House Appropriations previews H.883 budget, restores childcare base funding

Representative Diane Lanfer, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, told members March 27 that H.883 is the FY25 budget and that the committee kept its proposal tightly within projected revenues, producing "about 2 tenths of a percent" difference from the governor's recommendation. "It's literally just about no difference between us," Lanfer said, adding the committee prioritized honoring prior commitments.

Lanfer said the committee restored $9,000,000 in base childcare funding that the governor had proposed to remove from the payroll-tax-funded line. She explained the distinction between a $10,000,000 FY24 one-time childcare item the governor proposed to take back and the $9,000,000 base restoration, noting both figures appear on different lines in the working materials. "The governor had taken 19,000,000 from childcare," she said, summarizing the net adjustments.

The committee also sought to preserve a prior funding commitment to the Vermont State College system by including $10,000,000 in FY25, compared with the governor's $5,000,000 proposal, Lanfer said. She described the funding choice as one of honoring multi-year commitments rather than increasing the baseline beyond the committee's revenue box.

Lanfer flagged several risks and trade-offs in the House recommendation. She cautioned against relying on one-time carry-forward funds to cover ongoing costs, and cited a specific example of a judiciary special fund that typically raises about $750,000 but could be asked to cover several million in expenses — an assumption she called unrealistic. She also said the Vermont Veterans' Home is projected to exceed its FY25 allocation by about $8,000,000 and would likely require a budget-adjustment request next year.

Lanfer said the committee used carry-forward in a transparent way to make a $12,000,000 pension payment that otherwise would not appear in the same line items, and that the committee's "working box" and "budget on a page" documents are intended to make those transactions clearer for members.

The committee noted that some investments wound up being preserved through separate, related bills rather than operating-budget line items. Lanfer pointed to housing-related programs (including the Vermont Housing Improvement Program) that began with ARPA dollars and have since received general-fund support or been folded into housing legislation to provide a permanent structure.

The Appropriations chair opened the floor for member questions and provided line-item clarifications, reiterating that the budget bill would be taken up with the House at 1 p.m. the following day. No formal votes were recorded during the caucus.

The House plans to consider H.883 on the floor at 1 p.m., when members will take up the budget bill and related measures.