VCV’s Rising Star Award Winners (w/ Sen. Anne Watson and Rep. Mike Rice)

This week we unveiled the 2024 Environmental Common Agenda, coalescing the priorities of a record 19 environmental organizations into one publication. We held a press conference in the state house with fellow advocates along with support from House and Senate leadership to give an overview of our collective priorities. Later that evening at a reception in downtown Montpelier we awarded Senator Anne Watson (D/P-Washington) and Representative Mike Rice (D-Dorset) with VCV’s Rising Star Award. The VCV Rising Star Award is presented to two freshman legislators who have shown immense leadership and demonstrated thoughtful championing of our environmental priority policies. On this week’s episode of the Democracy Dispatch Podcast, I sit down with the winners to talk about their journey to serving, what they’ve accomplished in just their first year, and what they’re hoping to get across the finish line by the end of the biennium. 

Also in the episode, Lauren Hierl catches up with Senator Christopher Bray (D-Addison), chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, to hear what their committee is prioritizing this year.