Lawmakers debate mandates, spending and regulatory changes across committee hearings

Lawmakers across multiple committees on May 21 reviewed bills and amendments that would impose or extend mandates, alter spending priorities, expand regulatory authority, and change rights and enforcement provisions in areas including school environmental testing, hospital pricing, data privacy, housing and zoning, cannabis oversight, career and technical education, forensic facility operations, and vehicle-history reporting.

Health & Welfare — H.42, school PCB testing and funding

The Senate Health & Welfare Committee considered H.42 and amendments addressing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) indoor air quality testing in schools constructed or renovated before 1980. Testimony said the General Assembly previously required testing with a 2024 deadline, later extended to 2027, and that the state committed to pay for investigation, remediation and removal when PCBs are discovered. Committee testimony noted approximately $32,000,000 was appropriated in an earlier year for remediation work, including $16,000,000 for Burlington, with additional appropriations and some use of an environmental contingency fund. Committee discussion described 328 affected schools, about 183 of which have had inventories, and noted that 171 schools still require sampling under the program as amended.

Members discussed competing amendment deadlines. The Senate Education Committee language extended the testing program to August 1, 2031 and created a special fund to provide grants to schools for testing; that fund currently had no money. The Senate Finance Committee alternative pushed the deadline to 2035 based on testimony about ongoing litigation against PCB manufacturers as a potential revenue source. Committee members debated whether to support the Education Committee or Finance Committee approach and discussed seeking appropriations or contingency funding sources such as the environmental contingency fund.

Appropriations — S.190 and reference-based hospital pricing

The House Appropriations Committee took up S.190, relating to the Green Mountain Care Board and reference-based pricing. Committee discussion reviewed statute language that would direct the board to use reference-based pricing to reduce hospital prices incrementally until they equal national median prices by hospital type by calendar year 2030, using nonpartisan data comparing prices to Medicare. The statute passed last year directed the board to begin implementing reference-based pricing no later than hospital fiscal year 2027.

Committee members discussed prohibiting hospitals from balance billing patients for amounts above allowed cost sharing and described language directing hospitals subject to steeper reductions to lower commercial reimbursement rates that exceed 500% of the Medicare adjusted base rate, or otherwise reduce the highest commercial rates relative to Medicare. The committee addressed related implementation and rulemaking items tied to prior measures including Act 68 and Act 58 and noted ongoing rulemaking activity.

Commerce & Economic Development — S.71, Act 1970 and consumer data rights

The House Commerce & Economic Development Committee considered S.71 and implementation language tied to Act 1970 concerning personal and public information definitions, consumer rights, and protections for sensitive data. Testimony and discussion focused on whether and how the bill would treat publicly available information, the scope of exclusions from that definition, and the rights of consumers to request correction or deletion. Committee members and witnesses addressed biometric data as a sensitive category warranting additional protections, the deletion and correction processes, exemptions for law enforcement and fraud prevention, and the authority and enforcement mechanisms for controllers and data brokers. The committee debated balancing consumer rights with legitimate business and public-interest uses of aggregated public data.

Natural Resources & Energy — H.775 and duplex zoning

The Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee reviewed a committee amendment to H.775 that narrowed prior Economic Development Committee changes to municipal zoning law. The amendment removed most proposed revisions and retained a change providing that in any district with year-round development, duplexes shall be a permitted use with the same dimensional standards as other uses. The amendment also struck a proposed addition to Downtown Center and Village Center statute language related to recognition as a preexisting new town center.

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Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs — housing bill and housing accelerator

The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee discussed the housing bill (S.328) and related provisions. Committee testimony described retaining and modifying a housing accelerator, codifying a revolving loan fund requested by the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, and technical changes to special investment bonds for the bond bank. Committee members described making certain measures permissive rather than mandatory for modular housing, and noted the bill addresses housing targets in municipal planning and technical provisions related to farm worker reports and other items. The committee also referenced Act 181 in discussion of planning and repeal questions.

Education — CTE credits, mediation and amendments

The House Education Committee considered amendments concerning career and technical education (CTE). The committee changed a provision described as a pre-enforcement intervention pathway to "early stage mediation" responsible for providing early state mediation between CTE centers and sending districts. The committee also added language directing a report with recommendations on adult diploma program participants’ access to educational programs that best serve their needs. A substantive change requires the school board of the high school from which a student wishes to graduate to apply credits or proficiencies earned for a state board–approved CTE program toward graduation requirements; the earlier statutory language had given boards discretion to apply such credits.

Agriculture, Food Resiliency & Forestry — cannabis fees and hemp penalties

The House Agriculture, Food Resiliency & Forestry Committee reviewed amendments affecting cannabis and hemp oversight. Committees amended the cannabis control board special fund to allow deposit of fees from hemp oversight and to authorize the board to collect fees and civil penalties associated with selling unregistered hemp and cannabis products. The committee discussed a sunset clause for authority to waive or reduce licensing fees for craft processors contingent on federal law changes, and technical fixes to language from S.60 and other bills to address governor’s office and stakeholder concerns.

Judiciary — S.193 and forensic facility supervision

The House Judiciary Committee revisited S.193 and an amendment concerning a proposed secure forensic facility. Committee discussion centered on provisions in a draft amendment that strike language limiting the Department of Corrections’ role in the facility and change which agency supervises individuals on release. Members noted earlier versions had limited DOC involvement and assigned supervision and related notifications to other Agency of Human Services departments; the amendment would remove those limitations and shift supervision language. Committee members discussed feasibility plans, rule changes needed for therapeutic community residents, and the legislative review of feasibility and potential facility actions.

Transportation — study on vehicle-history and reporting requirements

The House Transportation Committee discussed a late Senate-added study provision on third-party vehicle defect and vehicle-history reports. Testimony explained the provision arose from a constituent complaint about previously unreported vehicle issues and asked for information on whether dealers or others should be required to report defects to history databases. The Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Administration expressed concerns that the provision would assign a consumer-protection function to an agency without data, expertise or authority for that work and urged seeking testimony from the Attorney General’s Office; other witnesses discussed the potential scope of mandatory reporting and the purpose of the study.

Conclusion

This report covers committee meetings held May 21 across Health & Welfare, Appropriations, Natural Resources & Energy, Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs, Education, Commerce & Economic Development, Agriculture, Judiciary and Transportation. Committees addressed proposed mandates, spending commitments and funding mechanisms, expansions and clarifications of regulatory authority, enforcement and penalty provisions, and changes to rights and procedural requirements across education, health care pricing, environmental testing, data privacy, housing and zoning, cannabis oversight, agricultural regulation, forensic facility operations, and vehicle-history reporting.

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