Senate committee outlines FY26 budget, adopts technical amendments and sends bill back to House

The Vermont Senate on April 30 heard the Appropriations Committee report on H.493, the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill, adopted technical amendments on the floor and ordered the bill for third reading.

The Appropriations Committee chair, Senator Perchlik (Senator from Washington district), told the chamber the committee met with the governor’s budget office, agency commissioners and secretaries, nonprofit contractors and other stakeholders while preparing a balanced budget. “The committee did a lot of work meeting with representation representatives of the governor's budget office, commissioners and secretaries throughout state government,” Perchlik said as she opened the presentation.

Why it matters: H.493 aggregates general fund and special fund spending and program language that set agency budgets for FY26. The bill incorporates an Appropriations Committee proposal of amendment and a set of technical floor amendments that the Senate adopted before moving the bill toward third reading and further action with the House.

Key points and committee actions

- Committee process and vote: The Appropriations Committee reported the bill and its proposed amendments to the full Senate; the report carried a 7–0–0 committee vote, Perchlik said. The full Senate approved the committee’s recommended amendment as revised by a floor amendment package and then ordered third reading of H.493.

- Examples of line-item and policy changes explained on the floor: Perchlik and other reporting senators walked colleagues through many agency sections. Notable items described on the floor include: • Office of Racial Equity: the office was moved out as a staffed subunit of the Secretary of Administration into a separate line (B100.1) with the governor’s recommended base of about $1.6 million restored in the Senate report. • Vermont Veterans' Home: the Senate changed the way the facility is budgeted, “front-loading” funds so the home receives its expected appropriation up front rather than waiting for an end-of-year true-up. • Emergency response: $500,000 was added to the base for urban search and rescue after the committee heard about repeated flood and disaster responses. • Vermont National Guard tuition benefit: a $100,000 reduction made by the House was restored to support the Guard’s tuition benefit program. • Public safety and judiciary positions: the committee restored funding and converted several limited-service positions to permanent status in prosecutors’ offices to address pandemic-era backlogs.

- Health and human services: Senators reporting AHS sections (including Medicaid policy and the QMB eligibility change) described federal–state match implications and rate increases for designated mental health agencies and community providers. The Senate report includes language to raise the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) income threshold from 145% to 150% of federal poverty guidelines, which reporting senators said will reduce pharmacy expenditures by an estimated amount described in the addendum.

- Housing and homelessness: the Office of Economic Opportunity base was increased; the committee included language and one-time grants for community agencies addressing homelessness. Reporting senators pointed to roughly $30 million identified in the budget materials for community grants and shelter services, and they tied some of that work to pending legislation (H.91).

Floor amendment package and technical fixes

Senators discussed a multi-part floor amendment that made technical corrections and funding adjustments. The floor report outlined 12 instances of amendment including: • Correcting misallocated amounts between public safety and the Defender General’s office. • Combining three VHFA-related appropriations for housing programs into a single $14.5 million appropriation (rental revolving loan fund, missing-middle homeownership, first-generation homebuyer programs). • Establishing a $1 million farm security special fund for flood-damaged farms and updating several one-time carryforwards. • Converting certain limited-service positions in state’s attorneys’ offices (created during COVID to address backlogs) into permanent positions.

Votes and next steps

The Senate adopted the committee’s proposal of amendment as amended by the floor changes by voice vote; senators recorded an informal voice vote on subsequent procedural questions and ordered the bill read a third time. The bill will return to the House for consideration of the Senate’s proposed amendments and for any conference committee work to reconcile differences.

What the floor did not finalize

Senators repeatedly noted that several items remain subject to federal actions, conference committee negotiation, or future budget adjustment (BAA) decisions. Reporting senators said some rate changes were staged to begin in November 2025 while the committee awaited federal clarity.

Ending note

Appropriations reporting senators thanked Joint Fiscal Office staff for analysis and noted the volume of material in the FY26 budget. The Senate’s action advances H.493 in the session’s budget process; final appropriations will depend on subsequent House concurrence or a conference committee outcome.