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Senate adopts H.493 conference report, trims positions and shifts childcare funding
Summary
The Vermont Senate accepted the committee of conference report on H.493, the fiscal year appropriations bill, agreeing to reduced positions and funding source shifts, and sent the report to the House forthwith.
The Vermont Senate on Tuesday accepted the committee of conference report on H.493, the biennial appropriations bill, approving the report and sending it to the House of Representatives for action.
The report, presented on the floor by the senator from Washington, summarized negotiated changes that trim overall spending and reduce new state positions from the Senate-passed bill. "One of the highlights overall of what we did is we did reduce our spending," the senator said while reviewing a multi-page highlight sheet distributed to senators.
The committee report eliminated 10 positions that had been in the Senate version, moving the total reported positions in the conference document from 38 to 28. The reporter said the net change in the bill’s accounting showed a $21,000,000 adjustment, driven largely by a $19,000,000 shift of childcare-related funds from general fund appropriation to the Child Care Financial Assistance Program special fund — a change in funding source rather than an outright spending cut. The reporter told the chamber that other specific program figures include a $450,000 allocation for urban search and rescue and a $1,300,000 figure referenced for National Guard-related support in prior years.
The senator emphasized that some reductions reflected reclassification of base expenditures to one-time spending or to other bills. Several line items were moved to or will be decided in separate bills, including education transformation funding and positions tied to S.126. On provider rates for designated agencies, the reporter confirmed the conference committee removed a provision that would have delayed a previously planned rate increase; as a result, "the 2% rate increase will go into effect July 1."
The report also includes contingency language to prepare for potential federal funding cuts. The reporter described a contingent transactions list in an addendum (identified on the calendar at page 58) that would authorize targeted actions if federal matching funds are reduced, and noted the state expects to finish the fiscal year with roughly $328,000,000 in reserves and an additional contingency pool of roughly $118,000,000 to address possible federal reductions.
On revenue and tax-credit issues, the reporter said the conference committee aligned its spending closer to the House position and signaled that the finance committee will still resolve tax-credit levels, including a contested set of credits totaling between $10,000,000 and $13,500,000 depending on finance committee action.
After floor discussion and questions from other senators, the Senate voted to accept and adopt the committee of conference report. The presiding officer announced, without a roll-call tally, "The ayes have it, and we have accepted and adopted the report of the committee of conference." Later the Senate suspended its rules and ordered that the conference report be messaged to the House forthwith.
The conference report’s acceptance sends the negotiated appropriations language back to the House; further adjustments can still be made through conference, budget-adjustment legislation or separate bills referenced in the report.
