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Senator, representative brief council: education, health care and housing top concerns for 2026 session
Summary
Sen. Anne Watson and a state representative told the council the upcoming legislative session will be driven by budget pressures — education/property-tax reform and health‑care funding — and discussed housing, transportation and flood mitigation priorities.
Senator Anne Watson and Representative Zach Boutin met with the council to outline what they expect from the 2026 legislative session and to hear local priorities.
"The two big ones that I think are going to dominate are...education and the property taxes, and the second being...health care and the budget," Senator Watson said, stressing that reductions in federal support (notably Medicaid flows) could leave the state with a smaller budget and difficult tradeoffs. Representative Boutin and other delegation members emphasized that education reform (Act 73 and the foundation formula), housing affordability and transportation funding are all on the table and that everything is "on the table" in the context of needed fiscal changes.
Mayor and councilors highlighted local priorities they want the delegation to pursue: regional flood mitigation funding and coordination, water/wastewater permitting reform to reduce development costs, pilot housing subsidy ideas to support new homebuilding and questions about how to mitigate the transportation fund shortfall (including a mileage-based fee and reassessing who pays for road use). The delegation said they will take local input back to committee work and follow up with draft language or pilot proposals for the council to review ahead of formal bill drafting deadlines.
