House Appropriations Committee favors S.56 to create study committee on Office of New Americans

The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday voted to favorably report S.56, a bill directing the creation of a study committee to examine whether Vermont should establish an independent Office of New Americans and, if so, how it should be organized, funded and staffed.

Tim Devlin, legislative counsel with the Legislative Council, told the committee that S.56 "is a very simple bill. It's in essence merely creates a study committee to examine the question of should an office of new Americans be created and, what should it look like?" The bill as passed by the Senate and unchanged by the House Government Operations Committee names membership categories, tasks and deadlines.

The bill tasks the study committee with preparing a written report by Sept. 1, 2026, that must include demographic, economic and public-health data on new Americans in Vermont; a survey of models in other states focusing on education, professional licensing, housing and municipal workforce support; consultation with community-based organizations and state agencies; and recommended structure, duties, funding and staffing for any…