Senate committee hears bill to study creation of Office of New Americans

The Senate Government Operations Committee heard testimony March 11 on S.56, a bill to create a study committee to recommend whether Vermont should form an Office of New Americans to coordinate state services for immigrants, refugees and other new arrivals.

Supporters told the committee the proposal is designed to reduce service fragmentation, help integrate newcomers into the workforce and strengthen readiness if federal refugee support changes. Tucker Anderson, legislative counsel, said the bill would create a 14‑member study committee and make the director of the State Refugee Office the committee chair. "It is composed of 14 members," Anderson said, listing legislative, agency and community nominations and a set of governor appointees nominated by nonprofit partners.

The bill sets specific duties for the study committee, Anderson said: summarize demographic and service‑use data, catalog state and local barriers to workforce participation, review successful approaches in other states, propose whether and how to transfer or consolidate existing services, and recommend the structure, duties and funding for a stand‑alone office. The bill would require subcommittees on legal services; equity and access to state programs; and workforce, economic opportunity and inclusion. The Agency of Human Services would provide staffing; the chair must call an initial meeting by Sept. 1 and the committee would have one year to file its report, Anderson said. Compensation and expense reimbursement for members would come from monies appropriated to AHS and would follow existing statutory reimbursement rules for legislators and nonlegislative members.

Tracy Dolan, director of the State Refugee Office in the Agency of Human Services, told the panel that federal funding that underpins much resettlement work has become "vulnerable and compromised." Dolan said federal reception and placement grants were eliminated for the national resettlement agencies and that some local resettlement organizations have cut roughly half their staff. She also provided counts discussed by staff: "We had 650 that we had projected to come in this fiscal year ... by January probably about 200, 250 have arrived," Dolan said, adding a separate cohort of about 85 students arrived under a campus program. Dolan said her office is primarily federally funded, with under 5% state funding in recent years, and that state coordination would help if federal support declines.

Local workforce and economic development advocates described how coordinated state help could speed newcomers into higher‑skilled jobs. Alex Beck, workforce and education program manager at the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, said regional employers need clearer pathways to hire credentialed immigrants and refugees and cited local efforts to run childcare training and other sector‑specific programs. "We need those who have high skills and can enter the skilled jobs that we have available," Beck said.

National technical assistance providers said many states have created offices with varying scopes. Mike Zimmer, senior policy consultant at World Education Services, said 22 states now have an Office of New Americans or similar entity in statute or by executive order and that models differ: some emphasize social services while more recent offices focus on immigrant attraction and economic integration. On typical size, Zimmer said small state offices often start with two FTEs and grow only as needed, while longstanding, larger offices may be materially bigger.

Witnesses also raised housing and small‑business concerns. Wilma Steinmetz, an initiative director with the Working Communities Challenge, told the committee that new‑American‑owned businesses on Winooski's Main Street have reported revenue drops she estimated as high as 70% during construction and that language access and targeted financial products are limited. "For the resources that are out there, they are falling short in terms of things like language access," Steinmetz said.

Grassroots leaders urged that any study and eventual office include direct representation from immigrant communities. Coralie Katrina, co‑founder of Winooski Parents and Students Project, described organizing efforts that helped secure school buses and workforce programs and warned that trained local leaders frequently leave Vermont when supports are unavailable. "We are the solution," Katrina said, arguing for study committee membership and an emphasis on retention and community‑based services.

Committee members asked several technical questions during the hearing: whether the State Refugee Office is federal or state (Dolan said it is a state office largely funded through federal Office of Refugee Resettlement grants), how subcommittees interact with Vermont's open meeting law (legislative counsel said named subcommittees with duties would be subject to the Open Meeting Law), and which legislative committees should receive the final report. Anderson said the bill, as drafted, would file its report with the Senate Government Operations Committee and a House committee but that referrals and jurisdictional choices are policy decisions for lawmakers.

The committee did not take a vote on S.56 at the hearing. Members said they planned additional testimony and drafting work before the panel considers changes or a formal recommendation.

The hearing record includes technical details: the proposed study committee would be chaired by the director of the State Refugee Office; include one House and one Senate legislative designee; appointees from the Secretary of Human Services, the commissioner of labor and the executive director of the Office of Racial Equity; a representative of the Association of Africans Living in Vermont; and seven governor appointees nominated by specified community organizations. The study charge explicitly covers education and training, professional licensing and credentialing, housing, employer and municipal supports, and potential transfer or consolidation of existing services into a centralized office. The Agency of Human Services would staff the study; the chair must call an initial meeting by Sept. 1 and the committee would have one year to file its written recommendations.