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The House General, Housing, and Military Affairs Committee made changes to the proposed Missing Middle Home Ownership Development Program, but ultimately kept the proposal largely intact. This program is designed to confront the value gap between the cost of building a modest home and the selling price through a subsidy to the housing developer with the outcome of adding more housing supply. This program will retain the provided subsidy in the home over time while allowing homeowners to build equity, an essential factor to creating generational wealth and eliminating generational poverty. The Vermont Chamber has championed the need to increase the overall amount of housing units in Vermont, focusing on housing options for middle-income Vermonters to grow and retain our workforce.

The Senate Finance Committee has signaled that, in a year when revenues are soaring, a package to provide tax relief to working Vermonters and families should not necessitate raising new taxes. That leaves a generous $36 million available for tax cuts to fit within the Senate’s budget. The House created a $50 million Child Tax Credit for families making up to $200,000, providing a refundable tax credit of $1,200 per year for each child in the home under the age of six, and a Social Security Income Exemption increase of $5,000. Committee members discussed the expected child care financing report due to be released prior to the start of the next session and cautioned that a sizable tax cut this year for families that doesn’t impact the cost of child care will likely impact the ability to tackle child care costs next year.

The Senate Finance Committee gave additional consideration to the Governor’s tax relief proposal and are considering a mix of the House and Governor’s proposals in their own tax relief package of around $30 million. The Senate’s relief package includes a scaled back version of the Child Tax Credit, a Manufactured Home Credit, a Student Loan Interest Deduction, an increase to the Child and Dependent Care Credit, and an increase to the Earned Income Tax Credit. The Committee is requesting that the Senate Appropriations Committee appropriate $5.5 million to support child care workers with the remaining funds.

The Senate Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs Committee continued to take testimony on the workforce development bill. Attempting to address the most severe workforce shortage in recent memory, the bill includes incentives aimed at retaining workers, such as forgivable loans for recent college graduates and nursing students who commit to work in Vermont, scholarships for students in the trades, and grants to retain New Americans. The Committee also took a closer look at portions of the bill aimed at training and upskilling Vermonters, with the objective of achieving the goal of 70% of Vermonters attaining a credential of value by 2025, which will facilitate career advancement. This bill is expected to be voted out of committee next week.

The Vermont Chamber testified in support of a total of $45 million for the most critical priorities for business recovery and growth: the VEDA forgivable loans, funding for creative sector recovery, and relocation marketing and incentives. The Vermont Chamber urged the Committee to make the forgivable loan program efficient and accessible, by raising the award cap to $500,000 or six months of operating costs and allowing VEDA maximum flexibility to administer the program under ARPA guidelines. The funding for the creative economy will provide grants to cultural organizations and artists who weren’t able to access previous relief funding and will provide vital support for a sector that attracts tourists to our vibrant downtowns, contributes to a sense of place and community, and drives economic activity to other sectors. This will maximize the impact of other relief funding.

For years, the Vermont Chamber has been ringing the alarm bell about the state’s demographic challenges and aging population, which have contributed to the severe labor shortage. With over 26,000 job vacancies and only 9,500 unemployed job seekers, it’s clear that the solution must include a plan to attract new workers to Vermont. The Vermont Chamber supports relocation incentives to encourage people to live and work in Vermont. Additionally, there must be a regional coordinated system to conduct outreach to interested people, helping them find community, jobs, housing, and childcare. Finally, the State needs a robust and sustained targeted marketing effort to encourage people to move to Vermont, particularly those with in-demand skills in nursing, trucking, and construction. Building a pipeline of interest is the only way to grow the workforce and address the current demographic trends.

The House Commerce and Economic Development Committee hasn’t always embraced relocation incentives and targeted marketing efforts, but was receptive to the Vermont Chamber’s suggestion that we are setting strong policy goals in Vermont regarding inclusion, climate change, and childcare, and that we must tell more people about this work.

• H.437 Manufacturing Tax Exemption: The Senate Finance Committee discussed H.437 which contains the Manufacturing Tax Exemption Extension, an important tax modernization proposal for manufacturers. An amendment to the bill was proposed to create a vacant residence property tax surcharge which would charge a 1% surcharge on the portion of the equalized education property value of a vacant residence that exceeds $400,000. The committee will take testimony on this amendment next week.
• S.226 Omnibus Housing Bill: Both the House Natural Resources, Fish, & Wildlife Committee and the House General, Housing, and Military Affairs Committee continued to take testimony on the three bills containing proposals that would create new housing supply opportunities; S.210, S.226, S.234. There is a great deal of work ahead for the committees to untangle the duplicative language between them and determine how best to restructure these three bills to move critical housing priorities forward.

For several months, the Vermont Chamber and Vermont Independent Restaurants (VTIR) have advocated for replenishment of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which was depleted before most of the Vermont restaurants that applied could receive the funding they desperately needed. With 581 Vermont restaurants shouldering over $120 million in unmet need, restaurant operators appealed directly to the offices of Senator Leahy and Senator Sanders, and the Vermont Chamber has been in close communication with Congressman Welch’s office.

This week, those efforts are paying off, with the announcement of a small business relief package originating in the House. The bill includes $42 billion for RRF replenishment as well as $13 billion for businesses across all industries and sectors that were hardest hit by the pandemic but not eligible for other relief funding. Congressman Welch held a press conference to announce the bill, with the Vermont Chamber and Sue Bette of VTIR making remarks thanking the Congressman for his stalwart support and urging swift passage of the bill. The House passed the bill on Thursday, and there is word of a bipartisan coalition forming in the Senate to support it. The Senate will take the bill up after returning from the Easter recess, likely the last week of April.