Appropriations member offers memorandum overview as committee copes with turnover

Representative Tom Stevens, a member of the Appropriations Committee, told the panel he had been asked to "walk through this memorandum" to explain why the chair drafted it the way she did and to orient newer members.

Stevens, who identified himself as representing the Washington‑Chittenden District (Waterbury, Bolton and Huntington), said the committee "found last year...a lot of turnover," and described the memorandum as a way to "reset" expectations for how the committee will operate. "I've been asked to kinda walk through this memorandum and kinda give your committee an idea of what this memorandum was for, why we did it this way, or why the chair did it this way," Stevens said.

The meeting was interrupted by a brief technical pause while the chair attempted to resolve audio or connection issues. After the pause, Stevens confirmed the meeting remained paused; no substantive votes, motions, or formal actions were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt.

Representative Bartholomew was mentioned as likely joining by Zoom but did not speak in the excerpt. Portions of the transcript include unclear proper names (for example, one place name is transcribed as "Ealscorp" and another as "Beal Gore"); those transcriptions are unclear in the record and were not used as factual assertions in this article.

No statutes, ordinances, resolutions, or formal actions were recorded in the provided segments. Committee members and staff signaled intent to discuss a memorandum intended to clarify procedure and the chair's rationale, and the committee paused before substantive review.