Vermont House Refuses to Concur on Senate Amendments to H.454 and Appoints Conference Committee

The Vermont House of Representatives on May 27, 2025, refused to concur in the Senateproposal of amendment to House Bill 454 and requested a committee of conference to work out differences with the Senate.

House Bill 454 is "an act relating to transforming Vermont's education governance, quality, and finance systems," according to materials posted on the House overview web page. The House moved quickly to take up the Senate amendment and, after voice votes, declined to accept the changes and named members to represent the House in a conference committee.

Representative Conlin, the member from Cornwall, told the chamber that the House Education Committee had spent "the last couple hours reviewing, most of the bills section by section" and that the committee had "some significant concerns with some of the proposals in the Senate proposal of amendment and, hereby, respectfully request a committee of conference." The committee's concerns prompted the formal request for a conference committee.

Representative Kornheiser, the member from Brattleboro and a Ways and Means committee member, said the tax-policy review raised parallel concerns. "Your committee on Ways and Means spent the same couple hours walking through section by section, the tax policy portions of the bill. And we have significant concerns about the implications of some of the Senate's decisions on taxpayers in Vermont and on the quality of our education system. And we voted to appoint a conference or for you to appoint a conference committee on a vote of 10 0 1," Kornheiser said.

After the House twice agreed by voice vote to suspend rules to take up H.454 for immediate consideration and to refuse to concur in the Senate amendment, the presiding officer appointed three members to serve on behalf of the House in the conference committee: Representative Conlin (Cornwall), Representative Kornheiser (Brattleboro) and Representative Taylor (Milton). The House then voted to suspend rules to message its action to the Senate forthwith.

All formal motions recorded in the transcript were decided by voice vote; the transcript records the presiding officer saying "the ayes appear to have it" and "the ayes do have it" for the motions to suspend rules, to refuse to concur, and to message the Senate. The Ways and Means committee's internal vote on asking for a conference committee is recorded as 10-0-1.

The House concluded its business and stood adjourned until Wednesday, May 28, 2025, at 10 a.m., with the conference committee process to follow as the next step in reconciling the House and Senate versions of H.454.