Senate committee outlines housing, labor and economic development priorities ahead of March 14 bill deadline

The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs committee opened a planning discussion to identify three priority areas for committee bills — housing, labor and economic development — and to begin drafting language before the March 14 bill-filing deadline, the committee chair said. "We have to get our bills out by March 14," the chair said.

The conversation focused on housing infrastructure and policy options the committee could pursue this session, including project-based tax increment financing (TIF) reforms, brownfields incentives, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), the state BHIP/ADHIP proposals, landlord-tenant changes, incentives to convert second homes into year-round housing, and approaches to homelessness and construction workforce shortages. The committee discussed directing a mix of permanent policy changes and additional appropriations and asked staff to circulate an omnibus housing draft for consideration next week.

Committee members identified several near-term, actionable items. They plan to review the governor's brownfields proposals and BHIP/ADHIP language and to consider making some measures permanent while increasing funding. The committee also scheduled presentations on off-site construction and supportive housing; the chair said, "we're going to hear next week from Chad and Maura on off-site construction." Members discussed incentives and financing tools to encourage rehabilitation of existing housing stock rather than only new construction, and raised a commercial property assessed clean energy financing mechanism (commercial PACE/CPACE) as a potential tool to align energy upgrades and later property transfers.

Several members proposed exploring more assertive uses of municipal authority for dormant or vacant homes, including evaluating eminent-domain options to return abandoned properties to market use. Committee members cautioned that Vermont has limited prior experience using eminent domain for this purpose and noted jurisdictional and legal complexities.

The committee raised concerns about the state's current use program and its effect on development. One member said the state currently has "2,700,000 acres in current use" compared with an earlier figure of "200,000," and urged staff briefings to explain enrollment criteria and potential policy changes. Members asked the committee staff to pull materials from a prior current-use task force and to schedule a briefing with the program's new director in the Property Valuation & Review office.

On labor, the committee reviewed items including a constitutional measure the transcript refers to as "Proposal 3," which the chair said must be repassed this biennium to go to voters, as well as S.37 (unemployment insurance support for school support staff) and other labor omnibus concepts. Members discussed a draft to set a livable wage based on a basic-needs budget, and noted a request from a union for consideration of a bill to allow certain college and university staff to strike. The chair said the committee may ask the Joint Fiscal Office for cost estimates on significant labor proposals before deciding whether to carry them as committee bills.

Economic development topics discussed included downtown tax credits (in the governor's proposal), designation changes, expanded trade offices and efforts to market Vermont goods abroad, and continuing outreach to BIPOC-owned businesses and microbusinesses. The chair asked for updates on the state small business credit initiative, which the discussion described as a $59,000,000 program split roughly half to loans and half to equity, and asked staff to report how those funds are being invested.

Committee members emphasized the need for measurable economic objectives and accountability for incentive programs. The chair said staff will circulate a compiled housing proposal next week and that the committee will schedule fuller economic-development hearings (described as two days of presentations). Several committee members urged coordinating jurisdictionally overlapping issues with other committees to avoid duplicative work and to present shared proposals where appropriate.

No formal votes or motions were recorded in the transcript excerpt. The chair closed by reiterating the schedule for next-week presentations and the intent to circulate draft language for committee review ahead of the bill-filing deadline.