An act relating to making appropriations for the support of the government

Full bill structure added including short title (BIG BILL - Fiscal Year 2027 Appropriations Act), purpose statement, definitions section (encumbrances, grants, operating expenses, personal services), relationship to existing laws, offsetting appropriations rules, federal funds provisions, new position restrictions, and a legend explaining the section numbering scheme.

Complete line-item appropriations for all state agencies added, including General Government (totaling approximately $370.9 million), Protection to Persons and Property, Human Services, Labor, Education, Higher Education, Natural Resources, Commerce, Transportation, Debt Service, and one-time appropriation actions.

New position cap: total authorized state positions (classified and exempt) shall not increase during fiscal year 2027 except for positions authorized by the General Assembly during the 2026 session. Limited service positions under 32 V.S.A. section 5 are exempt from this restriction.

Federal funds flexibility: the Governor may accept federal block grants in lieu of or in addition to designated federal funds, and if federal programs are restructured, the Governor may continue spending for up to 45 days prior to General Assembly or Joint Fiscal Committee approval with expedited review.

Appropriations are explicitly limited to fiscal year ending June 30, 2027. Agency and department heads are directed to implement staffing and service levels at the start of fiscal year 2027 consistent with available appropriations unless otherwise directed by specific language in the act.

The entire House-passed text (all visible lines) appears as deletions with no additions shown in the truncated diff, suggesting the enacted version was reformatted or restructured. No specific substantive policy changes (funding amounts, eligibility criteria, new definitions, or enforcement mechanisms) can be identified from the available portion of the diff.

Formal bill metadata was added to the official version: 'Introduced by Committee on Appropriations,' a subject line ('Appropriations; Big Bill; fiscal year 2027 budget'), and a statement of purpose paragraph.

Page count increased from 207 to 213 pages, reflecting the added metadata and formatting changes rather than new substantive content.

Page headers changed from 'AS PASSED BY HOUSE' to 'BILL AS PASSED BY THE HOUSE' throughout the document, and line numbering was reset to start at 1 on each page in the official version.

The full text of the 179-page appropriations bill was revised between introduction and House passage. The diff shows 16,606 lines of changes across the document, indicating amendments were made to appropriation amounts, section language, or both throughout the bill covering all functional areas (General Government, Protection to Persons and Property, Human Services, Labor, Education, Natural Resources, Commerce, Transportation, Debt Service, and One-time actions).

Specific dollar amounts in base appropriations sections (B.100 through B.999) were likely adjusted during House markup. The As Introduced version shows detailed line-item appropriations for personal services, operating expenses, and grants across all agencies, which would have been subject to amendment on the House floor.