Committee approves bill exempting domestic-violence hotel placements from program room caps

The committee voted to approve version 9.2 of committee bill 26-766, adopting language that exempts hotel and motel placements for people served under 33 VSA 602 (domestic violence services) from the program's room-cap calculations. The motion to approve the committee bill was made during the meeting and carried in a roll-call vote the clerk later summarized as nine yes and one no.

The change adds a subdivision specifying that "room caps established pursuant to this subdivision shall not apply to individuals served under 33 VSA 602," an explicit exemption intended to ensure that hotel placements arranged under the domestic and sexual violence services section do not count against time limits or caps elsewhere in the program. Committee members spent several minutes refining the sentence structure and verb choice so the provision clearly removes those stays from any counting or time-limit application.

A committee member who spoke in favor of the bill thanked colleagues and staff for a multi-year effort to reach compromise but also voiced fiscal concerns, saying, "I worry about the tax burden it would cause on the people that pay for it and what it could cause down the line for somebody to become homeless. And I have friends moving out right and left that are my age because they can't afford to live there." That member also referenced a large numeric figure mentioned in the discussion ("82,634,153" in the transcript) and said they remained cautious about potential impacts on taxpayers.

The clerk called the roll for the motion. The transcript records the following responses: Representative Bishop — yes; Representative Cole — yes; Representative Donahghue — yes; Representative East — yes; Representative Garfano — yes; Representative Maguire — yes; Representative McIll — yes; (the transcript includes a call for "Representative Nielsen" and a separate line reading "Representative Noise, yes"); Representative Steady — no; Representative Wood — yes. The clerk and the chair then described the outcome as approval; the chair said the bill will be presented jointly by Representatives Maguire, McIll and Wood.

The committee also discussed next steps for scheduling: witnesses for childcare and preK were rescheduled, members were asked to have materials prepared by Thursday, and the committee noted it will receive several Senate bills (numbers mentioned in the transcript: 157, 210 and 243) for future consideration. The chair also referenced a "language justice" project to provide translated materials for emergencies and said some Senate bills will require additional testimony.

The meeting closed with thanks to staff and members. The committee's approval at this stage sends the committee bill forward with the explicit domestic-violence exemption; the transcript indicates it will be jointly reported and presented by Representatives Maguire, McIll and Wood for the next steps in the process.