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House concurs with Senate amendment creating Vermont disaster recovery loan fund, narrows eligibility to avoid duplicate aid
Summary
The House concurred in a Senate amendment to H.398 (Vermont Economic Development Authority legislation) that establishes a Vermont Disaster Recovery Loan Fund and adds a provision to consider whether applicants received state disaster assistance for the same event when determining eligibility.
The Vermont House voted to concur in the Senate'proposed amendment to H.398, a bill making technical changes to the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) statute and establishing a Vermont Disaster Recovery Loan Fund.
Representative (member from Whitingham), speaking for the House commerce committee, said the bill makes technical corrections to the VEDA statute (10 V.S.A. chapter 12) and establishes a disaster recovery loan fund to provide lending to businesses after a disaster event. The committee noted a related bill, S.60, would establish a Farm Security Special Fund to provide grants for farm losses due to weather; both measures address post-disaster assistance but use different mechanisms.
To avoid duplicate assistance from limited resources, the Commerce Committee amended H.398 so that a business shall not be eligible for financial assistance from the Vermont Disaster Recovery Loan Fund if it has already received state assistance for the same disaster event. The Senate returned the bill with a narrower amendment directing VEDA to consider whether a business had received state disaster assistance when evaluating loans; the House commerce committee voted to concur with the Senate's approach and asked for members' support.
Members questioned whether the restriction applied only to the same disaster event; the committee reporter confirmed it would. Representative from Coventry clarified: "It would only be for that disaster. It wouldn't be any loans that they received in the past, only if they received a grant or another loan for that same disaster." The House then voted in favor to concur in the Senate amendment by voice.
Why it matters: The change seeks to make limited post-disaster funds go further by preventing a single business from receiving overlapping state assistance for the same loss. The fund would expand VEDA's role to provide lending in disaster recovery, but the committee's amendment and the Senate's returned language limit situations in which an applicant could receive duplicate state support.
Details: The committee report noted the amendment adopted on April 29 originally prohibited loans to businesses that had received state assistance for the same disaster event; the Senate's language required VEDA to "consider" such prior assistance in its loan decision. The House commerce committee voted to concur with the Senate 10-0-1 before the floor action. The House concurred by voice vote.
Next steps: With concurrence, the bill will proceed toward finalization according to the legislative calendar and any further conference or technical steps between the chambers.
