House panel keeps transportation authorization, strips one-time EV charger transfer; debates funding for mileage-based fee

The House Appropriations Committee on March 21 adopted language that would implement the governor’s recommended transportation program but voted to remove a one-time appropriation that would have transferred $1.4 million from the Transportation Fund to an EV charger program.

The committee’s decision keeps the T bill (transportation authorization) as the mechanism to adopt the administration’s program while striking a standalone transfer that had been placed in section 13 of the draft bill.

Why it matters: committee members said the bill is primarily an authorization measure for projects and programs at the Agency of Transportation (AOT) and that appropriation language — particularly the $1.4 million transfer for level 1 and 2 chargers at businesses and multiunit residences administered by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) — would be better handled in a different vehicle or with clearer budget offsets.

Damien Leonard, legislative counsel, told the committee that “the very first highlight in sections 1 and 2 is that this bill proposes to adopt the governor’s recommended transportation program in its entirety” with only one technical change to correct a typographical error in the rail program and replace a prior project with repairs to the White River Junction rail depot roof. He also walked members through provisions that would change the Green Mountain Transit…