The Vermont Senate concurred in the House’s proposal of amendment to S.124, an act addressing miscellaneous agricultural subjects, following committee discussions that focused on a change in how state authority would relate to the Federal Clean Water Act and on manure-application language.

Senator from Essex explained the committees met jointly and discussed three main changes in the text. The senior Senator from Rutland described concern over a change in section 31352 (powers of the secretary) that altered the bill’s phrasing from requiring consistency with the Federal Clean Water Act to a new formulation described on the floor as tying state rules to be “at least as stringent as” the federal Clean Water Act. He said that change effectively moved the federal standard from a ceiling to a possible floor and raised concern among some agriculture committee members because it could give the Agency of Natural Resources broader authority.

The Senator from Washington, chair of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, described two other notable changes found in the House’s proposals of amendment: an emergency-manure-application provision that the Department of Agriculture said matched original intent, and language that pegs statutory references to the Federal Clean Water Act as they stood on Jan. 1, 2025, similar to language in H.397 to preserve consistency if federal rules shift over time. The Natural Resources committee took a straw poll and reported support for concurrence by a 4–0–1 vote.

Senator from Essex said the Senate Agriculture Committee had tried to stay narrowly focused on farmer benefits and that while some committee members were reluctant about aspects of the returned text, the majority favored concurrence to avoid the bill stalling and to produce a usable result for farmers.

The Senate voted to concur in the House proposal of amendment; floor remarks record the ayes prevailing and the Senate’s concurrence with the House amendment on S.124.