My committee worked tirelessly to vote out our committee omnibus housing bill in order to meet the policy committee crossover deadline, which is the date in which policy bills must be voted out of committee in order to pass through the House.
House General and Housing Omnibus Housing Bill
The Vermont House Committee on General and Housing has introduced legislation (DR 25-0838, Draft 9.1 now H.479) aimed at addressing housing challenges across the state. The bill includes key initiatives such as:
Rental Housing Improvement: Expands grants and forgivable loan programs for landlords to rehabilitate rental units, with incentives for accessibility and affordability.
Manufactured Home Improvements: Establishes a fund to aid manufactured homeowners and park owners in improving infrastructure and habitability.
Infrastructure Development: Creates the Vermont Infrastructure Sustainability Fund to support municipal water, sewer, and public infrastructure expansion to facilitate housing growth.
Tax Credits: Provides incentives for first-generation homebuyers and down payment assistance programs.
Municipal Taxation on Short-Term Rentals: Authorizes municipalities to levy a 1% tax on short-term rentals to support local housing efforts.
Housing Appeals Reform: Streamlines the appeals process for housing-related municipal land use decisions to expedite development.
Universal Design Study: Forms a committee to explore statewide accessibility standards for residential construction.
Brownfield Cleanup Enhancements: Prioritizes housing redevelopment on contaminated properties and recommends process improvements.
Significant Funding Allocations: Includes over $70 million in appropriations for affordable housing, infrastructure, workforce development, and recovery housing programs.
This legislation is a comprehensive step toward expanding housing access, supporting landlords, tenants and homeowners, and strengthening community infrastructure in Vermont. I am extremely proud of the bipartisan collaboration my committee put into this bill. We incorporated nearly all of the Governor’s housing initiatives while also addressing key issues and concerns raised by witnesses during testimony. The bill received overwhelming support, passing out of committee with a strong 10-1-0 vote.
Sales Tax for Building Material
I introduced a bill (H.308) that would exempt all building materials from sales tax that would sunset in 3 years. This idea came to me as a creative way to help alleviate the financial burden taken on by builders and developers. This language was in the original version of my committee housing bill. We looked at exempting these materials for both Vermont Housing Finance Agency and Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. The Joint Fiscal Office was unable to provide us with a fiscal note in a timely manner so the committee decided to remove the language from the housing bill.
The House Committee of Ways and Means invited me last Friday to introduce the bill. You can view the testimony here.
Expansion of Unpaid Leave
The proposed H.461 focuses on expanding employee access to unpaid leave in Vermont. The bill aims to make family leave policies more inclusive, particularly for LGBTQ+ families, low-income workers, and nontraditional family structures. Key provisions include:
Expanded Definitions: The bill broadens the definition of "family member" to include domestic partners, in-laws, and those in loco parentis relationships.
New Leave Categories: In addition to parental and family leave, the bill introduces bereavement leave, safe leave for victims of domestic violence or sexual assault, and leave for qualifying exigencies related to military service.
I will be presenting this bill on the floor Wednesday afternoon.
Survivor Benefits
Last year, I worked tirelessly to secure survivor benefits for our law enforcement officers. While firefighters and emergency first responders are already covered under this provision, I fought to extend the same protections to law enforcement. Unfortunately, the bill’s language was ultimately removed and stalled in the Senate.
This year, my committee revisited the legislation to ensure we honor the service and sacrifice of our law enforcement officers by providing this critical benefit to their families. The committee unanimously voted in favor of the measure H.57, marking an important step forward. However, our work is not finished—House Appropriations has yet to take up the bill. I remain hopeful that it will advance this week to meet the money committee crossover deadline.
Looking Forward
The money committee crossover deadline is this Friday, and our committee has a full slate of bills under review—more than many other committees! As we work through these, we are also preparing to receive Senate Omnibus bills covering both housing and labor.
Big decisions are ahead, and I appreciate the hard work of my colleagues as we push toward the finish line.
Ashley in the News
WPTZ: Vermont lawmakers continue working on housing priorities
A multi-faceted bill working its way through the Vermont State House aims to ease the construction of new housing and the improvement of existing units.
Update From Rep. Carolyn Branagan
Discussions every day in the Ways and Means committee focus on fairer and less burdensome ways to pay for our public schools.
It costs a lot of money to run our schools.
T9 give you an idea, the total amount needed to be raised to fill the Education Fund this year was $2.29 billion.
Here’s how we did it:
Homestead Education Property Tax…$762.2 million
Non Homestead Education Property tax…$894.5 million
All of the Sales and Use tax …$602 million
1/3 of the Purchase and Use tax…$50.7 million
1/4 Meals and Rooms tax…$71.2 million
All of the Lottery after expense…$35.6 million
Medicaid transfer …$9 million
General Fund transfer…$25 million
Other(Wind and Solar tax, interest,etc)…$6.7 million
This year’s EdF und is expected to spend $2.3 billion. Contact me at cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us
Contact me anytime. I want to hear from you.
Rep. Carolyn Branagan
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