Senate panel debates housing, downtown tax credits and cannabis supports while setting fiscal priorities

The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs committee spent substantial time on April 9 prioritizing appropriations items that fall under its jurisdiction, including economic development tools, housing programs, cannabis-related supports and consumer-protection investments.

Chair and staff circulated a priority list and asked members to focus first on bills already passed out of committee and then on additional requests. Members reconfirmed the top-level priorities as economic development, housing, consumer protection, cannabis and labor.

On economic development, downtown and village tax credits and Brownfields funding were flagged as top priorities, while some members recommended deprioritizing study-only requests. Committee members discussed duplication with other funding sources and the need for measurable return on investment.

Housing dominated debate. Members discussed VHIP (the program to bring vacant housing back into use) and considered a compromise funding level of $4.5 million (the House had proposed increases that prompted discussion about whether to raise VHIP to $4.5 million or $5 million). Members emphasized equitable geographic distribution and the difference between grants and forgivable loans for bringing housing back online.

Cannabis-related appropriations drew discussion over the cannabis business development fund and the Land Access and Opportunity Board. The House included roughly $1.6 million for the land-access board’s personnel costs; some senators suggested trimming the cannabis business-development ask to $500,000 to $750,000 to preserve room for other priorities.

Committee staff also walked members through the House’s one-time appropriations list and base-funding changes; members highlighted workforce-development items (Advance Vermont), manufactured-home repair and rental assistance items in the one-time list and discussed adding a mediator position in the labor relations area to the base budget.

The committee paused to print and review materials and set follow-up work: members will refine priority recommendations and coordinate with Appropriations, Finance and other committees before finalizing numbers.