Committee hears request to restore broadcast-warning language to bill; appropriation amount uncertain

The committee discussed restoring statutory language that would allow several state radio stations to broadcast warnings during all-hazard events after the appropriation that originally funded equipment was removed from the bill.

Committee members said Vermont Associated Broadcasters had sought language enabling about seven state radio stations to carry emergency messages but that the $200,000 appropriation in an earlier draft had been struck. A committee member said the appropriation may be reintroduced in the senate package but that the final amount could be smaller than originally requested—“it might be a hundred, might be a hundred and fifty,” the transcript reports.

Senators instructed staff to restore the broadcast-authority language to the bill while removing a specific appropriation from the statutory text, and to coordinate the appropriation separately in the budget or senate package. Wendy Mays, identified as a spokesperson for Vermont Associated Broadcasters, had raised the request with the committee and appeared before members in earlier testimony, the committee said.

No formal appropriation was adopted during Thursday’s session; committee members said language will be reinserted and funding will be considered as part of later fiscal negotiations.