Senate advances H.397 to expand flood response tools, municipal finance options and dam drawdown authority

The Vermont Senate advanced H.397, an act addressing emergency management and flood response, by adopting committee amendments and ordering the bill for third reading after committee reporters outlined changes to flood planning, municipal finance, and dam management.

The bill would require the Division of Emergency Management (Vermont Emergency Management) to report annually to government operations committees on actions and the all‑hazards mitigation plan, to consult with relevant stakeholders when preparing the state emergency plan, and to provide assistance to municipalities seeking access to statewide river observation/modeling and enhanced weather forecasting systems. The Senate amendment narrowed a House proposal that would have created more prescriptive municipal planning requirements into a more general consultation mandate.

H.397 explicitly authorizes a grant program to support voluntary buyouts of flood‑impacted properties but does not include a new appropriation for that grant program in the text as reported; committee members noted the division already supports a voluntary buyout program and that explicit statutory authority would allow grants when funding is available. The bill requires the division to conduct a needs assessment and report on required staffing and resources by November 15, 2025.

The measure adds municipal finance changes: it would allow municipal legislative bodies to establish unassigned fund balances (commonly called rainy day funds), authorize short‑term emergency borrowing of up to five years (or up to the reasonably anticipated useful life of improvements) for costs associated with all‑hazard events or a declared state of emergency, and permit municipalities to select level debt service repayment schedules for bonded debt.

On dams, the bill authorizes, under specified conditions, the governor (in consultation with the secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources) to waive applicable water‑quality permitting requirements to allow an advanced drawdown of a reservoir in anticipation of a flood event likely to cause substantial damage or injury. Before a waiver may be used, the director of emergency management must determine that an advanced drawdown will reduce risk or hazard, and the dam operator must have a secretary‑approved drawdown plan meeting minimum hydraulic and hydrologic modeling, downstream communications, maximum safe drawdown rates, a refill plan, monitoring and reporting requirements, and documentation of updates. The bill calls out federally licensed dams for consultation requirements and notes there are roughly 1,000 private dams in the state.

H.397 also modifies local option tax revenue sharing: it raises the portion retained locally from 70% to 75% (state share drops from 30% to 25%) and updates charter references for Burlington, Montpelier, Middlebury and Williston to link to the statutory split. The bill includes session law provisions to refund overpayments to the education fund to two municipalities: the City of Barre (stated as $437,028) and the Town of Milton ($184,451). Committees discussed the refunds as corrections to prior accounting and described the appropriations committee’s amendment as an accounting change that preserves the net impact while routing funds through the general and education funds as required by accounting rules.

The Senate government operations committee reported the bill out unanimously; the finance and appropriations committees recommended further amendments, which the Senate adopted before ordering third reading. Committee members and senators said stakeholder consultation provisions were added in response to testimony, and questions on language access and emergency communications were raised on the floor; the committee said the broader stakeholder consultation requirement is intended to include organizations such as the Vermont Language Justice Coalition but no direct appropriation to that group was added in H.397.

If enacted, most sections would take effect July 1, 2025; the local option tax change would be effective Oct. 1, 2025; the provision preserving federal regulations incorporated by reference takes effect on passage; the bill requires the division’s written needs assessment to be submitted by Nov. 15, 2025.

Votes at the chamber level recorded in the transcript were voice votes to adopt committee amendments and to order third reading; no roll call tallies were recorded in the transcript excerpt.