House committee narrows H.125 reporting bill to map fuel access, EV chargers and fuel-seller trends

The House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on Feb. 21 debated H.125, a bill that would require the Department of Public Service, in consultation with relevant state agencies, to publish an annual "energy transition economic impact" report on Jan. 15 of each year.

Committee members and staff agreed the first iteration should rely on datasets already collected by state agencies — then expand in a later phase. Legislative counsel said the bill creates a new statutory section in Title 30 and would direct the Department of Public Service to produce the report, while a sponsor and witnesses pressed the committee to be specific about datasets and to ask agencies for a retrospective baseline.

"What you're looking at in this bill ... is a change to the statute," said Helen Jankowski, Office of Legislative Counsel, describing where the new report language would sit in Title 30. Jankowski advised the committee about including limited purpose or intent language as session law rather than durable statutory findings.

Witnesses described how the datasets fit together and where the committee should expect to get reliable, recurring information. "If I were to get the most comprehensive data on gasoline stations in Vermont, you have to go to multiple sources, and then you have gotta merge those documents," said Matt Coder of Meadow Hill, who testified for the Vermont Retail Grocers Association and motor-fuels interests. Coder explained that data about pumps and meters comes from the Agency of Agriculture’s weights and measures program; underground storage tank registrations are held by the Agency of Natural Resources, Division of Environmental Conservation; fuel‑tax gallons and seller lists are reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles; and some hazardous‑materials/site info is captured by the Department of Public Safety’s Division of Fire Safety under the federal Community Right to Know Act.

On specific report elements, the committee coalesced around a short, pragmatic first report and a second, more exploratory phase:

- Gas stations: gather the number of gas pumps/pumps certified and, if available, locations from the Agency of Agriculture weights and measures dataset and related public records; track year‑over‑year changes.

- Heating‑fuel sellers: use tax data for "heating fuels delivered in bulk" (the existing reporting category in 33 V.S.A. §2503) to report the number of bulk heating‑fuel sellers and gallons delivered; committee members noted this dataset excludes small non‑bulk sellers and wholesalers and therefore must be described precisely.

- Electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE): report the number, location and type of publicly available chargers, with later refinements to separate Level 2 from fast/Level 3 chargers and to report port counts where feasible.

Committee members asked that the first report include a short historical baseline — the committee agreed to ask for up to five prior years of readily available data so legislators can see trends. Several members and staff also suggested the bill include a non‑expiring report clause so the report remains an ongoing statutory requirement.

Members emphasized process limits: do not require agencies to create non‑existent datasets immediately and avoid naming a single source in statute when multiple agencies hold overlapping data. "There's some risk in identifying the source in statute because it might change," Representative Hutton said, noting responsibilities can shift between agencies.

The committee directed staff to prepare an updated draft that (1) places limited purpose/intent language as session law if the committee wants explanatory text, (2) clarifies that the Department of Public Service must consult relevant agencies, and (3) asks for a five‑year retrospective and annual updates thereafter. Agencies — including the Agency of Natural Resources and the Department of Public Service — were scheduled to return the following week with part‑2 suggestions and information about what additional indicators they could provide.

Next steps: staff will circulate a revised draft that refines statutory language and data element descriptions; ANR and DPS will return with implementation notes and recommendations for a second phase of indicators.