An act relating to the development of an updated State aid to school construction program

New Section 6 amends 16 V.S.A. 559 to raise the threshold for high-cost school construction contract prequalification from $500,000 to $2,000,000 and requires that contracts above that threshold be awarded to the lowest responsible bid, with a one-percent flexibility provision allowing the board to choose between two bids that are within one percent of each other.

Historic preservation was added as a new incentive policy area (item vii) for the State Aid for School Construction Working Group to consider when designing State share bonuses, shifting subsequent items down by one.

Section 5, which appropriated $15,000 from the General Fund in fiscal year 2025 for Working Group travel and per diem compensation, was deleted in its entirety.

Two new topics were added to the Working Group's mandate: (N) consideration of how State and federal grant opportunities shall impact the proposed construction aid program, and (O) comprehensive recommendations on utilization of renewable energy in school construction.

The list of entities the Working Group must consult was expanded from 10 to 16, adding the Vermont Principals' Association, the Vermont National Education Association, the Vermont Bond Bank, the Vermont Legal Aid Disability Law Project, the Department of Disabilities Aging and Independent Living (Deaf, Hard of Hearing, DeafBlind Services), and Vermont's Congressional Delegation.

The adaptive reuse eligibility criterion was narrowed from requiring consideration of 'adaptive reuse of schools for housing or other social infrastructure' to simply 'adaptive reuse of schools,' removing the specific reference to housing and social infrastructure uses.

The Working Group meeting compensation provision was changed from a flat cap of 10 meetings to a base of six meetings, with additional meetings (up to a maximum of 10) requiring joint authorization by the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore.

A 'Statement of purpose' section was added at the beginning summarizing the three main provisions: the Facilities Master Plan Grant Program, prequalified A&E consultants list, and the State Aid for School Construction Working Group.

The governor's signature date (June 3, 2024) and the enrolled bill identifier 'No. 149' were removed from the header.

The entire document was reformatted with line numbers, new page headers reading 'BILL AS PASSED BY THE HOUSE AND SENATE H.871', and adjusted indentation throughout, increasing the page count from 15 to 28.

The unofficial version included an introductory summary section listing the introducing committee (Education), a subject line, and a three-point statement of purpose summarizing the bill. This block is absent from the official version.

Page headers changed from 'AS PASSED BY HOUSE' to 'BILL AS PASSED BY THE HOUSE' throughout the document.

The introductory block containing the committee name, date, subject line, and statement of purpose was removed, which is standard formatting when a bill moves from introduction to passage.

The document header changed from 'BILL AS INTRODUCED' to 'AS PASSED BY HOUSE' and the internal tracking number was updated (VT LEG #374359 v.6 to VT LEG #375975 v.1).