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House Agriculture panel reviews staffing baselines, working‑lands funding and a slate of bills including Paraquat and municipal regulation
Summary
Committee members discussed the Appropriations deadline and asked staff to compile 2019 vs. current staffing and budget comparisons; they also previewed several bills (Paraquat, rodenticides, municipal regulation, municipal 'right to grow', soils, baby‑food heavy‑metals) and considered reallocating parts of Working Lands funding between forestry and agriculture.
Chair and members of the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency & Forestry committee spent the latter portion of the session focusing on internal priorities and pending legislation ahead of Appropriations deadlines.
The Chair told members the committee must provide recommendations to Appropriations by the end of next week and asked the group to prioritize which budget items and one‑time requests should be advanced. "We've been asked to let the Appropriations Committee know by the end of next week," the Chair said, stressing the need for comparative information before drafting the committee letter.
Members requested baseline comparisons to 2019 to understand how staffing and full‑time equivalents (FTEs) have changed since the pre‑pandemic year. One member asked that agencies (Agency of Natural Resources, Forests, Parks & Recreation and the Agency of Agriculture) provide a side‑by‑side of staffing levels, programs and dollars for 2019 vs. current proposals.
Legislators also discussed the Working Lands grant program, which was reported to have requested $1,000,000 with roughly 40% earmarked for forestry; one lawmaker suggested reallocating $500,000 from forestry or ANR to bolster agriculture grants and discussed requiring some matching contributions from recipients to spread funding.
On bills, the committee previewed several items: a short‑form bill to be introduced (8 68), a Paraquat short‑form bill (members were split on a potential ban and on limited exemptions for invasive‑species control), a possible producer pricing tier measure, a previously considered minimum wage for agricultural workers, municipal regulation and homeowners‑association "right to grow" proposals, and a long‑form bill addressing toxic heavy metals in baby food that is expected to be introduced.
Members flagged constituent interest in rodenticides and noted plans to hear more testimony on soils and from the Public Utilities Commission about solar‑industry concerns. Several members referenced Act 181 and "30 by 30" conservation discussions and asked for clearer input from the agricultural community before drafting amendments.
The committee did not vote on bills during this meeting; members asked staff to assemble requested data, invited agencies and stakeholders to provide testimony at upcoming sessions, and scheduled additional hearings including testimony from UVM Extension.
