Appropriations Committee advances H778, a dam‑safety bill, with funding for emergency plans

The Appropriations Committee met April 23 and voted to advance H778, a bill to fund pilot emergency‑operations planning for state high‑hazard dams after hearing testimony from legislative counsel Michael Grady.

Michael Grady, legislative counsel, told the committee the bill stems from a General Assembly study following 2023 flooding that recommended a state‑led pilot to develop emergency operations plans (EOPs) and to measure costs and municipal implementation needs. "An emergency action plan is a written plan that the dam owner creates to identify the region that would likely be inundated by the failure of a dam and it identifies the actions that should be taken by the dam owner to protect life, property lifelines and the environment in case of a dam failure," Grady said, reading the bill's definitional language.

Grady said local emergency managers—municipalities, fire and police departments, and local emergency preparedness officers—are expected to create and maintain EOPs but often lack funding. "We don't have the money to keep this plan current," Grady said, summarizing what local responders told a House member from an affected community after the 2023 floods.

Under the proposal Grady described, the Vermont Emergency Management Division (VEM) would lead a contractor‑delivered pilot to create two EOPs for state‑owned high‑hazard dams: one for a site with a population at risk greater than 1,000 and another for a site with a population at risk between 100 and 1,000. The pilot would identify plan contents, coordination needs and estimated costs to implement EOPs at the municipal level.

On funding, Grady reported the bill "asks for $250,000 for VEM and $125,000" for the state environmental agency to support the work. Committee dialogue on the record showed mixed references to totals (participants mentioned figures described as roughly $375,000 and, in other turns, $1.375 million); members acknowledged some numbers were being rounded and that the appropriation could also be reflected in the department budget rather than requiring an amendment to the bill.

A roll call recorded on the transcript shows Senators Baru, Brennan, Lion, Norris, Watson and Weston voting in the affirmative; the committee moved to approve the measure on the record. No mover/second for the motion was specified in the transcript.

The committee scheduled a subsequent meeting for 12:30 and adjourned. The transcript does not include final printed amendment language or an explicit consolidated total appropriation in the record provided; those details were discussed on the record as unclear or rounded and are therefore noted as not fully specified.