Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont Senate Committee on Appropriations - Discussion of VAN FY25 Request

Description

Discussion of VAN FY25 Request at the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

On Wednesday, Senate Appropriations discussed the $1 million one-time appropriation for VAN in the FY25 budget as passed by the House. Sen. Kitchel noted that the Senate has passed S.181, which would provide an ongoing funding source for VAN, in which case the one-time funds would not be needed. She wants to keep this line item open for the time being. She said that the goal is to maintain current levels of service, but how much money that will be is to be determined.

The Committee returned to the topic a bit later in the meeting, with a somewhat informal conversation about the streaming tax - which Sen. Sears is not a fan of, despite supporting public access television - but reiterating their commitment to the solution of funding VAN’s ongoing needs out of revenue that would be generated by S.181.