The House General & Housing Committee met on Tuesday with Kathleen Berk (Executive Director, Vermont State Housing Authority) who had sent a letter to the Committee the week before.

Two different Committees covered a new Housing Designations Report from the Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD) this week. The report focuses on creating vibrant places for Vermonters to live and work.

In the House Environment & Energy Committee on Thursday, Chairwoman Sheldon asked about public engagement and Chris Cochran (Director of Community Planning & Revitalization, Department of Housing & Community Development) stressed the input was largely municipalities and staff at planning and regional agencies, the public also was engaged but they were asked to respond to questions like “what is working and what is not?”

Maura Collins (Executive Director, Vermont Housing Finance Agency) presented to the Senate Economic Development Committee on Tuesday, noting that this year the Vermont Housing and Finance Agency (VHFA) is celebrating 50 years.

The loans they provide end up going to 94% first time homebuyers. 70% are also offered down payment assistance etc. The median borrower income is $67,950. They also offer rental housing development along with the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board.

The House Education Committee reviewed H.820 on Thursday with Legislative Counsel.

The Senate Education Committee took up the 2200 rule series, which deals with independent school oversight, with Jennifer Samuelson (Chair, Vermont State Board of Education) and Sarah Buxton (Special Counsel, State Board of Education) on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, three different Committees took up housing and land use issues. The Senate focused on a new proposed Act 250 framework that would change the incentive structure and land access for housing. The House Committees covered some of this as well, but also heard from non-profits asking for more investments in permanently affordable rental housing. 

Representative Stebbins appeared before the Committee on Tuesday to introduce her bill, H.194. She prefaced the conversation by saying that she does a lot of work nationally around the rollout and management of energy programs.

The Senate Finance Committee had the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) review S.160 on Friday afternoon to review a fiscal note on the bill. The bill would reimburse municipalities for education property tax payments to property owners who had their properties damaged during this past year’s flooding events.

Chairman Marcotte introduced Representative Brumsted as Co-Chair of the Government Accountability Committee along with Senator Brock. Brumsted shared with the House Commerce Committee that she has served in the Legislature nearly eight years and she was partly responsible for “sunsetting the previous committee” as the statutory authority was not sufficient.

Chairwoman Ram-Hinsdale introduced Representative Hango to the Senate Economic Development Committee on Thursday. Hango gave a simple and emotional endorsement of H.719 and mentioned some experiences surround the lack of housing in her and other legislator’s districts. Read more…

The House Ways & Means Committee reviewed H.679 on Friday morning with Representative Stevens, the sponsor. He recognized that changing the use of the Property Transfer Tax (PTT) is a political decision, but he feels the state needs to start addressing the housing crisis with these funds. He is proposing to create a surcharge for properties over $600k of 2.0% (an increase from 1.5%).

Joined by the House Education Committee on Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee dove into their weekly briefing on education spending and property taxes. Chairwoman Kornheiser thought that the Committee might get to solutions in the next week or two.

The Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) reviewed an updated Education Fund Outlook that had updated the 2024 numbers to reflect the Governor’s recommended budget adjustment.

On Thursday the House Education Committee had Legislative Counsel walk through a summary of H.677, which is intendent to provide funding for statewide student support system. The bill, as introduced, would make two separate appropriations totaling $800,000 from the Education Fund.

The Senate Natural Resources Committee convened their first meeting of the session on Thursday. Chairman Bray went around the room asking each member of the Committee what their top priorities were.

Chairman Stevens invited Alex Farrell (Commissioner, Department of Housing & Community Development) and Shaun Gilpin (Housing Division Director, Department of Housing & Community Development) to provide overviews and updates to the House General & Housing Committee on Friday.

Chairwoman Ram Hinsdale kicked off the Senate Economic Development Committee on Wednesday, noting a Joint Hearing on January 17th with the Senate Judiciary and Health & Welfare Committees regarding public safety in our downtowns and our housing issues (possibly 9-12 AM, but not official yet).

The Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) presented the Education Fund Outlook based on the December 1^st letter from the Tax Department to the House Ways & Means Committee on Wednesday.

Jeff Fannon, Executive Director of the Vermont NEA, was asked by the Senate Education Committee on Thursday to speak about cost containment. He shared that the Act 46 consolidations were a few years ago and “One of the reasons I supported it at one point was the educational opportunity piece, and we've never examined what additional educational opportunities Act 46 has provided to students” that reside in those consolidated districts.

Sue Ceglowski, Executive Director of the Vermont School Boards Association (VSBA), welcomed the Senate Education Committee back to Montpelier on Thursday and shared her organization’s priorities for 2024. She started by focusing on Act 29, the School Safety law, which required school districts to adopt policies on access control and visitor management by August 1st, 2023. However, the Agency of Education (AOE) its guidance in September, and the VSBA worked with the AOE to align their model policy with the revised guidance.

On Wednesday morning, the Senate Education Committee reviewed their 2023 bills with Legislative Counsel. Bills that were passed but not signed into law were looked at as possible priorities. These included S.133 (miscellaneous) and S.134 (school construction).