Vermont senators hear requests to narrow hybrid-meeting rules, add site‑visit and cybersecurity exemptions

The Senate Committee on Member Operations on Wednesday, Feb. 26, heard testimony asking clarifying changes to pending open‑meeting law amendments that would affect how municipal and quasi‑public bodies hold hybrid meetings, post recordings and use executive session exemptions.

Witnesses said parts of the bill create operational burdens or legal uncertainty for bodies that routinely discuss private financial data, meet rarely, or rely on volunteer working groups. They urged the committee to refine definitions and add targeted exemptions rather than leave implementation to uneven local practice.

Cassie Colinas, representing the Vermont Economic Development Authority, told the committee that VEDA’s loan‑review process is “primarily an executive session” and that the authority’s 15‑member board—five ex‑officio and 10 gubernatorial appointees—routinely handles confidential business and personal financial information in closed sessions. “Right now, under the current law, we have hybrid meetings where we call the meeting to order in public. We approve the agenda, immediately go into executive session, do all the discussions about the loan applications, come out of executive session, take the votes, and adjourn,”…