Intern summarizes recent hearings and bills including S.328 density bonus and S.173 vocational rehab changes

Cabot Sales, an intern from UVM, gave a compact roundup of recent Senate committee activity for the Vermont House Committee on Finance and Economic Development.

Sales reported that the Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee discussed S.328, which would add a 20% density bonus for construction projects that use union labor.

Sales also said the Senate Education Committee received a CTE data report from the Agency of Education and that the Department of Labor provided testimony related to CTE data.

On Thursday, Sales said the Senate examined S.173, an act relating to workers’ compensation that would remove the screening process for vocational rehabilitation services. Sales noted committee members were generally favorable but left unresolved whether removing screening would save money by returning people to the workforce sooner or lead to unnecessary vocational-rehabilitation services.

Sales reported on S.230 as well, describing proposed changes to flexible working arrangements, adding teachers to the Family and Medical Leave Act, repeal of a mandatory retirement provision for tenured faculty, and alignment of the crime-victim definition with other statutes.

Sales concluded the briefing and took questions from committee members; no formal committee action was taken during the half-hour meeting.