Vermont Governor Phil Scott delivered his inaugural address this afternoon shortly after he was sworn into to his fifth two-year term in front of a joint session of the Legislature.
In one of his first official acts, Republican Lieutenant Governor John Rodgers moderated the joint session. Rodgers’ election had been affirmed by a joint session of the legislature earlier in the day.
After ceremonial items were concluded, Republican Phil Scott was sworn in and he then
swore in the state’s constitutional officers leading to a quip from the new Lieutenant Governor.
“I haven’t heard so much swearing since I left the farm!”
During his inaugural speech, Scott focused on affordability and said there are too many expensive mandates that local communities cannot afford.
“Regardless of how well-intentioned these policies are, they’re expensive and require resources. Too many bills are passed without considering the impact on communities,” Scott told lawmakers.
With Democrats in the majority despite GOP gains in November, Scott called on representatives to set aside politics and pass bills that benefit the entire state, reminding them they are in Montpelier to do the people’s work. And he noted voters are restive.
“We’re here to do what Vermonters need and they just sent a very clear message,” noted Scott. “They think we’re off course. Vermonters told us loudly and clearly they expect us to get back on course, to spend within their means, and above all else, make Vermont more affordable for them.”
The Governor reiterated that the root cause of many of the state’s problems is demographics.
“It’s clear you cannot separate affordability and demographics. So both need to be at the center of all we do. As I say all the time, we need more taxpayers not more taxes,” Scott said.
Scott also called on legislators to be bold and make changes needed to address education costs.
“While educators, administrators, parents and kids are doing their very best to make things work, the statewide system is broken and failing them. The bottom line is our statewide system is out of scale and very expensive. And as obvious as these challenges are we haven’t been able to fix it. Let’s have the courage to fix the entire system,” Scott urged.
Following the speech, Democratic Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski said she was excited to hear the governor’s ideas regarding education reform.
“We have all been talking about how we need to work together to ensure that our kids have the best education that Vermonters can afford. And to hear the Governor talk about specific ideas around classroom ratios and school consolidation and all of those things, like I’ve been saying, we have to put them on the table,” Krowinski said. “And we can’t do this alone. We need the Governor with us in the room crafting solutions together. And so that is my big takeaway from this. This is the place where we’re going to be working together to pass big policies to make change.”
Governor Scott said he will deliver his budget address in two weeks.
Democrats lost supermajority control of the House and Senate in the November elections.
