House committee reviews omnibus housing draft; counsel details reporting and funding edits

The House Committee on General & Housing met April 24 to review draft 3.1 of bill 3 28, an omnibus housing measure containing roughly a dozen sections that would revise reporting, funding and program provisions across multiple housing programs. The committee chair opened the meeting for a presentation by legislative counsel and said the panel would resume work next Tuesday with additional testimony on universal design.

Cameron Wood, legislative counsel, told the committee the newest draft makes several targeted edits to the bill. The first inserts a requirement into Title 3 that the Secretary of State “shall provide on its website or otherwise distribute to the public information about Vermont's common interest communities,” language Wood said he had not yet circulated to the Secretary of State's office. A member asked what “otherwise distribute” could include; members and counsel agreed that adding the word “website” made the requirement…