House committee favors H.398 strike-all amendment adding disaster-recovery loan language, climate projects and agricultural eligibility

Vermont House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development members reported favorably on H.398 (draft 1.2) on March 19, 2025, advancing a strike-all amendment that updates statutory language for an economic-development strategy, adds climate-mitigation projects to eligible activities, creates a disaster recovery loan fund with a consultation waiver for declared disasters, and adds agricultural enterprises to an appropriation.

The committee's legislative counsel, Cameron Wood of the Office of Legislative Counsel, told members the amendment was a "strike all" and that he had made a few minor changes since the committee reviewed an earlier draft that morning. "And since they were all really relatively minor, I simply updated it to draft 1.2," Wood said. He described three substantive edits: (1) clarifying that the authority "shall make a determination" and that determinations and findings by the authority would be…