Rep. Stevens: Legislative update

February 7, 2025  |  By Rep. Tom Stevens

As we close the month of January in the House of Representatives, orientation, education and new bills to consider are happening at a quickening pace.

First, here’s the link for the page on the legislative website for the names and numbers of bills introduced since the beginning of the session: legislature.vermont.gov/bill/all-house/2026.

Bill requests have been made — the deadline for long-form bills was Jan. 31. Committee Bills or those like the Budget Adjustment that we’ve been working on in the Appropriations Committee (more on this below), can be introduced throughout the session, as can “short-form” bills, which are more like a statement of intent and has a different process by which it can become a long-form bill.

Because of the breadth of the work in the Appropriations Committee, the work is split up. Our assignments have been made. You can see the whole list here. 

My “portfolio” includes the budget for the Legislature, the Agency of Agriculture, the Agency of Community Development as a whole and, more specifically, the Departments of Tourism and Economic Development, the Department of Human Resources, the Human Rights Commission and the Land Access Opportunity Board. 

My initial responsibility will be to become familiar with each of these department budgets and needs, and by the end of the work on the Big Bill, to consider other policy issues directly related to these departments. If you have any questions about other sections of the bill, please feel free to contact the representatives directly, or let me know and I’ll forward your questions to the right person.

We are currently finalizing work on the Budget Adjustment Act. We will have a final vote on Monday, Feb. 3. From there the bill will go to the Ways and Means Committee and then to the floor by the end of the week.

The Budget Adjustment Act is exactly that: Adjustments made to the budget we passed last June for the Fiscal Year 2025. The administration filed their proposal three weeks ago and we’ve been reviewing it since. 

With the end of the massive appropriations of COVID relief funds, the process has been simpler, and the proposals made by the administration have been by and large approved. We are also considering additional funding for homelessness relief and for more affordable housing, and some of the language changes are related to creating enhanced spending authority for FEMA and other flood-related funding. 

There is a large budget surplus that is being carried forward to the next fiscal year in anticipation of valid proposals related to education reform and funding, as well as in anticipation of the threats made by the new president and his administration on funding for, well, everything.

We begin work on the Big Bill starting this week. Bills will be coming to other committees over the course of the next month, which is why the link above is a good resource.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions at tstevens@leg.state.vt.us.

Rep. Tom Stevens

Appropriations Committee

Washington-Chittenden

802-595-0429

Rep. Tom Stevens, D-Waterbury, is one of two representatives in the Washington-Chittenden House district representing Waterbury, Bolton, Huntington and Buels Gore. Stevens this year is serving on the House Appropriations Committee.