House Appropriations Committee backs S.89 to expand survivors' benefit for emergency and certain state employees

The House Appropriations Committee voted to support S.89 on April 16, 2026, a bill that would expand a Vermont one-time survivors' death benefit to four additional classes of employees and clarify administrative procedures for paying awards.

Sophie Sadati of the Office of Legislative Council told the committee the existing survivors' benefit is a "one-time lumpsum payment of $80,000" payable to survivors of firefighters and emergency medical personnel and that S.89 would add certified law-enforcement officers, certain Department of Corrections facility employees who provide direct security and treatment services to offenders under community supervision, classified family services employees in the Department for Children and Families, and classified medical employees of state-operated therapeutic community residences or inpatient psychiatric units.

The bill makes the expansion prospective: survivors of the newly added categories would be eligible only for deaths occurring on or after July 1, 2026. Sadati also described changes to statutory organization and to the Emergency Personnel Survivors Benefit Review Board, which receives applications and makes eligibility determinations. "The board may pay reasonable fees from the emergency personnel survivors benefit special fund for a medical expert and other services as necessary to review applications and make recommendations to the board," she said, describing language meant to help the board evaluate occupation-related illness claims.

Committee members pressed for operational details. Representatives asked how claims would be handled when the General Assembly is not in session; Sadati and others said the bill permits the Emergency Board (Eboard) to transfer money into the special fund off-session so survivors would not necessarily wait for the legislature to convene. The committee discussed statutory timelines for board decisions (Sadati said the board must make an award decision by unanimous vote within 60 days after receipt of all necessary information and notify survivors within 10 days) and beneficiary order (spouse, children, parents) as codified in statute.

A committee member said they were "heartened" that the expansion would cover certain state employees who have died in the line of duty but would not have qualified previously. Joint Fiscal analyst Chris told members a fiscal cost could not be reliably projected because claims are sporadic and unpredictable: "I can't actually cross out what this bill would cost because you can't predict when these situations would occur or with what frequency," he said, while noting that the special fund balance is roughly $95,000 and that the Legislature replenishes the fund as needed (the committee discussed a prior BAA appropriation of about $220,000).

Members reviewed historical payouts and recent activity: seven $50,000 benefits were paid between the fund's 2001 inception and 2016; there were long gaps after that, and a cluster of claims in 2024 coincided with the legislature increasing the benefit to $80,000. A February 2025 treasurer memo cited three recent applications and a fund balance just under $100,000.

After discussion, a member moved to support S.89 (as amended by House General); the motion was seconded and the clerk called the roll. Named representatives on the roll call voted yes and the clerk announced the tally as "110." The committee closed the meeting and previewed S.239 (human services) for a subsequent session.

What happens next: the committee's recorded support advances S.89 in the legislative process; the bill is written to take effect July 1, 2026, and any awards to the newly covered categories would be limited to deaths on or after that date.