Current News

Vermont Business Magazine ValChoice, a national insurance analytics and rating firm, has ranked Vermont as the 16^th worst state for home insurance value in the nation. For comparison purposes, the average price of auto insurance in Vermont is $665, up 5 percent over three years. Homeowners insurance in Vermont rose 12.8 percent to $844 in the same period.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Thomas JDonovan, Jrhas announced that Vermont has entered into asettlementwith JPay Inc, a provider of communication services to correctional facilities. The settlement involves a promotional contest that JPay conducted in violation of Vermont law. JPay will pay a $7,380 penalty to the State of Vermont, and will refund atotal of approximately $400 in fees paid by 82 Vermonters who entered the contest.

Vermont Business Magazine Gray Television, Inc(NYSE: GTN and GTN.A)announced today its promotion of veteran broadcasters to lead its television stations in four markets.Like all other new Gray General Managers named in 2017, all four of these individuals were promoted from within Gray's station ranks. Gray owns over 100 stations in generally middle markets across the US. Gray took over WCAX on June 1 in a $29 million deal announced May 4.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today vetoed H 509, a property tax bill, and H518, the Legislature’s proposed state budget. In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, the governor said that in combination, these bills forgo up to $13 million in savings for Fiscal Year 2018 and up to $26 million in annual education savings, worsening the unsustainable trajectory of continuously rising property taxes at a time when student enrollment continues to decline by, on average, three pupils each day. The governor proposed in April to roll the many local teacher health insurance plans into one state plan. The teachers' union and Democratic leadership in the Legislature rejected Scott's plan because it disrupts the collective bargaining process and reduces local control. They also complained that such a sweeping proposal came too late in the legislative process to get a reasonable hearing and that, in any case, teachers are not state employees.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s congressional delegation announced Tuesday that Williston and Richmond have received a combined $656,000 in US Forest Service grants to create town forests. In a joint statement, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), and Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) said, “We are pleased these federal funds will allow the towns of Williston and Richmond to conserve key tracts of forest, increase public access and improve recreational opportunities for local residents.”

The federal investment announced by the Forest Service is the result of a national competition that selected only seven projects nationally, including these two outstanding Vermont projects: $400,000 was awarded for the Catamount Community Forest in Williston; and $256,000 was awarded for the Richmond Town Forest in Richmond.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Thomas J. Donovan, Jr, joined a coalition of seven state Attorneys General to oppose the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) March 29, 2017 order allowing continued use of chlorpyrifos on food. Chlorpyrifos, a widely-used pesticide on food crops – including those consumed by infants, young children and pregnant women – has been shown to negatively impact proper development and functioning of the central nervous system and the brain.

Senator Patrick Leahy Thank you, Chairman Blunt and Ranking Member Murray, for holding this hearing today to examine the President’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposal for the Department of Education. I appreciate the opportunity to make a few brief opening remarks. Unfortunately, the President’s proposed budget displays a fundamental lack of understanding of the role of government of, by, and for the people, in supporting the middle class, lifting up the most vulnerable among us, and serving our values and interests as a nation. Sequestration has had devastating consequences for both defense and non-defense programs; consequences that will last a generation or more. The Trump budget would only extend and deepen those problems. And I think the budget proposal for the Department of Education can be summed up quickly: abysmal.

Vermont Business Magazine An Economic Impact Report conducted by Consulting EconomistCharles Lawton, PhDon behalf of the American Camp Association, Northeast Region reveals that the youth camping industry provides economic benefits to the Northeast and has a direct financial benefit of$3.2 billionannually on nine states includingConnecticut,Maine,Massachusetts,New Hampshire,New Jersey,New York,Pennsylvania,Rhode IslandandVermont. There are over 6,000 licensed camp programs in the Northeast that employ almost 175,000 people seasonally and 10,000 full-time.

Vermont Business Magazine AMBest, in a new report, believes an updated captive insurance law in Vermont, which allows for the inclusion of agency captives, makes the nation's largest captive domicile even more attractive for potential formations.A newBest’s Briefing, “New Vermont Law Aims to Attract and Retain Captives,” states that the signing of House Bill 85 in Vermont into law, and its inclusion of agency captives, highlights the push by the insurance industry in recent years to get closer to the insureds.

Many agents have deep-rooted relationships with profitable books of business. The agency captive will allow them to continue to control that relationship through working with a primary carrier, while sharing in the risk by participating in the fortunes of the business written.

Vermont Business Magazine High school youth activists joined community tobacco coalition volunteers and state health officials today in releasing the results of a public opinion survey that illustrates the role flavored tobacco products play in introducing youth to tobacco use. Amaya Rogers, a freshman at Harwood Union High School presented the results with Burlington High School senior Noah Smith. Rogers said a key point she learned is that youth were twice as likely as adults to try a flavored tobacco product.

"For one part of the survey, we presented photos of flavored and non-flavored tobacco products, without words or labels on them so people could see them just as they would when shopping," said Rogers. "The results tell me that tobacco companies are successfully targeting my age group."

by Richard Galbraith, John Evans and Briar Alpert At the University of Vermont’s May 2017 Board of Trustees meeting, a trustee asked this question in open session about the White House’s recent budget proposal: “How would the proposed cuts to federal agencies like National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation impact research at UVM?”

The short answer? Significantly. The reductions would curtail our efforts to make new discoveries across a range of fronts – from biomedicine to nutrition to engineering to the physical sciences – that could be of great benefit to Vermont and society at large.

by John McClaughry The news media are reporting the battle in Washington over the future of ObamaCare, and its proposed replacement American Health Care Act, as mainly a debate over “coverage.” This is understandable, but the national debate over health care policy ought to be far more broad. We need to look more closely at why, aside from accidents, people need health care.

Paul Jarris MD was Vermont’s exceptionally able Health Commissioner in 2004. At a Snelling Institute conference I attended, Paul told us that 51% of Vermonters suffered chronic illnesses, and 78% of our health care dollars were spent on them. Other estimates of the contribution to health problems of personal lifestyle choices – tobacco, alcohol, drugs, obesity, inactivity etc. – are in the 40-50% range.