 to get started. Okay, well thank you all for coming out today. My name is Anne Watson and I am delighted to announce that I am running for Vermont State Senate. I'm running for the Senate to represent Washington County District because I care deeply about Central Vermont and its residents. I will be a strong experienced voice to fight for a livable planet and protect working families. While there are many topics I feel are worth fighting for, I'm particularly passionate about equitably transitioning off the fossil fuels, expanding access to health care and supporting Vermont's working families. You may know that I've been the mayor of Montpelier for the past four years and a city counselor in Montpelier for the past five years prior to that. But besides serving as Montpelier's mayor, I'm also a wife, a new mother, a teacher, a union member, and a former Ultimate Frisbee coach for Montpelier's residents. As a teacher, I work every day with students who are worried about the impact of climate change. If we're going to substantially decarbonize our lifestyles, we need policymakers to take climate science seriously and to rapidly ramp up our transition off of fossil fuels. During my time on the council and as mayor, the city has made significant progress in reducing its carbon emissions, sourcing nearly 40% of its energy for municipal operations from renewable sources. Just a few days ago, I was on the town hall zoo meeting with the senators from Washington County. One of the issues that came up at that meeting was that people were worried about the eligibility, their eligibility for Medicaid and that eligibility going away. And recently, the CEO of GoFundMe was quoted as saying that nearly a third of all donations to the GoFundMe site are for medical costs. We know that our healthcare system is broken in many ways. The gold standard for me is universal single payer, and I will work towards that end or towards any legislation that improves access, affordability, and increases benefits. Earlier, I mentioned working to protect working families. That means many things to me, but it certainly includes increasing access to high quality childcare and paid family leave. As a new mom, I'm now experiencing firsthand the trouble of finding high quality, affordable care. According to the study by Let's Grow Kids in Washington County, 72% of infants that are likely to need care are in fact without access to regulated care. Vermont is leading the country in equitable public education, so I know we can solve the issues around childcare. Similarly, we need paid family and medical leave to support working parents of young children and those who must care for sick or elderly family members. According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, even unpaid leave under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act is inaccessible for 65% of remonters. And also, according to them, paid leave means people, especially women, are not forced to leave the labor force to care for their families. The legislature got very close a couple of years ago to passing paid family leave, and I believe it's an issue that could pass in a future session. Vermont's economy has the potential to grow, and the quality of life for remonters has the potential to improve if we can provide high quality childcare, paid family leave, affordable housing, and health care to all who need it. Which is why, as your senator, I will work to increase access to high quality childcare and paid family and medical leave. You may have heard that Senator Polina is not seeking re-election. I have a deep respect for Senator Polina and the work that he's done on behalf of Washington County. I particularly appreciate that he led the charge for Vermont's Green New Deal. These are some big shoes to fill, and I hope I can measure up to his level of service. I've spent nearly 10 years dedicated to leading Montpelier, and now I'm committed to serving all the people of central Vermont as we navigate financial, economic, and social challenges. Thank you again, everybody, for coming out today. And if you have any questions, I'd be happy to chat. Thank you so much. Yay! That's a great question. So I know there was at least one representative, Mary Hooper, who was the mayor and was a rep at the same time, and I have a great deal of respect for her in doing that, especially going into the Senate. I anticipate stepping down as mayor, if elected. Yeah, sure. Well, so especially since COVID, there's been a really a real openness about people talking about mental health needs, and even among students. You know, they get that they need to be socializing. They need to be out, you know, taking care of themselves, and a lot of them, even like their families, are having a hard time. And so one of the things that I am taking from that is I know that mental health is often not, it doesn't receive the same level of attention or care in the health care world. And so that is going to be a priority for me as well, especially in conversations around health care. Yeah. And have state government can work with local government? Sure. Well, I think that there are some of things that, watch it in the back, I see local government as a place where municipalities can try things out where we can be a laboratory. And I know we've, in my opinion, have certainly pushed the edge on some things. And I think that is an opportunity for state legislature, the state legislator, to see what's working and to take on issues at the state level as well. So being in touch with the local representatives and what's happening at the more ground level, you know, the one step closer to the street, so to speak, is a really important way for people to, for the legislature, to stay in touch with what is really important to folks. Is there anything that you've led in Montpelier that you think could be brought to like specific proposals that you have? Yeah, sure. Well, just as one example, we did pass a plastic bag band that ended up not passing as a charter amendment, but the state took on as a whole. So that was pretty delightful for us. But one of the things that we have pioneered here is non-citizen voting. And we know that we have, how do we have confidence that the system is working? We've already had one election where non-citizens were allowed to participate. And as we collect more data from that, I think that is going to be an opportunity, a topic that I think could expand to other other towns and perhaps the state as a whole. Yeah, yeah, thank you. Great. Any other questions? Yeah, okay, great. Super. All right.