Richard Amore (Planning & Outreach Manager, Department of Housing & Community Development) presented a slide deck to the House Commerce Committee on Wednesday morning.

Lauren Oates introduced a number of colleagues on Wednesday morning to help explain the work they do with Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB) funding across Vermont. Michael Monte (CEO, Champlain Housing Trust) reviewed a slide deck profiling a number of projects they have worked on. The three projects reviewed will total 1750 homes over time and about 650 will remain perpetually affordable. None of them would have been possible without the support of VHCB.

The House Education Committee reviewed H.817 on Wednesday afternoon. This bill would prohibit the Vermont State Colleges policies regarding residency for tuition purposes from discriminating or excluding a person based solely on the person’s immigration status. This bill also proposes to require the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) to make state-funded financial aid available to all persons who meet the definition of resident, regardless of the person’s immigration status.

Joyce Judy (President, Community College of Vermont) told the House Education Committee on Wednesday that CCV is one of two institutions which make up the Vermont State Colleges. They complement each other and present a strong system where 95% of students are Vermonters. They actively serve about 10,000 Vermonters – some are full time and some are just taking one course.

On Tuesday afternoon, Chairman Conlon kicked off the House Education Committee by stating “we are at a major inflection point, crisis point, crossroads, whatever we want to call it, and we need to start having pretty broad conversations in this committee with people who are big thinkers in this area.” He indicated that they should be thinking about the tools they have available to deal with the major increase in spending on education.

On Monday afternoon, the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) walked the House Appropriations Committee through a fiscal note of H.850, which would remove the 5% property tax cap in Act 127 and replace it with a step-down mechanism to phase in the property tax hit from 2025 over the next five years. They were unable to calculate the impact of repealing the previous transition mechanism because of its “complex and circular nature,” but the new mechanism will cost the Education Fund $30M in FY2025. JFO pointed out that the property taxes will need to absorb this cost unless another funding source can be found.

The House Ways & Means Committee pushed through an adjustment this week to Act 127 that would remove a 5% tax rate cap and instead put in a graduated 'step-down' program that phases in the tax rate impact of the legislation over a five year period. This is the first in a series of actions that the Committee is considering to address the historic school spending and property tax increase this year.

The Senate Economic Development Committee spent most of the week working on their draft bill titled 'BE Home'. The bill would overhaul the current Act 250 framework and development designations into a new mapping structure.

The Vermont State Ethics Commission presented a $210,353 budget to the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, plus its annual report for 2023. Christina Sivret (Executive Director, Vermont State Ethics Commission) noted that the Commission received fifteen complaints (a 400% increase), twenty-nine complaint inquiries (a 163% increase), four advisory opinion requests (a 100% increase), and twenty-five guidance requests (a 19% increase) in 2023.