As Vermont’s climate goals grow more ambitious, so do the policy demands coming from its most urbanized county — Chittenden. Home to both the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore, and heavily represented on nearly every major legislative committee, Chittenden County has become the de facto center of political gravity in the state.
In fact, with so much of the state’s leadership living and working in or around Burlington, some Vermonters have begun to ask a practical question: If the climate crisis is as urgent as many lawmakers insist — and if emissions reduction is a top policy priority — wouldn’t it make more sense to move the State Capitol closer to where most legislative activity already originates?
The irony is hard to ignore. The same lawmakers who champion Vermont’s emissions targets, transportation mandates, and decarbonization plans also log dozens of miles each week traveling between Burlington and Montpelier. With the vast majority of committee chairs, legislative leaders, and high-profile advocates already concentrated in Chittenden County, a relocation of the Capitol might not just be symbolic — it could be logical under their own framework.
A County of One: Who Holds the Power?
Chittenden County, which includes Burlington and surrounding towns, makes up about 24% of Vermont’s legislative delegation — 7 of 30 senators and around 36 of 150 House members. But it holds far more than 24% of the power.
In the current 2025–2026 session:
- Senate President Pro Tempore: Phil Baruth (D/P – Burlington)
- Speaker of the House: Jill Krowinski (D – Burlington)
- Two of three members on the Senate Committee on Committees, the body that assigns all Senate committee positions, are from Chittenden County
- Speaker Krowinski assigns all House committee members and leadership — a power granted by House rules
- Chittenden County lawmakers hold multiple committee chairs and vice chairs in both chambers
While the Senate shares committee assignment authority among three members — the Lt. Governor, the Pro Tem, and one senator elected by the body — two of those three are from Chittenden County. In the House, the process is even more centralized: all assignments and leadership appointments are made solely by the Speaker, who is also from Burlington.
The result? While most counties have one or two members on top committees, Chittenden County places two, sometimes three, legislators on the very panels that shape the state’s fiscal and policy agenda: Appropriations, Finance, Housing, Environment, and Energy.
Chittenden County leads with 26 seats across major committees — more than three times the next-highest county, Washington. The top two counties, both among Vermont’s wealthiest, dominate legislative committees, while rural counties like Essex, Orleans, and Grand Isle barely register.
Decisions for All, Made by a Few
None of this is to suggest that Chittenden County lawmakers are acting in bad faith. But geographic concentration matters. Policymaking shaped by a narrow lens — urban transportation, college-town housing models, progressive economic theory — may not reflect the lived experience or priorities of Vermonters in Addison, Caledonia, or Bennington.
Major legislative initiatives, such as the Global Warming Solutions Act, Clean Heat Standard, and renter protection expansions, have largely been designed, championed, and passed by lawmakers clustered in Chittenden County. These policies have statewide impacts, yet are often crafted with limited representation from regions that will feel their economic weight most heavily.
In recent years, Vermont’s Legislature has grown more ideologically uniform — but also more geographically concentrated. With supermajority control, Democrats have had every opportunity to diversify their leadership ranks by region. Instead, they’ve doubled down on Burlington.
Symbolic, or Structural?
Proposing that the Capitol be moved to Burlington isn’t a serious logistical suggestion — Montpelier still stands as Vermont’s legal and historic seat of government. But the idea raises real questions: When power is so thoroughly concentrated in one county, when one region of the state determines priorities for all, and when lawmakers demand sacrifice in the name of environmental urgency — shouldn’t we also consider whether our governing structure reflects the values being legislated?
A move to Burlington would cut down on emissions, reduce long commutes, and better align our policy process with the priorities being pushed by Chittenden County leadership. Or, at the very least, it might remind us that geographic representation is more than symbolic — it’s structural.
Until that balance is restored, the Capitol may still be in Montpelier — but increasingly, Vermont’s future is being written somewhere else.
Dave Soulia | FYIVT
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