Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Senate gave its initial approval today (16-13) to a bill that would end marijuana prohibition in the state and regulate the cultivation and sale of marijuana for adult use. It must approve the measure a second time in order to send it over to the House of Representatives. A second vote is expected sometime this week. S241 would make it legal for adults 21 years of age and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and establish a tightly controlled system of licensed marijuana cultivation sites, testing facilities, and retail stores. It would also create a study commission to examine issues such as edible marijuana products and home cultivation, which would not be allowed under the bill. It would remain illegal to consume marijuana in public or drive under the influence of marijuana. If approved, rulemaking would begin this summer, but the new law would not take effect until January 2018.

Vermont Business Magazine Keurig Green Mountain, Inc (NASDAQ: GMCR) announced that at a special meeting today, Keurig’s stockholders formally approved the previously announced merger agreement between Keurig and a JAB-led investor group. The shareholder vote was 102,536,858 (68.72% of the outstanding shares) in favor, 9,520,275 opposed and 682,732 abstained. Subject to the terms and conditions of the merger agreement, at the effective time of the merger, each share of Keurig common stock will be cancelled and converted into the right to receive $92 in cash, or $13.9 billion. This represents a 78 percent increase in the stock price from its close before the deal was struck. The transaction remains subject to various closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of March. The acquisition by European investor JAB Holdings was agreed to December 6.

Vermont Business Magazine ​Secretary of State of State Jim Condos today applauds the House Government Operations committee for its strong and unanimous bi-partisan vote to pass out H.458 - Automatic Voter Registration introduced by Representative Chris Pearson. “AVR saves time and money by making voter registration easy for eligible voters.  It will increase the accuracy of our statewide voter checklist and curb the potential for fraud, protecting the integrity of our elections,” says Secretary Condos. This proposal is poised to streamline the federally mandated voter registration at the DMV with a new process in which the state identifies and automatically provides the data for eligible Vermonters to be added to the voter checklist electronically with confirmation from the local town clerk.

This will add more eligible voters to the Vermont rolls, cementing Vermont’s ranking as a state with one of the highest registration rates in the country.

Public Assets Institute, Montpelier Health care costs account for almost half of the increase from the fiscal 2016 budget passed by the Legislature last spring to Gov. Peter Shumlin’s proposed 2017 budget. The governor’s total proposed increase is 3.8 percent, or a little more than $213 million, which includes an adjustment to the current fiscal year’s budget and an additional increase for next year, fiscal 2017. Before the Legislature adjourned last May, it approved $5.60 billion¹ in total spending for the current fiscal year, which runs from July 2015 through June 2016. For the next fiscal year, the governor is proposing a budget of $5.81 billion.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont is near the very bottom in charitable giving, accord to a report released Tuesday by the Urban Institute. Vermonters gave an average of $831 in actual charitable contributions. When adjusted by the state's average adjusted gross income per return (Vermont ranks 34th at $54,284), Vermont ranks 49th in the nation for charitable giving. This yearly publication reviews the individual charitable contributions reported on itemized tax returns published by the Internal Revenue Service from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This brief finds that total itemized charitable contributions and the average itemized charitable contribution per tax return in the United States increased from 2008 to 2013 ($1,339).

Vermont Business Magazine FreshTracks Capital announces the return of Peak Pitch Vermont on Thursday March 3rd.  Now in its eleventh year, Peak Pitch gives entrepreneurs and investors a wonderful opportunity to network on the slopes of the Sugarbush Resort.  Peak Pitch brings entrepreneurs and investors together for a unique version of the classic "elevator pitch." In the traditional elevator pitch, entrepreneurs take advantage of an opportunity to share an elevator ride with a potential investor or adviser and present their business idea.  At Peak Pitch, a shared chairlift ride gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch and tune their business plans to a variety of venture capitalists, angel investors, commercial bank officers, and other entrepreneurial advisors as they ride up the mountain on a chair lift.

Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Natural Resource’s Department of Environmental Conservation today announced that it formally settled environmental violations involving the Burlington International Airport (BTV). The City of Burlington operates the airport. The settlement includes a $37,754 penalty. The airport, located in South Burlington, is subject to three underground injection control (UIC) permits, issued by the Department. The permits authorize BTV to discharge stormwater containing aircraft de-icing fluid to the groundwater via four injection wells. Under the UIC permits BTV is required to perform annual inspections of each injection well system, and biannual monitoring of the groundwater with submission of the required reports to the Department’s Underground Injection Control Program. After reviewing information provided by BTV, the Department determined that BTV had failed to comply with the conditions of the UIC permits for a period of four years. 

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) has released a second draft of the Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs) for public review.  This draft, to be presented to the legislature and the public over the coming weeks, has been substantially revised to incorporate public input. As a result of Act 64—the Vermont Clean Water Act—signed into law in June 2015, the Agency of Agriculture was tasked with updating the Accepted Agricultural Practices (AAPs) to further reduce the impact of agriculture on water quality across the state. The RAPs are an updated version of the AAPs, the rules which regulate farms in order to protect water quality, re-written to a higher level of performance.  The Agency sought public input on its first draft of the new regulations, to ensure the RAPs reflected the realities of farming and the legislative intent of Act 64.

Vermont Business Magazine Use of alcohol among Vermont high school students decreased significantly in the past two years, according to the newly released 2015 Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey. In 2013, nearly 60 percent of high school students reported ever drinking alcohol. In 2015, that figure dropped to 56 percent. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is administered at school every other year to students in grades six through 12, and details the prevalence of a wide range of behaviors that affect health – from smoking, drinking and drug use, to physical activity, nutrition and weight, to violence and mental health status. The survey is conducted by the Vermont Department of Health and Agency of Education. More than 21,000 high school students (grades 9-12), and 13,600 middle school students (grades 6-8) participated in the latest survey, conducted during February and March 2015.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin today urged the Vermont Pension Investment Committee to reevaluate their opposition to divesting Vermont of coal and ExxonMobil stocks. The governor called for Vermont to divest from those assets in his State of the State Address. State Treasurer Beth Pearce has opposed the plan in order to keep the pension funds financially sound. The governor believes strongly that divestment is a tool that should be used to address climate change, especially after California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill last year to divest the state’s nearly $500 billion in pension assets from coal and study divestment from oil. Acknowledging VPIC’s past opposition to arguments about the moral imperative of using divestment to combat climate change, Shumlin focused his remarks on the bad economic investment that coal and ExxonMobil represent.  

Vermont Business Magazine The Gifford Health Care Board of Directors announced on Friday that long-serving Administrator Joseph Woodin will be leaving the organization in May to live in Massachusetts where he has accepted the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital CEO position. In announcing his resignation, Woodin stressed that the move was for personal reasons. “There is not a single reason why I should leave, or want to leave Gifford,” Woodin said. “In the last three years I lost my wife, and then my mother, and it has been a time of personal reflection for me. It’s the right time for me to move forward in life and pursue another opportunity.”

Joe Woodin. Courtesy photo.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Foodbank’s Veggie VanGo, a mobile food pantry, will deliver its second round of healthy groceries to the University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center in partnership with Hunger Mountain Coop on Friday, February 26. All families and individuals in need are invited to pick up free, fresh produce and other groceries from 9 to 11 a.m. in Conference Rooms 1 and 2 on the lower level of the hospital in Berlin, Vt. More than 150 people turned out for the first event in January. The Veggie VanGo will continue to distribute food at the hospital on several Fridays throughout the winter and spring including April 1, April 29, May 27 and June 24.