military pensions from state income taxes hit a key milestone Tuesday when the Vermont House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation that includes tax breaks for retired servicemembers. -
The state employees union and administration officials agree that there's a staffing crisis in Vermont's prisons. They're not on the same page when it comes to how to solve it. -
Vermont lawmakers are considering postponing or even eliminating some of their key spending priorities as they attempt to gird next year’s state budget against potentially drastic cuts in federal funding.
