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).

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.

Governor Scott kicked off the Legislative session by congratulating Vermonters on their ability to “turn catastrophe into opportunity” in the face of the flooding this past year. He quoted Calvin Coolidge, saying that “the indomitable courage of Vermonters is stronger than ever.”

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.

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.

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.

Senator Lyons, Chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee discussed some of the primary issues they would be addressing during the 2024 session. Her overall emphasis was on Health Care access. Act 81 would address health care related to housing and homelessness.

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.

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).