Committee reviews House amendment to S.173 on vocational rehabilitation and apprenticeships

The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs committee on a recent session reviewed a House amendment to S.173, the workers' compensation bill, focusing on vocational rehabilitation screening, working-group membership and a new apprenticeship-related section tied to Act 55.

Legislative counsel Sophie Sedatny told the committee the House kept one piece the Senate had proposed—adding language to the Department of Labor form that gives injured workers the right to request vocational rehabilitation services in the future if a work injury affects their ability to earn their pre-injury wage. She said the House did not adopt the Senate's earlier deletion of the initial screening requirement and also removed proposed clarifying language that had explicitly restated claimants’ right to initiate vocational rehabilitation services.

Sedatny said the House amendment changes working-group membership and structure: the director of workers' compensation would no longer be explicitly required to serve; the commissioner of labor (or a designee) may fulfill that role, and three members were added—a current member of the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee, a current Senate member appointed by the Committee on Committees, and the Commissioner of Financial Regulation (or designee). The working group will examine whether the initial screening requirement remains appropriate and will consider three main question buckets: initial screening relevance and comparators in other states; vocational rehabilitation operations (who is likely to need services and how they are identified and informed); and wage-replacement-benefit issues.

On compensation and costs, Sedatny said House appropriations added legislative compensation and reimbursement for legislative members of the working group for up to five meetings, to be paid from general-assembly appropriations. "JFO felt that would be around $2,000 and that it could be addressed," she said, describing the cost as de minimis.

The House amendment also added a new section on apprenticeships drawn from separate House Commerce and Economic Development legislation. Sedatny said those changes were intended to be consistent with Act 55 and recent federal regulation updates; the amendment therefore proposes retitling the bill as an act relating to vocational rehabilitation and apprenticeships.

Committee members pressed for detail on the apprenticeship-language changes and on definitions used in the bill. One member asked whether listing characteristics such as "living in a rural area" or veterans in a definition of "underserved communities" was appropriate; members agreed to follow up with Department of Labor staff and with House contacts to clarify intent and drafting. Several members suggested quick phone calls with Department of Labor staff (identified in the record as Jay Ramsey), House clerk David Germaine and Michael Marquardt to confirm outstanding details before the floor vote.

A witness, David McMurray, speaking on behalf of Working Vermont, said the advocacy group preferred the Senate version that would eliminate the prescreening requirement. "We like the bill as it came out of the senate, which was to eliminate the screening, which we think is unnecessary," McMurray said, arguing the prescreening can slow access to vocational rehabilitation services. He also said the working group is a useful vehicle to review broader issues.

The committee took no final vote on the amendment in the session recorded in the transcript. The chair said members would report back and discuss the amendment at the start of the next day's session to determine whether to concur, propose further amendments or take other action.