Committee finalizes budget memo recommendations, backs pensions and select program funding

The Government Operations & Military Affairs committee met to finalize its recommendations for the 2026 budget memo, approving funding recommendations for a range of programs while leaving several requests as “no position” or recommending against others.

The committee’s memo—intended to guide the Appropriations Committee—endorsed mandatory pension and health-care prefunding amounts and recommended targeted funding for public safety training, local planning, food access programs and veterans’ events. Committee members said the goal was to agree on items they considered ready for recommendation and to mark items requiring more information as no position.

Why it matters: the committee’s recommendations shape the starting point for Appropriations and, in some cases, affirm funding for legally required obligations (pension and health-care prefunding) that make up a large share of the spending picture. The committee also signaled priorities for discretionary supports such as municipal technical assistance, brownfield remediation, and criminal justice training, while withholding support for several higher‑profile discretionary requests pending further review.

Most notable actions - Pension and statutory obligations: Members accepted the set of pension and prefunding obligations described by the treasurer’s office (teacher health-care assessments and other public-employee benefits). Committee members described these as statutorily required and recommended supporting those line items. The group noted the pension and benefit package represents a substantial portion of the budget.

- Criminal Justice Council (CJC): The committee recommended funding for the CJC’s ongoing curriculum work (identified as a $300,000 balance) and agreed to fund two of three requested new staff positions (a three‑position request totaling approximately $332,000). The committee said the CJC should decide which two positions to fill and recommended that an athletic trainer be considered among funded positions. Language-access funding of $8,000 for the CJC was also recommended.

- Public-safety, emergency response and local planning: The committee recommended funding for items flagged as favorable during the meeting, including the Wildcat Fire Program ($2,750,000), urban search and rescue (about $950,000), the municipal technical assistance program ($3,000,000), and brownfield assessment/cleanup support. Members discussed that some brownfield assistance is structured as loans but treated the amounts conservatively as likely not to be recovered.

- Food-security and related programs: The committee recommended funding several food-access items—NOFA Vermont and related farm/restaurant-share programs—after vetting with the agriculture committee, and approved the volunteer income tax assistance reclassification ($548,000) to convert positions to full time so the program can expand to new regions.

- Veterans and youth programs: Small grants and events—Veterans Advisory Council ($2,000), Veterans Day parade support ($7,500), Vermont Youth Council (~$19,000), and Boys & Girls State ($10,000)—were listed as recommended.

Items with no position or not recommended - Voter guide (Secretary of State): The committee voted not to recommend the Secretary of State’s $1.5 million request for a printed voter guide; members cited tight fiscal constraints and questioned paper‑based reach for older voters. The committee recorded this as a “no” recommendation for that request.

- Larger RFP packets from the CJC (roughly $700,000 and $103,000 line items) and several complex capital or equipment asks were left as “no position,” with the committee agreeing to leave detailed allocation decisions to Appropriations. The committee also left positions or requests for which they had not taken testimony (doula programs, certain mental-health executive requests, early‑childhood items) as no position.

- Cannabis land‑access and opportunity request: A $5.6 million land-access request tied to cannabis programs drew concern about impacts on other excise-transfer priorities (after-school, prevention, pensions) and did not receive the committee’s recommendation at this time. The committee recommended level funding rather than the requested increase for the Cannabis Business Development Fund (maintaining prior-year funding at $500,000 rather than granting a proposed $1,000,000 increase).

Procedure and next steps: Committee members said they organized the items into a spreadsheet and worked line by line, using thumbs-up/thumbs-down or “no position” markers to generate the memo that will be forwarded to the chair and then to Appropriations. Committee members noted several items will require additional testimony or data in later hearings, and that Appropriations may reallocate discretionary sums.

Votes at a glance (committee recommendations) - VT Access Network — recommend funding ($1,350,000) — recommended - Wildcat Fire Program — recommend funding ($2,750,000) — recommended - Urban search and rescue — recommend funding (~$950,000) — recommended - Vermont Broadband Association (broadcasters) — recommend funding ($250,000) — recommended - Volunteer income tax assistance (full-time reclassifications) — recommend funding ($548,000) — recommended - Municipal Technical Assistance Program — recommend funding ($3,000,000) — recommended - Brownfield assessment/cleanup (loan/grant mix) — recommend funding (amounts discussed: $1,000,000 and $3,000,000 referenced) — recommended - Infrastructure sustainability fund — recommend funding (amounts discussed) — recommended - Curriculum balance for Criminal Justice Council — recommend funding ($300,000) — recommended - CJC staff positions — recommend funding for 2 of 3 requested positions (total request ~$332,000) — recommended (committee to defer choice of which two to CJC; athletic trainer recommended) - Language access for CJC — recommend funding ($8,000) — recommended - Ethics Commission staffing — recommend funding 1 FTE of 2 requested (compromise) — recommended - Voter guide (Secretary of State, $1.5M) — not recommended (committee “no”) - Cannabis Business Development Fund — level funding ($500,000) rather than the requested $1,000,000 increase — recommended level funding - Land Access & Opportunity (cannabis-related $5.6M) — not recommended at this time (no) - Various RFPs and capital/equipment requests (~$700K and $103K buckets for CJC) — no position (defer to Appropriations)

Committee comment: “We are here to wrap up our budget memo conversation as those are due to sent out today,” a committee member said at the start of the session, reflecting the short timetable for finalizing recommendations.

The committee will forward the memo and its line‑by‑line positions to the chair and then to Appropriations, where final allocations and tradeoffs will be resolved.