Howdy, members,
It was a busy week in the Statehouse leading up to Friday's first major deadline of the legislative session: so-called "crossover day," when policy bills are due to advance out of their committees of origin. Even after the slow start to this year's session, Friday's deadline meant a number of bills — some still even in their draft phases — saw a burst of activity, amendments and votes in order to keep them "alive" for the year. That said, the Legislature has quite a bit of latitude to relax their self-imposed deadlines, and it's widely understood that there are yet bills to come that will be granted leeway.
We will be holding our second in-person legislative coffee hour of the session in the Statehouse cafeteria on Wednesday, March 19 from 8 to 10 AM
A second important caveat to Crossover Day is that an initial passage through committee is still, in many ways, only the beginning of a bill's journey. Bills can still be amended before they hit the floor for a House or Senate vote — and in some cases last week, lawmakers were outright about their intent to alter bills post-committee vote.
Take the Senate Economic Development Committee's
housing omnibus bill, which passed by a 4-1 vote in committee Friday afternoon. As it currently stands, the 50-page bill expands the Vermont Rental Housing Improvement Program, creates a Manufactured Home Improvement and Repair Program, establishes a state Infrastructure Sustainability Fund, makes changes to brownfields remediation, launches a new, project-based TIF program, relaxes some of the state's historic preservation standards for housing projects, and much, much more. But the committee was also blatant about the fact that the bill needs further tweaks post-vote, which they plan to make this week before it hits the Senate floor.
That same committee last week also advanced a
labor package, which passed by a 5-0 vote in committee Friday morning. AGC-VT piped up on one provision considered by the committee, pertaining to prevailing wage rates on state construction projects, which would have instituted additional reporting requirements for payroll records for those state projects. Big shout-out to Judy Desrochers — director of finance for J.A. McDonald and resident expert on prevailing wages — who testified to committee on their draft language. She got the point across that this is a complex topic that should not be legislated in a last-minute, slap-dash fashion. (Watch
here. Judy begins around 1:33:30.) The committee has removed the prevailing wage sections from the bill for now, but AGC-VT will be back in the witness chair this week to hold the line as they consider amending the bill.
On the House side, another housing package has moved. The House General and Housing Committee voted 10-1 Thursday afternoon to advance
its own omnibus bill, the highlights of which are key changes to appeals processes on housing projects. The committee's intent is to prevent just a handful of people, tangentially impacted by a prospective housing project, from holding up its permits through endless appeals. The bill would also require that, in order to appeal a project's permits, one would have had to be involved in the project's permit process from the start, and an appeal would have to be made on the basis that the permit was approved due to a faulty process — not just because the appellee doesn't like the project. The committee's goal is to prevent nay-sayers from swooping in at the 11
th hour to pose new opposition to projects, running out the clock.
In other major news last week, Gov. Phil Scott issued his first veto of the session on this year's
mid-fiscal-year adjustment to the FY 2025 budget — a move
he had forewarned to the press on Wednesday before issuing the final veto on Friday. You can read more from VTDigger
here. In his veto
letter, he said he opposed the spending plan for two primary reasons:
-
"Given growing uncertainty around federal funding and the potential for significant funding cuts to critical programs, spending additional general funds in the budget adjustment for expenses that are not time sensitive is irresponsible. These new spending proposals should be considered as part of the FY26 budget to be weighed against other initiatives that may have been reduced due to federal budget cuts.
-
Expanding the free “hotel/motel program,” moves us backwards, reversing important progress made towards reforming this failed program, agreed upon by the Administration and Legislature just last year. After nearly five years of experience, we know this approach is far too expensive and fails our constituents, communities and taxpayers.”
Also big news last week, the Senate greenlit Scott's re-nomination of Education Secretary Zoie Saunders to her post, now on a permanent basis (she has been in the position on an interim basis since last spring). You may remember from last year that Saunders' nomination and confirmation vote, which failed, were quite the political showdown.
This week, career and technical education and this year's annual Transportation Bill will be hot topics of conversation, and AGC-VT will be at the table on both. Speaking of the latter: Remember, we will be holding our second in-person legislative coffee hour of the session in the Statehouse cafeteria on Wednesday, March 19 from 8 to 10 AM. Our topic of discussion for the day will be all things transportation — particularly this year's T-Bill, and the long-term, existential threat facing the T-Fund. I'd love to see a great turnout from members there to meet with lawmakers. If you'd like to join, let me know and I'll make sure you have the e-vite with full details.
Sarah Mearhoff
Director of Advocacy and Communications
Associated General Contractors of Vermont
610-790-4992
