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.

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.

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

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.”

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.