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.

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.

The House Judiciary Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee held a joint hearing on Wednesday to cover concerns surrounding public safety. Jennifer Morrison (Commissioner, Department of Public Safety) talked about the lack of accountability. Even those arrested note that Vermont has a reputation for being soft on crime and has a catch and release policy without any regard to the harm being done by repeat offenders. While police continue to do their job of seeking out and arresting criminals, their actions must be accompanied by consequences.

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. 

The House Commerce Committee heard updates from experts on Tuesday about the Green Mountain Jobs Retention Program.

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.

The Senate Government Operations Committee reviewed S.224 on Tuesday, which would increase legislative pay and benefits.

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.

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).