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Subchapter 001: JOINT FISCAL COMMITTEE
§ 501. Creation of Committee; purpose
(a) There is created a Joint Fiscal Committee whose membership shall be appointed on or
before January 15 of each biennial session of the General Assembly. The Committee
shall consist of five Representatives and five Senators as follows:
(1) the Chair of the House Committee on Appropriations;
(2) the Chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means;
(3) the Chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations;
(4) the Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance;
(5) two members of the House, not both from the same political party, appointed by the
Speaker of the House;
(6) two members of the Senate, not both from the same political party, appointed by the
Committee on Committees; and
(7) one member of the Senate to be appointed by the Committee on Committees and one member
of the House to be appointed by the Speaker.
(b) The Joint Fiscal Committee shall meet immediately following the appointment of its
membership to organize and conduct its business. The Committee shall elect a chair,
vice chair, and clerk and shall adopt rules of procedure. The Committee may meet at
any time at the call of the Chair or a majority of the members of the Committee. A
majority of the membership shall constitute a quorum.
(c) For attendance at a meeting when the General Assembly is not in session, members of
the Joint Fiscal Committee shall be entitled to the same per diem compensation and
reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses as provided members of standing committees
under section 23 of this title. (Added 1973, No. 128 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Jan. 24, 1974; amended 1977, No. 247 (Adj. Sess.), § 202; 1983, No. 88, § 12, eff. July 3, 1983; 1997, No. 61, § 273; 2019, No. 72, § E.127, eff. June 18, 2019; 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.)
§ 502. Repealed. 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.
§ 503. Functions
The Joint Fiscal Committee shall:
(1) hire the Chief Fiscal Officer;
(2) carry on a continuing review of the fiscal operations of the State, including revenues,
budgeting, and expenditures;
(3) accept grants and approve any related limited service positions, gifts, loans, or
any other thing of value, approved by the Governor, under the provisions of 32 V.S.A. § 5;
(4) establish prioritization for the work of the Joint Fiscal Office; and
(5) keep minutes of its meetings and maintain a file thereof. (Added 1973, No. 128 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Jan. 24, 1974; amended 1977, No. 247 (Adj. Sess.), § 187, eff. April 17, 1978; 1997, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 17; 2019, No. 72, § E.127.1; 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.)
§ 504. Repealed. 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.
§ 505. Redesignated. 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 11(c).
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Subchapter 002: JOINT FISCAL OFFICE
§ 521. Creation and purpose
The Joint Fiscal Office is created as a permanent agency to provide the General Assembly
with services relating to the fiscal operations of the State, including revenues,
budgeting, and expenditures. (Added 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.)
§ 522. Chief Fiscal Officer; employees
(a)(1) The Joint Fiscal Committee shall employ an individual to be the Chief Fiscal Officer
of the Joint Fiscal Office.
(2) The Chief Fiscal Officer shall employ fiscal, research, and other professional staff
as needed to carry out the duties of the Joint Fiscal Office, except that requests
for new, permanent positions shall be subject to the approval of the Joint Legislative
Management Committee.
(b) All individuals employed by the Joint Fiscal Office shall be subject to the personnel
policies adopted by the Joint Legislative Management Committee.
(c) The provisions of 3 V.S.A. chapter 13 (classification of State personnel) shall not apply to employees of the Joint Fiscal
Office unless this exception is partially or wholly waived by the Joint Legislative
Management Committee. (Added 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.)
§ 523. Functions; confidentiality
(a) The Joint Fiscal Office shall furnish:
(1) nonpartisan research and administrative services of a fiscal nature to the Joint Fiscal
Committee and, at the direction of the Joint Fiscal Committee, to the House and Senate
Committees on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Finance, the House Committee
on Ways and Means, the House and Senate Committees on Transportation, the House Committee
on Corrections and Institutions, and the Senate Committee on Institutions;
(2) nonpartisan research and administrative services of a fiscal nature to other legislative
committees and members of the General Assembly, to the extent practicable; and
(3) fiscal and budget assistance to the Joint Legislative Management Committee and to
the other legislative offices.
(b)(1)(A) All requests for assistance, information, and advice from the Joint Fiscal Office,
all information received in connection with fiscal research or related drafting, and
all confidential materials provided to or generated by the Joint Fiscal Office shall
remain confidential unless the party requesting or providing the information designates
that it is not confidential.
(B) Any draft of a report or other work in progress generated by or submitted to the Joint
Fiscal Office shall remain confidential until it has been finalized. (Added 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; amended 2023, No. 113 (Adj. Sess.), § E.127, eff. July 1, 2024.)
§ 524. Budget
The Chief Fiscal Officer shall propose a budget for the Joint Fiscal Office to the
Joint Legislative Management Committee. (Added 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.)
§ 525. Intergovernmental cooperation
For the purposes of carrying out its duties, the Joint Fiscal Office shall have access
to and the right to copy any public record of all executive, administrative, and judicial
departments of the State, except income and franchise tax returns and other documents
classified as confidential by law unless permitted under 32 V.S.A. § 3102. (Added 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.)
§ 526. Basic needs budget and livable wage; report
(a) As used in this section:
(1) “Basic needs” means the essentials needed to run a household, including food, housing,
transportation, child care, utilities, health and dental care, taxes, rental and life
insurance, personal expenses, and savings.
(2) “Basic needs budget” is the amount of money needed by a Vermont household to maintain
a basic standard of living, calculated using current State and federal data sources
for the costs of basic needs.
(3) “Livable wage” means the hourly wage required in an urban or rural area for a full-time
worker who lives in shared housing and has employer-assisted health insurance to pay
for the basic needs budget.
(b) On or before January 15 of each new legislative biennium, the Joint Fiscal Office
shall report the calculated basic needs budgets of various representative household
configurations and the calculated livable wage for both urban and rural areas for
the previous year. This calculation may serve as an additional indicator of wage and
other economic conditions in the State and shall not be considered official State
guidance on wages or other forms of compensation.
(c) The methodology for calculating basic needs budgets shall be built on methodology
described in the November 2023 Basic Needs Budget Technical Advisory Committee report,
modified as appropriate by any statutory changes made by the General Assembly and
subsequent modifications adopted by the Joint Fiscal Committee under subsection (d)
of this section.
(d) The Joint Fiscal Committee may adopt modifications to the methodology used to determine
the basic needs budget calculations under subsection (c) of this section to account
for public policy changes, data availability, or any other factors that have had an
impact on any aspects of the methodology. Changes or revisions in methodology adopted
by the Committee shall be effective no later than November in the year preceding the
release of the report.
(e) It is the intent of the General Assembly that the methodology for calculating the
basic needs budget and livable wage shall be updated every six years or more frequently
to ensure that it continues to reflect the actual cost to maintain a basic standard
of living in Vermont. (Added 2005, No. 59, § 1; amended 2007, No. 202 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 11(c) (redesignated from 2 V.S.A. § 505); 2023, No. 123 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. July 1, 2024.)
NotesHistoryRedesignation of section—2019 (Adj. Sess.).
This section was originally enacted as section 505 of this title and was redesignated
as section 526 by 2019, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 11(c).