House Transportation reviews e-bike study language, T‑bill process and related funding requests

During the Feb. 25 meeting, members of the House Transportation Committee discussed how e-bike policy work by the Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation might feed into H.863 or the Transportation omnibus (T) bill and clarified the committee process for inserting language or funding requests.

The chair explained that proposed statutory language or allocations must be submitted to ledger counsel and presented to the committee for testimony and review before a markup. "If you have something you want in the T bill, you've gotta say specifically, this is the language I want... send it to Damien with a copy to me," the chair said, describing the steps for counsel review, agency comment, JFO review for budget impacts and eventual committee motion.

Members noted H.863 includes a section (section 14) that would commission a study of e-bike regulation; the committee discussed whether to rely on that study language or request more testimony from municipal park managers, Burlington city parks, Fish & Wildlife and rail‑trail groups. Several members urged consistent signage and interagency coordination to avoid user confusion where municipal roads, rail trails and federal land meet.

Other items discussed for possible inclusion or testimony in the T bill:

- Drive Electric Vermont: Representatives said there is an allocation request and that Drive Electric provides education and data that could be useful for statewide EV efforts; a member said Drive Electric testimony will be scheduled before a funding motion.

- Pollinator funding: the agency reportedly has a near‑ready pollinator plan that requires roughly $160,000 to implement; the chair said appropriation requests must be identified and vetted with the Joint Fiscal Office for budget impact.

- Burlington Airport: the airport reported concerns tied to a roughly $500,000 VTrans transfer and asked for language changes; the chair advised submitting proposed language to counsel for review and presentation to the committee.

- EV charging rules and public vs. private chargers: members raised the need for clarification of rules that apply to chargers that serve condominium associations or private employers versus public chargers, and proposed a small study group to report back.

No formal votes took place. The committee scheduled additional testimony and emphasized that members who want language included in the T bill should prepare proposed text and follow the counsel/agency/JFO review sequence before markup.