Current News

by Devon Green, VP of Government Relations, Vermont Association of Hospitals & Health Systems The legislature had a busy week last week touching upon key advocacy priorities for VAHHS and more. Workplace Violence: S.36 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill passed with an amendment put forward by VAHHS to address concerns about HIPAA preventing health care providers from disclosing to law enforcement that a patient had been discharged or was medically stable. The one “no” vote was supportive of the bill but worried that the disorderly conduct portion could be too broadly applied. The bill will now go to Senate Health and Welfare for consideration and then to the entire Senate.

by John McClaughry Vermont’s long history of parental choice in education will come to a crashing end in 2028 if a bill designed and backed by the “Educational Equity Alliance” makes it through the legislature. What was informally known around Montpelier as “the Public Education Blob” has now become the “Educational Equity Alliance”. Its four components are the Vermont School Boards Association, the Vermont Superintendents Association, the Vermont Principals Association, and the biggest gorilla, the 13,000 member Vermont-NEA. All four of the EEA member organizations staunchly oppose parents being allowed to send their children to independent schools at public expense.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $18,914,000 from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address emerging contaminants, like Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in drinking water in Vermont. This investment, which is allocated to states and territories, will be made available to communities as grants through EPA’s Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities (EC-SDC) Grant Program and will promote access to safe and clean water in small, rural, and disadvantaged communities while supporting local economies.

VermontBiz and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce announced today the top 57 Best Places to Work in Vermont 2023. The awards program was created in 2006 and is presented in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management, Vermont State Council, (VTSHRM) and the Vermont Department of Commerce and Community Development and Workforce Research Group. The Best Places to Work in Vermont list is broken down into three categories, Small Businesses (15-99 employees), Medium Businesses (100-249 employees) and Large Businesses (250+ employees). This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize, and honor the best places of employment in Vermont, benefiting the state's economy, its workforce, and businesses.

Vermont State Police Autopsies on the victims have been completed at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington. The cause of death for Wayne Fleury has been determined to be drowning, and the manner of death is an accident. The cause and manner of death for John Fleury has been listed as pending further investigation. The state police investigation is ongoing, but the incident is not currently considered suspicious. Meanwhile, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is continuing to advise the public to stay off the ice on Lake Champlain while the current warm weather persists. Current conditions are likely more conducive to ice loss than ice gain.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Friday the second wave of approximately $1 billion in funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to start new cleanup projects at 22 Superfund sites, including the Pike Hill Copper Mine site in Corinth, and expedite over 100 other ongoing cleanups across the country. The cleanup approach includes the excavation of about 65,000 cubic yards of mine waste and tailing and consolidation into a common area where the material can be isolated under a low permeability cover system. A section of Pike Hill Brook will be excavated and reconstructed. The cover system is expected to extend over about 3-4 acres. Four acres area of mine waste will be stabilized in-situ using lime, soil, and organic amendments to avoid disturbing bat habitat. Excavated areas will be stabilized and any necessary wetland mitigation will be performed after the excavation is complete.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) announced the launch of the Manufactured Home Improvement and Repair Program (MHIR), offering financial assistance to manufactured home communities (commonly known as mobile home park) as well as current and prospective manufactured home owners. The program, funded by $4 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), will provide financial assistance for park improvements, home repair and foundation installation. MHIR is a three-part program that aims to financially assist park owners in preparing vacant or abandoned lots for new manufactured homes, aid existing mobile homeowners in improving the habitability of their homes, and support new and existing mobile home owners with installing new foundations.

Vermont Business Magazine Roxbury residents will soon be able to enjoy many activities in the village like music-making in a brand-new gazebo, playing chess with friends, practicing ping pong, picnicking, and making arts and crafts under umbrellas at Roxbury Village Park. Winter activities will include a parade of snow people around the park built by schoolkids, their families, and volunteers. All these new options for Roxbury will happen thanks to a recently launched crowdfunding campaign. If this campaign reaches its $7,500 goal by April 11th, 2023 the Roxbury Park Development Committee will receive a matching grant of $15,000 from DHCD’s Better Places program.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.47 per gallon, down 3 cents per gallon from last week's $3.50/g, according to GasBuddy. Vermont prices are up 9 cents/g from a month ago and are 6 cents/g lower than a year ago. The national average price of gasoline has fallen 7 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.36/g today. The national average is up 10 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 11 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 7.3 cents in the last week and stands at $4.53 per gallon, the lowest level since March 5, 2022.

Vermont Business Magazine Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), along with Reps Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill) and Val Hoyle (D-Ore) in the US House of Representatives, introduced legislation that would expand Social Security benefits by $2,400 a year and ensure Social Security is fully funded for the next 75 years – all without raising taxes by one penny on over 93 percent of American households that make $250,000 or less. These estimates reflect an analysis of the legislation conducted by the Social Security Administration at the request of Sanders.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, tonight will host a town hall at the US Capitol to discuss the pay crisis teachers are facing throughout the United States. Longtime Vermont educator, Alison Sylvester, will be joining Sanders for the town hall entitled, “Respecting Our Teachers: A Town Hall on the Teacher Pay Crisis in America.” Sylvester has been a public school teacher for over 20 years and was named the 2020 K-5 Teacher of the Year by the Vermont Veterans of Foreign Wars. Currently, she teaches middle school Social Studies in Springfield and is the Secretary-Treasurer of the Vermont-National Education Association (NEA).

Vermont Business Magazine Baker Hill, the leading financial technology provider in delivering solutions for loan origination, risk management, and analytics, today announces an expanded partnership with Union Bank of Vermont and New Hampshire. The bank has upgraded to Baker Hill NextGen, a unified solution that streamlines loan origination and portfolio monitoring. Founded in 1891 and based in Vermont, Union Bank provides personal, corporate and municipal banking services to customers and businesses across Northern Vermont and Northern New Hampshire. For more than a century, Union Bank has proudly invested in its communities and supported the growth of job-generating local businesses.