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Senate Health & Welfare reviews H.534 to modernize Community Action Agencies law
Summary
The Senate Health & Welfare committee reviewed H.534, which renames Community Service Agencies to Community Action Agencies, replaces antiquated language with person-first phrasing, confirms a three-year assessment plus annual plans, and lets local agencies set their own board term limits effective July 1, 2026; witnesses supported the changes and a prior committee vote was reported 10-0-1.
The Senate Health & Welfare committee held a walkthrough of H.534, a bill that updates Vermont’s statutes governing Community Action Agencies and modernizes the law’s language.
"So, this language is about the Community Action Agencies," said Katie McLenna of Legislative Council as she presented the bill’s text, which pulls sections from last year’s emergency housing legislation into a standalone measure and replaces several older phrases with person‑first terminology.
The bill renames references to "Community Services Agencies" to "Community Action Agencies," updates wording in sections 3901–3904 to say, for example, that a "substantial number of Vermont’s population continues to experience poverty" rather than referring to "the poor," and revises health and substance‑use language to use terms such as "substance use disorder" and "prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery services." McLenna said the Office of Economic Opportunity…
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