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 language should require at least $1,000,000 be spent on the first-generation homebuyer program; one senator said, "Then I'll update it to read not less than 1,000,000." That change would create a minimum spending requirement rather than an optional allocation.

Other technical fixes discussed

- Farm security special fund transfer: The committee reviewed adding a transfer from the general fund to a newly created farm security special fund (the fund is created in a separate bill). The change is a bookkeeping correction to move an appropriation into the correct fund.

- Prior-year appropriation reversion: Staff described an interaction with another bill that had attempted to reduce a $20,000,000 appropriation to the treasurer and appropriate a smaller amount into FY2025. Because of rules about prior-year appropriations, that approach did not work; staff said the other bill will be amended so it appropriates $1,000,000 and, as a result, "rather than reverting just $5,000,000 from that prior year appropriation, we're now reverting the full remaining" amount discussed in the committee.

- Position classification corrections: The committee noted that several state's attorney positions originally written as limited-service extensions need to be converted to permanent exempt status. A staff explanation summarized that "9 positions are being converted to permanent exempt rather than just being extended as limited service for 1 year," and that two district coordinators of the land use review board "are exempt positions not classified."

- Adult education distribution language removed: Committee staff said they plan to strike a subsection proposed by Senator Westman that would have altered per‑pupil (per‑head) distribution of adult education funding; the committee agreed to remove that language as part of the technical amendment.

Process, documents and next steps

Committee members discussed the practicalities of floor presentations: members will use the web report and a short set of handouts showing one‑time appropriations and language changes. Staff and members agreed to a flexible order of presentation on the floor so senators can present the sections they are responsible for rather than strictly following bill order.

Harvey of the Office of Legislative Council described an urgent amendment and said it is currently being offered "from center lines and the chair" and would "move that the senate concur" with the house amendment by striking and replacing the identified section. Staff said the amendment will be placed on the calendar for Tuesday and that Joint Fiscal Office staff will be available by email on Monday for questions.

No formal roll-call vote or final floor action was recorded in the meeting transcript; committee members discussed next steps and planned to finalize language over the weekend or at the committee session on Tuesday.