MONTPELIER — The Vermont House will have more Republicans leading its policy committees — and is bringing back a committee tasked with overseeing the state’s digital infrastructure — for the legislative biennium that started Wednesday.
Democratic House Speaker Jill Krowinski, who was reelected to her post Wednesday morning, announced committee assignments on the House floor that afternoon. The speaker has the sole authority to make committee appointments in the House. This year, she had more choices to make than usual, with a number of committee chairs and vice chairs who either did not run again or lost reelection campaigns — leading to significant turnover in leadership.
Only one Republican — Coventry Rep. Michael Marcotte — chaired a House panel in recent years, the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee. This session, Marcotte will be joined by a second caucus member — Swanton Rep. Matt Walker, who will helm the House Transportation Committee.
Meanwhile, the number of Republicans serving as committee vice chairs has more than doubled — from four last year to nine members this year. Overall, nearly all — 11 of the 14 — House committees will have some GOP leadership this year.
Notably, Rep. Jim Harrison, a Chittenden Republican, will be the new vice chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. The seat was held last year by Middlebury Democratic Rep. Robin Scheu — who will now chair the budget-writing panel.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon, Krowinski said the enhanced GOP committee leadership was a result of the increased power the caucus won in last fall’s election, when Republicans gained 18 seats.
“Given the increase in the Republican caucus, it was automatic that they would be picking up a second chairship and increasing the number of vice chairs,” she said.
While the House announced committee assignments Wednesday, the Senate must wait until the lieutenant governor is sworn in on Thursday to do the same. The lieutenant governor is one member of a three-person panel, called the Committee on Committees, that doles out many of the leadership positions in that chamber.
This year’s House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee is, in a way, a move back to the future. The House had an “Energy and Technology” panel as recently as 2022, but for the last biennium, jurisdiction over those topics was split between the House Environment and Energy Committee (which had the former) and the Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee (which had the latter.)
The former will now be just the “House Environment Committee.” Meanwhile, the new “Energy and Digital Infrastructure” panel will take up legislation related to “energy, utilities, telecommunications, broadband, information technology, cybersecurity, and other similar policies,” according to a resolution the House approved Wednesday.
Krowinski said of the focus on digital infrastructure: “We make huge investments in it in the state, and I think there’s a greater need for some spotlight on that to make sure that the projects are running on time and they’re running on budget.”
She added that energy policy was too heavy of a workload, on top of environmental issues, for the members of that committee in recent years.
Notably, the new committee’s ranking member — the No. 3 slot — will be Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-Dover, who unsuccessfully challenged Krowinski for the speakership. Sibilia was previously vice chair of the now-disbanded environment and energy committee.
Among the House members who will take over committee chairmanships this year are Scheu; Walker; Rep. Kathleen James, D-Manchester; Rep. Marc Mihaly, D-Calais; Rep. Matt Birong, D-Vergennes; and Rep. Alyssa Black, D-Essex Town.
The full list of new committee chairs and vice chairs includes:
Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry
- Chair, Rep. David Durfee, D-Shaftsbury
- Vice Chair, Rep. Heather Surprenant, D-Barnard
Committee on Appropriations
- Chair, Rep. Robin Scheu, D-Middlebury
- Vice-Chair, Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Chittenden
Committee on Commerce and Economic Development
- Rep. Michael Marcotte, R-Coventry
- Rep. Edye Graning, D-Jericho
Committee on Corrections and Institutions
- Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield
- Rep. James Gregoire, R-Fairfield
Committee on Education
- Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall
- Rep. Chris Taylor, R-Milton
Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure
- Rep. Kathleen James, D-Manchester
- Rep. Scott Campbell, D-St. Johnsbury
Committee on Environment
- Rep. Amy Sheldon, D-Middlebury
- Rep. Larry Labor, R-Morgan
Committee on General and Housing
- Rep. Marc Mihaly, D-Calais
- Rep. Ashley Bartley, R-Fairfax
Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs
- Rep. Matt Birong, D-Vergennes
- Rep. Lisa Hango, R-Berkshire
Committee on Health Care
- Rep. Alyssa Black, D-Essex Town
- Rep. Topper McFaun, R-Barre Town
Committee on Human Services
- Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Waterbury
- Rep. Rey Garfano, D-Essex Town
Committee on Judiciary
- Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington
- Rep. Tom Burditt, R-Rutland
Committee on Transportation
- Rep. Matt Walker, R-Swanton
- Rep Timothy Corcoran, D-Bennington
Committee on Ways and Means
- Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro
- Rep Bill Canfield, R-Fair Haven
Read the story on VTDigger here: Republicans to assume greater committee leadership in the Vermont House this year.