Committee hears testimony on H.34 to clarify Vermont workforce leadership and create coordinating office

House Commerce & Economic Development committee members on Jan. 29, 2025 took testimony on H.34, an act relating to workforce leadership that would clarify duties between the Department of Labor and a newly created Office of Workforce Strategy and Development and formalize several system‑wide tools including a secure job board and a publicly accessible inventory of workforce programs.

The bill seeks to codify changes developed by the statewide SACWED oversight process and earlier legislation, reduce the size of the state workforce board and establish an executive director reporting to the governor to coordinate workforce partners both inside and outside state government.

Adam Grennold, executive director of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation and a former chair of the state workforce development board, told the committee the reforms respond to fragmented regional efforts and the arrival of WIOA funding that required better statewide coordination. He described years of research by the oversight committee (SACWED), study of rural best practices and a legislative process that left some conflicts to be resolved in the current bill. Grennold said the new system would give a single executive director “line of sight” across agencies and external partners and noted the board size has been…