[{"_1":2,"_100":-5,"_101":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6564819,"mediaKeyId","3247757-637bd7a777330d951faebfa6fd2cf813","parentId",3247757,"title","Votes at a glance: House takes action on multiple bills; several postponed","audioSeconds",1566,"startMs",1234000,"endMs",2800000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3247757-637bd7a777330d951faebfa6fd2cf813&start=1234&end=2800","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3247757-637bd7a777330d951faebfa6fd2cf813/thumbnail_1234000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6564819/Vermont/Votes-at-a-glance-House-takes-action-on-multiple-bills-several-postponed","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6564819-fc0a19bb479c985be2c84d41ea625b20/orig.mp4?Expires=1777341322&Signature=djAs8Pd2TH-TzFizTuVjIiFkD3iQAjU-ncAJ7GsmWkeMVum1O5suuVQVKzemAMP~38cR0i1Nn53qpVJCc-jj4YPhkgrRN2czZo0jQwbwfMM44PUAqHowjoKt8K38ya9HpUp7XM9TXeIdm3FlV3tQUCwU6Jt94zLF3vgm1re7gfknnmBlmvFp19Dyv~i3on6ft2DKCZKmJrAPlzwJkpBu75bW2K9U18RAn9j4TNGi0n7AvgvdaAVl2bPDjU57ozALmzYsX0km84LgnwQR5bAUjFGUtI8bDoA7df9JmbEjjJts5W~1Q7hMHTWFerHV3vSXkEmIFALkVXbL0317vAxFVQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Vermont Legislature","date","2025-05-09T13:38:00Z","article","The House handled several short items and calendar motions in a brisk floor session. Key outcomes:

- H.230 (management of fish and wildlife): After committee reporting, the House passed H.230 on third reading by voice vote. The bill clarifies that the commissioner's permit authority for import, transport and possession of wild animals applies to reptiles and amphibians and prohibits commercial taking or sale of wild birds or animals unless permitted; violations may be subject to penalties under 10 V.S.A. \u0000\u0000. The committee did not amend section 8 and recommended passage.

- H.248 (supplemental childcare grants and child care financial assistance program): The House passed H.248 by voice vote after a brief clarification on a prior committee vote count.

- S.117 (rulemaking on safety and technical corrections; employment practices and unemployment compensation): The House voted to propose the committee-recommended amendment to the Senate and ordered third reading (see separate article for details).

- H.398 (Vermont Economic Development Authority and disaster recovery loan fund): The House concurred in the Senate'returned amendment concerning consideration of prior state disaster assistance when evaluating loans (see separate article for details).

- SB124 (miscellaneous agricultural subjects): The House suspended the rules to take Senate Bill 124 off the notice calendar and committed it to the Committee on Environment. The motion to suspend the rules passed by voice vote.

Postponed/delayed items:

- H.41 (abuse of a dead body): Postponed one legislative day to Tuesday, May 13.

- S.125 (workers' compensation and collective bargaining rights): Postponed to Tuesday.

- H.98 (confirmatory adoptions): Postponed to Tuesday, May 13.

Procedural and ceremonial items:

- The House read H.C.R. 93, congratulating Kathleen Lynch of Burlington as Vermont's 2025 Mother of the Year; the resolution was adopted by the consent calendar and the guest was recognized on the floor.

- Various guests and school groups were acknowledged; the House adjourned until the next scheduled session.

Votes noted on the floor were voice votes and committee-reported outcomes; no roll-call tallies were recorded on the transcript for those items.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","House Session: 2025-05-09-9:30 a.m.","oneSentenceSummary","The Vermont House passed H.230 and H.248, advanced S.117 procedurally, concurred in a Senate amendment to H.398, and postponed or delayed action on several bills. A motion to take up S.124 off the notice calendar was approved.","taxTitle","HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Committees, Legislative , Vermont","taxId",29454,"location","Vermont","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6564824,"House concurs with Senate amendment creating Vermont disaster recovery loan fund, narrows eligibility to avoid duplicate aid",274,2521000,2795000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3247757-637bd7a777330d951faebfa6fd2cf813&start=2521&end=2795","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3247757-637bd7a777330d951faebfa6fd2cf813/thumbnail_2521000.jpg","/articles/6564824/Vermont/House-concurs-with-Senate-amendment-creating-Vermont-disaster-recovery-loan-fund-narrows-eligibility-to-avoid-duplicate-aid","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6564824-72414a50705a56cb65b1ffd2f5e6ecc9/orig.mp4?Expires=1777341322&Signature=RLTdyo3kCScZNm9Pz6j0OvQrugM1pP~vBNaXN3GPetc6np22ahUE5YKmCGDnRLZuAeiPRtPmUx6WomF9KphMb7e1iQTvRprp71u-ZF0SVk770OoD7f59wYT9Ipm5rWS2x6HYHaafIvAVRs-h6i0K0ywPaexOQRbj-khzdcBudY4tZvS2Mz~XOjP8zIOCuyrunV2qgWV8emItCWC0S619go2nXdF6LRujwEgwMv0x2KuDvhM88h-fqP9u3OlhmPQSeGanQw-ilxMUTJLR9P~ooFC8Nk65HwKGfhruZNQNVv5zHbQL2z5rWu4c93wtoSw5q5KIopb0i2sjF5ZWIdaq~Q__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Vermont House voted to concur in the Senate'proposed amendment to H.398, a bill making technical changes to the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) statute and establishing a Vermont Disaster Recovery Loan Fund.

Representative (member from Whitingham), speaking for the House commerce committee, said the bill makes technical corrections to the VEDA statute (10 V.S.A. chapter 12) and establishes a disaster recovery loan fund to provide lending to businesses after a disaster event. The committee noted a related bill, S.60, would establish a Farm Security Special Fund to provide grants for farm losses due to weather; both measures address post-disaster assistance but use different mechanisms.

To avoid duplicate assistance from limited resources, the Commerce Committee amended H.398 so that a business shall not be eligible for financial assistance from the Vermont Disaster Recovery Loan Fund if it has already received state assistance for the same disaster event. The Senate returned the bill with a narrower amendment directing VEDA to consider whether a business had received state disaster assistance when evaluating loans; the House commerce committee voted to concur with the Senate's approach and asked for members' support.

Members questioned whether the restriction applied only to the same disaster event; the committee reporter confirmed it would. Representative from Coventry clarified: \"It would only be for that disaster. It wouldn't be any loans that they received in the past, only if they received a grant or another loan for that same disaster.\" The House then voted in favor to concur in the Senate amendment by voice.

Why it matters: The change seeks to make limited post-disaster funds go further by preventing a single business from receiving overlapping state assistance for the same loss. The fund would expand VEDA's role to provide lending in disaster recovery, but the committee's amendment and the Senate's returned language limit situations in which an applicant could receive duplicate state support.

Details: The committee report noted the amendment adopted on April 29 originally prohibited loans to businesses that had received state assistance for the same disaster event; the Senate's language required VEDA to \"consider\" such prior assistance in its loan decision. The House commerce committee voted to concur with the Senate 10-0-1 before the floor action. The House concurred by voice vote.

Next steps: With concurrence, the bill will proceed toward finalization according to the legislative calendar and any further conference or technical steps between the chambers.","The House concurred in a Senate amendment to H.398 (Vermont Economic Development Authority legislation) that establishes a Vermont Disaster Recovery Loan Fund and adds a provision to consider whether applicants received state disaster assistance for the same event when determining eligibility.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6564829,"House advances bill changing wage, unemployment and workers' compensation rules; rulemaking provisions removed for revision",955,1490000,2445000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3247757-637bd7a777330d951faebfa6fd2cf813&start=1490&end=2445","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3247757-637bd7a777330d951faebfa6fd2cf813/thumbnail_1490000.jpg","/articles/6564829/Vermont/House-advances-bill-changing-wage-unemployment-and-workers-compensation-rules-rulemaking-provisions-removed-for-revision","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6564829-d991b622d220190ad7000542fb944067/orig.mp4?Expires=1777341322&Signature=V7ZpWJWwazp7ph2tgwpXsLC6J3PIiRCPkX5LzhGViNQRLB7dGXjQwiHSz2I~aog07rN2P60lf234RCl6nvIYio-sfwBKBDHOtJbtxeQnXl7mcxT204itm1uRSSdfnp7m5eTTXPKcakZcA-T1gR8ntkjOIO9vHkopxeLOQ3IuEgP1qIL908YtIkipP2OYoLYDVovd3eZje9nIILAyYQ-wwRIlrAeKNC878~C-q~rJac3q3mjWfqf0bbTsQNExHtb~W0rhpUadO4F6zzrAMBUZoGR8xQ4OvkGMQ-FWcHHsRvLaa26yYHBjZP26bV8T5CkOQYZTDLKzoZAOnw8ihJZCBw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","S.117, a wide-ranging bill covering wage-and-hour, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation changes, moved forward in the Vermont House after committee reporters summarized amendments and members voted to propose the committee'recommended changes to the Senate and to order third reading.

The bill's sponsor in the House, Representative Patricia Bosch (member from Clarendon), told members the sections addressing expedited occupational safety rulemaking were removed so the Secretary of State's office and the Department of Labor could continue work on those provisions through the summer. \"Concerns were raised about the expedited rule making process, so the first 4 sections of the bill that addressed that have been pulled,\" Bosch said.

Bosch and committee reporters described the remaining changes and why they matter. The bill codifies an existing wage-and-hour practice by directing the commissioner of labor, when an employer is found to have willfully withheld wages, to require payment of an additional amount up to twice the unpaid wages, with one-half of that additional amount paid to the employee and one-half retained by the commissioner to offset administrative costs. It also clarifies rounding for annual minimum wage adjustments and removes the commissioner's authority to set a subminimum wage for persons with disabilities in the cited statutory provision.

A substantial portion of the bill modifies unemployment-notification and related IT deadlines. Sections 9'16 give employers and claimants the option to receive Department of Labor notices electronically instead of by mail. Section 20 ends the dormancy of the short-term compensation program once the Department of Labor completes a modernized unemployment insurance IT project in 2026. Sections 21 and 21a move statutory deadlines for the IT modernization work from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2026.

Workers' compensation provisions that the committee added include a statutory definition of \"medical case management,\" a requirement that employers pay for translation services when an injured worker is not fluent in English, a claimant-request process for medical case management, and an expanded sliding scale of penalties for late wage-replacement payments (including increasing penalties for repeated late payments). The bill requires employers to report late-payment repayments quarterly to the commissioner and authorizes an administrative penalty of up to $500 for failing to submit that report. The commissioner must track late payments for a year and report to the General Assembly by Jan. 15, 2027.

Representative Burkhart (member from South Burlington), speaking for the committee on ways and means, said the changes are primarily technical and would not materially affect state revenues. Representative Nigro (member from Bennington) said the appropriations committee found no significant appropriation impacts.

After the committee reports, the House voted by voice to \"propose to the Senate to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on commerce and economic development\" and then ordered third reading. The action to move the bill will send the amended text back to the Senate for concurrence and continues the bill's path toward final passage.

Why it matters: The bill collects several technical corrections and substantive adjustments intended to modernize notice delivery, clarify wage-and-hour enforcement, and add procedural protections and penalties in workers' compensation cases. The IT-related deadlines and the reinstatement of the short-term compensation program tie the bill to the Department of Labor's ongoing technology modernization.

Details: The committee record lists testimony from Department of Labor officials and stakeholders including the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council and representatives of industry and insurance interests. The bill as amended is proposed to take effect July 1, 2025, for most provisions; the reporter noted a proposed new title: \"An act relating to wage and hour, unemployment compensation, and workers' compensation.\"","The Vermont House on a voice vote advanced S.117, a broad bill that removes expedited occupational safety rulemaking language, updates wage-and-hour and unemployment-notification rules, and adds workers' compensation provisions including medical case management and penalties for late payments.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Votes at a glance: House takes action on multiple bills; several postponed

House concurs with Senate amendment creating Vermont disaster recovery loan fund, narrows eligibility to avoid duplicate aid

House advances bill changing wage, unemployment and workers' compensation rules; rulemaking provisions removed for revision