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House roundup: concurrence on leave expansion and award bill; tennis month recognized; dress‑code suspension fails
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Summary
During a floor session, the Vermont House read and referred new bills, agreed to several Senate amendments, adopted a resolution recognizing May 2025 as national tennis month, postponed action on stormwater management and rejected a rules suspension to allow members to remove jackets in chamber by a 83–38 vote.
The Vermont House of Representatives handled multiple calendar items, including readings and referrals of bills, concurrence votes on two measures amended by the Senate, a ceremonial resolution recognizing May as national tennis month, and a failed motion to suspend dress rules allowing members to remove jackets in the chamber.
House members heard the first reading of House Bill 5 17, "an act relating to military protection orders," introduced by Representative Odie of Burlington and others; the bill was read a first time and referred to the Committee on Judiciary. Senate Bill 12, "an act relating to sealing criminal history records affecting the revenue of the state," was placed on the notice calendar and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means pursuant to House rule 35(a). A joint resolution, JRH5, authorizing limited remote joint committee voting through the remainder of calendar year 2025, was read by title and placed on the calendar for action on the next legislative day under House rule 52.
The House took up HCR120, a concurrent resolution recognizing May 2025 as national tennis month in Vermont, and read the resolution that praises USTA programs and outreach. The member from Jericho invited USTA Vermont guests (including Joanna Beal, Tammy Azer and others) to the chamber for recognition.
Two bills amended by the Senate were considered for concurrence. The House concurred with the Senate's amendment to H.396, which creates the Molly Beattie Distinguished Service Award and changes a reference from "retiree" to "current or former state employee." The House also concurred with Senate amendments to H.461, which expands employee access to unpaid leave and updates several definitions; the member from Fairfax described changes including coverage for airline flight crew who meet federal FMLA eligibility and added leave for victims responding to a fatality or near‑fatality related to domestic violence."This change would allow airline flight crew to be covered by Vermont's parental and family leave act if they may meet the federal eligibility requirements," the member from Fairfax said.
Action on H.481, an act relating to stormwater management, was postponed for one legislative day on the motion of the member from Burlington.
The House also addressed an intra‑chamber rules question. The member from Burlington moved to suspend rules to allow members of any gender to remove coats, jackets, blazers or other outerwear. The speaker reminded the body that suspending rules requires a three‑quarters vote; with 121 members present the threshold was 91. The clerk announced 83 yes and 38 no, and the motion failed. "Our rules suspension requires 3 quarters vote. So those present are 121. So you would need to achieve 91 votes. The number of yeses, 83," the speaker said when announcing the count.
Other procedural items included various committee referrals and announcements about upcoming caucuses and the pages' last day. The House then moved to its remaining orders of the day, where the FY26 budget report (H.493) was taken up and adopted (see separate article).
