House committee keeps statewide rental registry language, asks tax department and housing agency to testify

The House Committee on General and Housing on Thursday agreed to leave proposed language for a statewide rental housing registry in its draft bill while seeking more information from state agencies about existing landlord data.

Committee members said they want testimony from the Vermont Department of Taxes and the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine whether data already collected by the tax department or shared with DHCD could meet the policy goals without creating a new, statewide public registry.

Cameron Lloyd, Legislative Council, told the committee he had not changed the registry language in the latest draft and that questions raised in prior meetings merited agency follow-up. "The question was, do we really, you know, can we find a way of just getting what we need without a lot more hassle? That's the question," Lloyd said.

Jill Remick of the Department of Taxes was reported by staff to be scheduled to testify next Tuesday about the department's CAMMA database and to identify the subject-matter expert on the landlord certificate the tax department collects annually from many landlords.

Committee members said they want two things clarified: what fields the tax department's landlord form includes compared with the registry's proposed requirements, and whether the tax department already shares those data with DHCD for the housing needs assessment. Lloyd noted DHCD receives tax department data "every 5 years for the housing needs assessment and then ongoing as well," and pointed out Act 81 from the prior year clarified DHCD's role in getting that data.

Several members pressed for testimony because past efforts to create a registry had stalled over concerns about consent, software and cost. One member said privacy and the risk of turning a private document into a publicly accessible list were major reasons previous proposals did not proceed.

Representative Krasnow said she is not ready to discard the registry concept, citing experiences during Hurricane Irene that showed the value of knowing where people live. Other committee members asked staff to invite both tax department and DHCD witnesses so the panel can evaluate whether existing data-sharing could achieve the registry's goals.

The committee did not vote on policy in the meeting. Staff said they will ask the tax department and DHCD to appear and report back on what data exist, how often they are shared, and what additional steps would be required to implement a registry.

Members said they will revisit the registry after receiving the agencies' testimony and asked staff to keep the current registry language in the draft bill for now.