House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee begins work on guiding principles; members asked to submit ideas by Tuesday

The House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee opened a committee-led discussion on Wednesday, Jan. 22, about adopting guiding principles to shape its work on energy and digital infrastructure, and asked members to submit two to three proposed principles by the end of the day Tuesday.

Chair James framed the session as a timely check-in after recent introductions to the landscape of energy and telecommunications policy, saying the committee should consider “identifying some guiding principles for our role in this big critical infrastructure jurisdiction that we are in legislating in.” Representative Corey, Representative Sadler, Representative Repner and Representative Putner were identified as having worked on the project and led the discussion, and staff shared a handout that included examples drawn from other committees.

Representative Southworth cited the Vermont Constitution while arguing for foundational values, reading from Article 18: “The…