Vermont officials tell committee existing emergency plan covers proposed changes; warn buyout funding would be costly

Douglas Farnham, chief recovery officer for the state of Vermont, and Eric Foran, director of Vermont Emergency Management, told the House Committee on Government Operations & Military Affairs that several provisions in a proposed emergency-management bill duplicate existing law and programs and would carry significant fiscal and operational consequences if enacted as written.

Farnham and Foran testified that the State Emergency Management Plan already establishes an all-hazards framework and that many of the bill’s details would more appropriately be addressed through the plan’s regular update process or a dedicated task force. They also cautioned that a statutory program to lend or provide interest-free loans to municipalities after disasters would carry very large costs and would overlap with functions the treasurer’s office and the Vermont Bond Bank are better suited to administer.

Why it matters: Committee members are considering multiple changes to state emergency-management authority, funding and programs in the wake of recent severe flooding. Lawmakers requested technical guidance from senior recovery and emergency-management staff; those witnesses urged using existing statutory structures and targeted working groups rather than embedding operational detail directly into…