Vermont committee clears S.122 after Senate removes baby-bonds sections amid data and equity concerns

The Vermont House Committee on Commerce & Economic Development approved the Senateamendment to S.122 on May 30, 2025, after the Senate removed three sections of the bill that would have created a "baby bonds" pilot program.

Senator Randy Brock, representing the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs, told the House committee the Senatedeleted sections 8, 9 and 10 because members raised multiple concerns and felt there was insufficient time to resolve them. "The more we discussed the more concerns erupted," Brock said, adding the change was made so the policy could be debated further and likely returned to the Legislature next year.

The Senate amendment removed provisions that would have authorized a pilot program described in the bill as limited to three counties in the Northeast Kingdom and that in practice would have begun with teenagers about age 15 rather than infants. Brock said members worried the pilot's limited geographic scope and choice of age cohort would not reliably test long-term outcomes.

Lawmakers raised equity concerns about preselecting beneficiaries based on parents' current economic circumstances for a benefit that would not be realized for decades. Brock told the committee some members questioned whether state government should run the program at all or whether nonprofits might be better suited to administer it.

Committee members and Brock also highlighted gaps in available data. Brock said the Senate did not see analyses that would show how many people born in Vermont remain in the state 20 to 30 years later or how parental income at birth correlates with long-term outcomes. He said the Senate asked for information on how Connecticut and other states developed and validated their approaches but had not received sufficient evidence in the time available.

The discussion included technical questions about funding and administration. Brock noted the baby-bonds concept had been discussed in prior sessions: an earlier version relied on state dollars but the bill had been modified to allow private funds administered by the state. Committee members asked how collected funds would be tracked and disbursed and whether confidential tax-department matches could supply cohort retention data; Brock said those specifics were not presented to the Senate.

After discussion, the House committee voted to accept the Senate amendment to S.122 as presented. The transcript does not record a formal roll-call tally or the names of a mover and seconder for that specific motion.

Committee members and Brock agreed the questions raisedincluding pilot design, geographic limits, the program's long time horizon and data availabilityneed more study before a policy is enacted. Brock said the Senateand the committee are likely to revisit the baby-bonds concept in a future session.