Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont Senate Committee on Finance - Testimony of H.657 Modernize Vermont’s Communications Taxes and Fees

Description

Testimony of H.657 a bill meant to modernize Vermont's communications taxes and fees at the Senate Committee on Finance.

On Friday, the Cmte returned to H.657, looking at a new draft from Leg Counsel, and also heard testimony from John Adams at the Vermont Center for Geographic Information. Adams testified that they have a lot of data on state rights of way and pole locations, but the data is not consistent. Given that there are several hundred thousand utility poles in Vermont, and 14,000 miles of right of way, it would be a significant undertaking to complete a thorough and accurate inventory of all of that data. H.657 as drafted contemplates this inventory, and the Cmte debated for some time how much time to give the Agency of Transportation to complete it before settling on 2026. The Cmte then voted out the bill favorably as amended (version 1.4) on a vote of 7-0-0.

H.657 draft 2.1 (as amended by Senate Finance in draft) :
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/Senate%20Finance/Bills/H.657/Drafts,%20Amendments,%20Other%20Legal%20Documents/H.657~Maria%20Royle~%20Draft%201.2,%204-23-2024~4-23-2024.pdf