Lawmakers, DHR spar over H.244 local-advertising requirement for state job postings

State human resources officials told the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee on Oct. 12 that a proposed 80% local-advertising requirement in H.244 could complicate the state’s ability to recruit and might raise costs.

Beth Bastigi, human resources commissioner, and Doug Fine, director of the Department of Human Resources’ talent acquisition division, described the department’s 2024 recruitment advertising mix and warned that strict locality thresholds would be difficult to administer and could limit use of national online platforms that reach Vermonters and out-of-state candidates alike.

The committee drew the witnesses back to discuss the bill after earlier testimony. Representative Shay Waters Evans of Charlotte, a sponsor of H.244, told the panel the bill already includes definitions of “local news.” Waters Evans said the sponsor team could consider narrower changes after hearing DHR’s concerns.

“ I haven't been able to hear any previous testimony on this bill, so I'm not aware of the need or the urgency for this situation,” Bastigi said, describing the department’s review of its advertising spend. She added that the department generally wants “to support local when we can.”

Fine presented 2024 numbers the department compiled. He said the DHR’s coordinated advertising program placed roughly $73,000 in ads through local and national outlets and that, within that coordinated program, “about 65% of that ad spend is local.” Across all DHR advertising in calendar year 2024, Fine said the department spent a little over $111,000 and that “43% is local.”

Fine outlined platforms the department uses: local outlets such as 7 Days, Burlington Free Press, Rutland Herald and Times Argus; sponsored listings on Indeed; targeted outlets such as Vermont Professionals of Color and Vermont Digger; broad-distribution services (Circa, previously diversityjobs.com) paid via the department’s internal services fund; and CareerArc for social media distribution.

“ All of our jobs go on Indeed,” Fine said. “Sponsored ads are when we pay anywhere from 2 to $400. And what that does is it puts that particular job opening at the top of anybody's search list.” He added that sponsored listings and national platforms generate high applicant volume and that many Vermonters use those platforms as well.

Committee members asked about the department’s ability to trace hires back to a particular advertising source. Fine and Bastigi said the department’s SuccessFactors recruitment platform records click-throughs but that print or non-clicking exposures are harder to attribute. “We have some analytics, but it's not perfect,” Fine said. Bastigi said the department has examined hiring origin data in the past but called precise conversion tracking “imprecise.”

Representative Stone said he believed the bill would impede hiring. “I think this bill would impede our ability to hire people,” Stone told the witnesses, citing concerns that restricting national or online platforms could reduce the candidate pool.

Several committee members and DHR staff discussed possible bill amendments. Representative Waters Evans suggested exempting employment postings from the 80% rule or, alternatively, requiring that every job be posted in at least one local media outlet per the bill’s definition. Committee leadership asked counsel and staff to consult the Joint Fiscal Office on fiscal impacts before returning to the issue after the legislative floor session.

No formal committee action or vote on H.244 occurred during this hearing; lawmakers paused for lunch with plans to revisit the bill after the floor session.

Ending: Committee staff said they will consult JFO and reconvene discussion on H.244 after the floor session. DHR officials offered to provide the department’s underlying analytics for members and to explain limitations in the tracking data.