House committee advances draft changes to Vermont Economic Development Authority statute, including codified job strategy and new disaster fund

The Vermont House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development on March 12 reviewed a strike-all amendment to H.398, the bill that updates the Vermont Economic Development Authority's chapter in Title 10, including codifying the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Strategy into statute and adding a new disaster loan fund funded at $2 million from the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.

Cameron Wood of the Office of Legislative Counsel walked the committee through draft 1.1 of the committee's strike-all amendment, saying most edits are “technical in nature” but noting several substantive changes, including removal of a housing reference from the definition of eligible facility, changes to officer-appointment language, modernization of signature requirements, and the insertion of the Sustainable Jobs Strategy text into statute. Wood said the draft also creates a disaster fund and includes a $2,000,000 FY2025 appropriation from the agency of commerce.

Members and witnesses focused on three main topics: (1) how the Sustainable Jobs Strategy will function if placed in statute; (2) the new disaster recovery loan fund and when VEDA may disburse aid; and (3) limited technical and governance edits.

Why it matters: the Sustainable Jobs Strategy has guided occasional VEDA (the authority) actions for about 26 years, most often for downtown investment real-estate projects that do not fit other VEDA programs. Codifying the strategy would lock its criteria into statute rather than leaving it to a gubernatorial-created document, and the new disaster fund would create a standing state resource for businesses and…