Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Gas Systems announced that this week it is officially an Energy Efficiency Utility (EEU) as designated by the Vermont Public Service Board.  “For the past two decades, our customers and the environment have benefited tremendously from our nationally recognized efficiency programs. This designation reinforces our commitment to build on our efficiency services to help our customers cut costs and reduce carbon emissions,” said Don Rendall, Vermont Gas President and CEO. The company serves customers in Franklin and Chittenden counties and is expanding to Addison County.

Vermont Business Magazine Comcast Business has announced that for the third consecutive year the company will seek out the nation’s most innovative startup companies and entrepreneurs to participate in its Innovations 4 Entrepreneurs competition. Current and aspiring business owners can enter the competition for a chance to win up to $30,000 and participate in a day of mentoring with teams of business experts who will provide advice on how to implement their plan.

Based on a 250-word essay submission, applicants will answer the question: How could your business use technology to help enhance your business? Startups and entrepreneurs are encouraged to visit the Comcast Business Community to submit their application and essay and review the full program details. Entries are due by March 12, 2016.

Vermont Business Magazine If you make, build, publish, produce, or create anything, you should be included in Vermont Business Magazine's Business-to-Business Directory. This B2B guide is published in May and is also available online to subscribers. The diretory features manufacturers, constractors, business services, high tech, media, and any company type with 25 or more employees. Please update the information listed that we have for you on file. There is no charge to be listed in any of our rankings or directories. Answer only the questions with which you are comfortable. Return even if all information is correct.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Governor Peter Shumlin, Secretary of State Jim Condos, Tax Commissioner Mary Peterson and Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan are pleased to announce the successful partnership among their agencies to create a single sign-in business portal to make it easier to register and start a business in Vermont. Everyone doing business in Vermont must first register with the Secretary of State’s Office. Those businesses must also obtain a tax identification number from the Department of Tax, and register with the Department of Labor for unemployment insurance. Until recently, that meant multiple forms, visits, letters, checks and phone calls. The new online Business Portal allows Vermont businesses to create an account with the Secretary of State’s Office, and then interact with each agency quickly and simply in one place.

www.sec.state.vt.us

Vermont Business Magazine President Obama on Tuesday called on Congress to provide more than $1 billion in new funding to address prescription opioid and heroin addiction. In recent years, rural communities in Vermont have been hit hard by the epidemic, which has been the focus of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings that senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) has previously chaired in Vermont and Washington. Last week Leahy invited Governor Shumlin to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington about Vermont’s experience. The Judiciary Committee as early as this Thursday may vote on the Comprehensive Addition and Recovery Act, legislation cosponsored by Leahy that would help address the heroin and opioid epidemic. Leahy, a former prosecutor, also is a cosponsor of legislation that would provide $600 million in emergency federal funds to help states combat the problem.

Vermont Business Magazine Paid sick leave in Vermont received initial Senate approval today after a key committee backed the measure last week. The Healthy Workplaces bill (H187) passed the House last year with a vote of 72-63. Governor Peter Shumlin (D-Vermont) has called for the bill to pass and be sent to him for signature. Businesses have been concerned about the cost of the program and about how the plan rectifies differences between existing plans, which most employers have, and the new law. Many Vermonters work for companies that are based out-of-state, creating compliance problems for employers. But language in the bill should allow enough flexbility for those firms to use existing benefits. While every small business must comply, the Senate version allows for more exemptions than the House version, which could trigger a Conference Committee to resolve differences if the Senate passes the bill as is.

Vermont Business Magazine Problems plaguing the EB-5 Regional Center program must be addressed through bipartisan legislation this year, Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) said Tuesday in a sternly worded statement to his colleagues. Vermont developers have used EB-5 funding at several large, tourist-related development projects, including at Jay Peak and Burke Mountain, in Stowe and at Sugarbush, Okemo and Mount Snow. Because of a backlog in processing and increased oversight by federal regulators, including the SEC and USCIS (immigration), application approvals have slowed and projects have stalled.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Climate Change Economy Council (VCCEC) is proposing a bold new vision and strategy for economic development statewide. With today’s State House release of Progress for Vermont, the Council is highlighting ways to make Vermont the most desirable location for creative small businesses and innovative entrepreneurs that advance clean energy generation, improve efficiencies, transform transportation and revitalize communities. Many of the state’s business innovators are already finding practical ways to reduce carbon emissions and diminish climate risk while providing their products and services across the world. The VCCEC strategies are designed to stimulate this green economy and assure Vermont remains a national leader in this expanding sector.

Vermont Business Magazine The Plum Creek Foundation recently awarded a $4,000 grant to the Vermont PBS Youth Environmental Education program, which offers environmental conservation and preservation material to engage the next generation of environmental stewards. According to Maggie Hunter, Director of Grants and Foundation Support, the Vermont PBS’ Youth Environmental Education program has inspired young viewers and their families since its start in 2014. In 2016, the program places to focus on their Watershed and River Model. This will involve river clean ups, looking at trout in the classroom, exploring the chop & drop watershed restoration technique and looking at riparian buffers.

Vermont Business Magazine Kevin Pearce was at the top of his sport as a world class professional snowboarder in 2009 when he sustained a traumatic brain injury while training for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The  28-year-old Pearce’s road to recovery has brought to light his potential to transform the experience of traumatic brain injury (TBI) into a source of inspiration, education and awareness. He will share his story of recovery at Champlain College on Thursday, February 4 at 6:30 pm in the Champlain Room of the Center for Communication and Creative Media at 375 Maple St. It is presented by the Champlain Ski and Ride Club and the LoveYourBrain Foundation. The talk is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and seating is first-come, first served.

by Sarah Tuff Dunn “Blood is something we all have, but rarely consider,” says Julie Desrochers, the fall prevention program manager at the Vermont Department of Health, of her years working for the American Red Cross in Burlington. “I loved sharing my knowledge on the behavioral clues that make up what we consider instincts—for example, the small signs that indicate an early reaction, such as syncope—a temporary loss of consciousness caused by a fall in blood pressure--which can prevent an adverse blood donation experience or injury.”

by John McClaughry In his January budget message, Gov. Shumlin announced a new source of tax revenue to help fill the ever-gaping Medicaid budget deficit ($55 million in Fiscal Year 2017). He proposed that the provider assessment now applied to hospitals and nursing homes be expanded to independent physicians and dentists, at 2.35% of net patient income. “This will,” he said, “raise $17 million in state funds and draw down $20 million of the federal dollars that we’ve been leaving on the table.”

This game began in 1991. In that year the legislature (ill-advisedly) bought into a Massachusetts-invented scheme called “MediScam”.

The Federal government matches state money raised to fund Medicaid. The matching percentage (called FMAP), is approximately 55% for 2017.