Vermont's Legislative Preview for Week 8

February 19– February 23, 2024

Note: Legislative Committee Agendas are updated frequently throughout each day. The latest committee schedule can be found on this link. A list of weekly hearings for all committees can be found here.

 House Committee Work

 Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry – will continue work on H.706, an act relating to banning the use of neonicotinoid pesticides and take up H.128, an act relating to removing regulatory barriers for working lands businesses.

 Appropriations – will continue work on the FY 2025 budget. There will be a public hearing on Tuesday at 5:30 pm so the committee can consider public input regarding their work.

 Commerce and Economic Development – will take testimony on their areas of budget jurisdiction. They will hear about Serve, Learn, and Earn, the Vermont Training Program, and the Working Lands Initiative. They will get a walk-through of a new draft of H.707, an act relating to revising the delivery and governance of the Vermont workforce system on Thursday, and they will be drafting their letter to Appropriations on Friday regarding their recommended spending. Many are following the committee’s work on H.121, an act related to data-privacy. This has yet to appear on this week’s committee schedule.

 Education – On Tuesday the committee will discuss their bill, an act relating to the development of an updated State aid to school construction program. On Thursday morning they will take testimony regarding education cost drivers. Thursday afternoon there will be a joint hearing with Ways and Means regarding education funding.

 Environment and Energy – will spend much of the week on the Act 250 bill, H.687, an act relating to community resilience and biodiversity protection through land use. They will take up H.812, an act relating to threatened and endangered species on Wednesday.

 General and Housing – will possibly vote on H.132, an act relating to establishing a homeless bill of rights and prohibiting discrimination against persons without homes. They will take testimony on: H.617, an act relating to residential rental application fees; H.616, an act relating to providing protections against eviction; H.686, an act relating to measuring progress toward statewide and regional housing targets; H.553, an act relating to the right of entry following a tax sale; H.556, an act relating to requiring mobile home park flood risk disclosure; H.639, an act relating to disclosure of flood history of real property subject to sale; H.704; an act relating to compensation in job advertisements; H.449, an act relating to creating a short-term rental housing registry; H.137, an act relating to expanding the Vermont Housing Improvement Program; and H.829, an act relating to creating permanent upstream eviction protections and enhancing housing stability.

Senate Committee Work

 Agriculture – will review S.197 as related to PFAS. They will hear from the Cannabis Control Board regarding cannabis regulations. On Thursday they will consider S.301, an act relating to miscellaneous agricultural subjects.

 Appropriations – will continue work on the FY 2025 budget hearing from the Secretary of State’s office; getting a budget review from the Commissioner of Finance; Judiciary; Department of Corrections; Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs; and Agency of Natural Resources.

 Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs – TBA. 

 Education – will hold committee discussions on the following bills: S.220, an act relating to Vermont’s public libraries; S.204, an act relating to reading assessment and intervention; S.303, an act related to literacy and the Vermont Imagination Library; S.167, an act relating to amendments to education law; S.207, an act relating to revising the funding for and governance of career technical education; S.191, an act relating to New American Advancement Grant Applicants; S.203, an act relating to the appointment of State Board of Education members; S.238, an act relating to the Board of Trustees of the VT State Colleges Corporation; S.216, an act related to making governance structural changes to the Vermont State Colleges; Board of Trustees; Office of Chancellor; S.171, an act relating to the legal residency of a student following displacement by a natural disaster; S.304, an act relating to Vermont’s career and technical education programs; and, S.172, an act relating to the Education Bill of Rights for children who are deaf, hard of hearing or deafblind. They will also spend more time on S.284, an act relating to the use of electronic devices and digital and online products in schools.

 Finance – will take up S.199, an act relating to mergers and governance of communications union districts with a possible vote on Tuesday. The remaining schedule is TBA .

 Government Operations – On Tuesday the committee will vote on H.554, an act relating to the charter of the Town of South Hero. They will continue work on S.55, an act relating to authorizing public bodies to meet electronically, under Vermont’s Open Meeting Law, with a possible vote on Wednesday and spend time on S.310, an act relating to natural disaster government response, recovery and resiliency. They will work on S.159, an act relating to the county governance study committee and receive introductions to H.516 and H.518, acts relating to approval of amendments to the charter of the City of Essex Junction and the Town of Essex.

 Health and Welfare – will work on: S.189, an act relating to mental health response service protocols; S.302, an act relating to public health outreach programs regarding dementia risk; S.192, an act relating to forensic facility admissions criteria and processes; S.151, an act relating to pay parity and transparency in health care; and S.98, an act relating to Green Mountain Care Board authority over prescription drug costs. On Wednesday, the committee will hear testimony on a strike all amendment to S.197, an act relating to PFAS and PFOA which proposes to ban products with PFAS by 2030.

 Institutions – will review the Governor’s recommended FY 2024-25 Capital Budget Adjustment.

 Judiciary – will possibly vote on Prop 1 – Elections; sheriffs; qualifications and Prop 4 – declaration of rights; government for the people; equality of rights. On Wednesday they will possibly vote on S.209, an act relating to prohibiting unserialized firearms. They will take testimony on S.150, an act relating to automobile insurance and S.259, an act relating to climate change cost recovery.

 Natural Resources and Energy – will receive an introduction to S.258, an act relating to the management of fish and wildlife on Tuesday with a possible vote on Thursday or Friday. On Wednesday the committee will vote on S.213, an act relating to the regulation of wetlands, river corridor development and dam safety.

 Transportation – will continue work on the FY 2025 transportation budget.