Committee reviews technical amendments: $1M VHFA shift, position conversions, other budget fixes

Senate appropriations committee members and staff spent a meeting reviewing technical corrections to a budget bill and preparing an urgent amendment to bring to the floor.

A fiscal staff member told the committee, "In Section B1100, this would be striking out the entirety of Subdivision N and then serving a new subdivision n, in its place ... removing a $1,000,000 appropriation to VHFA for the first generation home buyer and instead adding that million dollars to the 135 that was originally appropriated in Subdivision N, for the other VHFA programs." The change would consolidate VHFA funding so up to $1,000,000 of the consolidated appropriation could be used for the first-generation homebuyer program.

Why it matters: Consolidating the Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) appropriations keeps related housing funds together and preserves flexibility over which VHFA programs may receive those dollars. Committee members discussed whether the…