Lawmakers Hear Testimony on Homelessness, Wetlands, Taxes, Health Scope and Other Bills in Multiple Committees
The Legislature held a series of committee hearings April 15 that covered proposals affecting homelessness response and secure transport of children, wetlands and housing development rules, a proposed state surtax on investment income and changes to personal income tax rates, opioid-related special fund appropriations, and expansions of health professions’ scopes of practice. Committees taking testimony included Senate Health & Welfare, House Environment, House Education, House Ways & Means, Senate and House Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs, House Health Care, House Energy & Digital Infrastructure, House Human Services and others.
Health & Welfare (Senate) — homelessness bill H.38 and related provisions
The Senate Health & Welfare committee reviewed H.38 and related statutory language on homelessness response and related protections. Testimony from advocates and providers addressed the bill’s creation of a coordinated statewide homelessness response and detailed concerns about tiered shelter structures, conditioning shelter on participation in treatment, segregation risks for people with disabilities, and termination provisions. Witnesses urged continued engagement with the committee on specific sections.
Committee discussion and testimony also addressed statutory provisions about unaccompanied youth certification that would permit certain youth to obtain services and benefits without parental permission, including a driver’s learner permit, and a series of conforming changes tied to that certification.
The committee reviewed language on transportation and restraints for children. Draft statutory text discussed fees for certain applications — a $24 fee and an $11 fee cited in committee remarks — with those fees not to apply to certified unaccompanied youth. Members walked through definitions including “secure transport,” defined in part as transport in vehicles with disabled internal controls for rear door handles and window switches or with a safety partition separating driver and passenger compartments.
The bill text and testimony set out documentation, oversight, and reporting requirements tied to restraint use in transport. Section language discussed that documentation for use of restraints “shall be completed prior to transport” unless use occurs during transport, in which case documentation may be completed after the fact. The draft would prohibit the use of waist shackles on children 12 years of age or younger. Use of waist shackles on children 13 or older would require assessment and written documentation showing they were the sole means of preventing serious physical harm, and only designated law enforcement agencies could use waist shackles on transported children. The commissioner would ensure supervisory review of documentation, and the Department for Children and Families (DCF) would be required to submit an annual written report by January 15 to policy committees and the Office of the Child, Youth and Family Advocate detailing the number of secure transports in the previous year, transports involving restraints, and demographic data for transported children.
Section 10 of the draft would require a one‑time DCF report in December on restraint-of-children practices during transport, including contracting with law enforcement, departmental oversight and supervisory review of secure transport, mechanisms for departmental data collection and review on mechanical restraints, contractor materials and requirements, and written policies to effectuate the law. Section 11 would direct the Criminal Justice Council, in consultation with other entities, to review whether use-of-force policy should include an appendix addressing law enforcement transportation of children.
Health & Welfare — funding changes in S.1 (substance misuse special fund)
Senate Health & Welfare reviewed changes to S.1 affecting special fund appropriations for FY27 from the Substance Misuse Prevention Special Fund. Committee staff described consolidation of subdivisions for opioid-related special fund appropriations and listed allocations in the draft: $1,200,000 for recovery residence beds and $800,000 for the Department of Health to distribute to recovery centers.
Committee remarks noted other FY27 appropriations and a $287,000 request to DPS for public safety and teen farm reduction and strategic community intervention efforts, and described deletion of a prior House subsection that would have required the Department of Health to review prior special fund appropriations by December 1 and make recommendations.
Environment (House) — wetlands rule amendments, housing-related allowed uses and Act references
The House Environment Committee took testimony on an amendment package and draft language tied to wetland rules and “allowed uses” for housing, including discussion of S.25. Witnesses including a policy director for a conservation organization and agency counsel reviewed: an allowed-use framework for certain housing projects in designated growth areas and adjacent areas served by public sewer and water; a proposed timeline that would require project registration with the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) on or before January 1, 2030 for projects using the allowed-use provisions; notification requirements to ANR within 30 days of construction start; and required best management practices and erosion control measures incorporated into rules.
The committee also discussed professional wetland consultant certification provisions directing the secretary to adopt rules establishing qualifications, experience requirements, application and renewal procedures, and standards for delineations and assessments, with a rebuttable presumption of accuracy for delineations performed by certified professionals and review procedures for ANR to challenge delineations inconsistent with scientific standards.
Members and witnesses debated the scope of allowed uses, clarifying that the drafts did not permit housing or buffer intrusions for mapped Class I wetlands or mapped Class II wetlands with their 25‑foot buffer, but did include provisions for certain unmapped wetlands and limited circumstances tied to designated growth areas. Act references discussed included Act 181 and Act 121; testimony noted Act 121’s flood safety and mapping provisions and concerns about the pace of wetlands mapping and permitting.
Ways & Means (House) — proposed investment proceeds tax and personal income tax changes
The House Ways & Means committee reviewed proposals to establish a Vermont Investment Proceeds tax (a surtax on investment income) and changes to personal income tax brackets. Presenters described the federal net investment income tax mechanics and thresholds and how the draft Vermont surtax would be structured. Key points in committee discussion:
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The draft Vermont Investment Proceeds tax would follow the federal approach that taxes the lesser of net investment income or the amount of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) exceeding specified thresholds; the draft cited MAGI thresholds (for example, $200,000 for single filers) consistent with the federal definitions in current federal law. Revenue estimates presented to committee staff put annual revenue from the proposed investment proceeds tax near $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2028, with staff estimating roughly 12,000 tax returns would be subject to the tax in the first year. The draft included specific adjustments and additions to the federal base that Vermont staff identified would be necessary for the state version, and discussion covered trust rules, treatment of state and local obligations issued outside Vermont, small business stock gains, and interactions with existing income tax provisions. Committee members also reviewed proposed changes to the personal income tax, including a new top marginal rate and thresholds that would create an additional bracket; staff described percentages and threshold examples in the draft and compared Vermont top‑rate proposals to top rates in other states.
Testimony and staff presentations spelled out calculation examples for how the surtax and marginal rate changes would apply in sample taxpayer scenarios.
Education (House) — community schools funding and Act references
House Education received testimony about community schools implementation and related appropriations referenced in Acts 168 and 67. Witnesses described federal and state funding for community schools, noting an Act 168 allocation of $1,000,000 broken into pots that supported community school grantees (with $575,000 cited for existing cohort grantees) and described leveraging state investment to attract additional grant funds. Presenters discussed program implementation timelines, evaluation partnerships with UVM, and measures such as reductions in chronic absenteeism and disciplinary referrals tied to community schools work.
Health Care (House) — scope-expansion bills S.64 and prescribing and specialty requirements
The House Health Care Committee heard testimony on S.64, relating to expansion of optometrists’ scope of practice to create an advanced therapeutic procedure specialty. Agency and Office of Professional Regulation representatives outlined specialty requirements including education, training, preceptorships and competency demonstrations. Committee discussion covered required clinical training hours, preceptorship requirements (including eight hours of supervised clinical training with specified procedures), continuing education, initial specialty application fees, and rulemaking authority for boards to set standards and conditions on prescriptive authority.
House Health Care also discussed H.237 and H.2 in passing as committee business and scheduling matters.
Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs (Senate) — data privacy bill H.2, ticket resale S.5, digital consumer concerns
Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs took testimony on H.2 (data broker and consumer privacy provisions) and on S.5, a bill addressing ticket resale practices. For H.2, Consumer Reports and other witnesses discussed registry, registration fees, bonding requirements, deletion and opt‑out mechanisms for consumers, and enforcement and reporting structures for data brokers. Witnesses discussed exemptions and alignment with other state laws, and described potential administrative and enforcement implications for the Attorney General and Secretary of State.
On S.5 and ticket resale, presenters described venue and artist concerns about bots and scalpers, proposed resale price caps (discussed in testimony as 10% caps in some contexts and a 110% cap on resale price with fees included in some drafts), consumer deception with secondary market listings, and options for statutory enforcement and venue protections. Testimony included venue operators and industry representatives arguing that price caps and registration or disclosure requirements would protect consumers and local venues.
Energy & Digital Infrastructure (House) — H.1 website accessibility and weatherization testimony
House Energy & Digital Infrastructure considered web accessibility implementation planning tied to H.1, including training for web editors, dashboards for resolving accessibility issues, and ongoing compliance processes. The committee also received testimony from weatherization and energy service providers about federal earmarks and appropriations for weatherization, capacity for low‑income weatherization programs, and coordination with Efficiency Vermont and local agencies.
Human Services (House) — S.239 and recovery residences
House Human Services met to review drafts of S.239 and heard testimony from people with lived experience and providers on recovery residences and homelessness-related provisions. Testimony addressed recovery residence practices, structure, eviction and conduct rules, the role of graduated sanctions and supports, and the committee reviewed and voted to advance a final draft in the meeting record.
Conclusion
Committees across both chambers heard testimony and reviewed draft statutory language and budget allocations on April 15, 2026. The hearings covered a range of material topics highlighted by mandates and reporting requirements for child transport and restraints, appropriations from substance misuse and opioid‑related special funds, proposed tax changes including an investment proceeds surtax and personal income tax bracket adjustments, wetlands rulemaking and allowed uses for housing in designated areas, expansions of health professions’ scopes of practice, data broker registration and consumer deletion rights, and ticket resale regulation. The proceedings involved testimony from state agencies, advocacy groups, service providers, and industry representatives across the Senate and House committees noted above.
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