Current News

by Governor Peter Shumlin Too often the news we hear focuses on the controversy over what we don’t agree on. As we work to put together a difficult budget that matches Montpelier’s appetite for spending with Vermonters ability to pay and other legislation that helps make this state a more affordable place to live, work, and raise a family, there is plenty of that to go around. But this week we all – Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and Progressives – were able to come together on legislation to protect Vermonters from business practices that target those who can least afford it with rental schemes that can charitably be described as a rip off.

FairPoint Communications, Inc (Nasdaq: FRP), a leading provider of advanced communications technology in northern New England, today announced plans to open a new data center in Manchester, NH FairPoint opened its first data center in Laconia, NH, in June 2014.

FairPoint's data centers provide organizations with network connectivity and rack space in physically secure, reliable locations. Businesses can use these spaces as primary or secondary data center sites; and they can be a critical part of a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy. FairPoint's data centers are strictly controlled environments with essential power, cooling, connectivity and security features – including continuous video monitoring and keycard access at ingress points.

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) announces the call for nominations for the 2015 Terry Ehrich Award for Excellence in Socially Responsible Business. Members of the business community are encouraged to nominate an individual whose business practices show a commitment to the environment, the workplace and the community no later than Sunday, March 15.

Named for the late owner of Hemmings Motor News and founder of the First Day Foundation, the Terry Ehrich Award is given annually to a person who exemplifies Terry's dedication to the triple bottom line approach to business. Nominations will be judged on four criteria: Workplace Environment, Political Environment, Social Environment and Natural Environment.

Vermont environmentalists today commended the Vermont House in beginning to advance broad clean water legislation aimed at cutting pollution flowing into Lake Champlain and other water bodies. Today the House Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources Committee gave final approval to H35, known as the Clean Water bill, on a 7-2 vote. Still in the early stages of passage through the Legislature, the bill has several remaining committee stops in the House. It then has to clear the Senate before heading to the governor’s desk.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org Facing budgetary pressures totaling $188.2 million between the governor’s budget proposal and the House-approved fee bill, lawmakers will consider bringing back a cap on itemized income tax deductions that stalled in 2013. Most states tax residents based on adjusted gross income, but Vermont is among the few that tax residents based on taxable income, or the amount taxpayers report after they have claimed deductions.

The House and Senate have considered a variety of modified AGI policy changes over the past several years, based on information from the Vermont Blue Ribbon Tax Structure Commission research released in 2011.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims continued a trend from the beginning of the year, as numbers fell toward 500. Claims rose in the late fall and peaked around the holidays. For the week of February 14, 2015, there were 514 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is a decrease of 123 from the previous week's total, and 34 fewer than they were a year ago. In 2014, claims were consistently below 2013 levels on a week-to-week basis.

Graph shows private employment (nonfarm, nongovernment)

Altogether 7,968 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 94 from a week ago and 422 fewer than a year ago. The Department processed 0 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), the same as the previous week.

US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) is recommending Burlington attorney Eric Miller to President Obama to be Vermont’s next US Attorney. Miller, 45, would be the 37th United States Attorney in Vermont’s history, managing the US Department of Justice’s US Attorney offices in Burlington and Rutland and overseeing the work of nearly 20 attorneys who represent the United States in criminal and civil investigations and litigation in Vermont.

“I have been impressed with the thoughtfulness, vision, and depth of experience that Eric Miller has demonstrated throughout his career,” Leahy said. “Eric is one of Vermont’s leading trial attorneys. He is well regarded by state and local law enforcement agencies and leaders in Vermont’s legal community. Eric is eminently qualified to be the top Federal law enforcement officer in Vermont, and I am proud to recommend him to serve as Vermont's next US Attorney.”

Mayor Miro Weinberger today announced that a memorandum of understanding (see MOU below) has been reached with the property owner and other interested parties involved in the recently acquired Burlington College land to pursue a collaborative planning process intended to take public input and explore possible site designs for the property. The parties – Vermont Land Trust, Champlain Housing Trust (CHT), property owner Eric Farrell through BC Community Housing, LLC (BCCH), and the City of Burlington – recognize that the property is an iconic piece of Burlington, and the MOU offers the opportunity for a broad public discussion about the future of the land before any formal permitting process begins.

After more than 20 years as a public nonprofit, the Vermont Center for Geographic Information (VCGI) will become a division of state government once again. Specifically, it will become a division of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) on March 30, 2015. Originally created as the Office of GIS (geographic information system) in the late 80’s, and then re-formulated as a nonprofit in the early 90’s, VCGI’s mission has never changed and it will continue to provide a one-stop free-data experience for those seeking digital map layers for Vermont.

Patricia Moulton, secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD), and Susan L Donegan, commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), announced today that DFR has agreed to assist ACCD in providing oversight of EB-5 projects. EB-5 is federal program that ACCD has been approved to administer in Vermont. The EB-5 program was designed to grant permanent residence visas to foreign investors and their immediate family members in exchange for the new economic development and job creation.

Governor Peter Shumlin announced today that Commissioner of Economic Development Lisa Gosselin will be leaving her post in April to take a job outside of state government. She will be replaced by Joan Goldstein who currently serves as Executive Director of the Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation.

Gosselin is leaving state government to become the vice-president of Addison Press Inc, the Middlebury-based publisher of regional newspapers (including the Addison Independent), magazines, web sites and digital apps.

“It’s been a tremendous honor to serve the state under Governor Shumlin,” Gosselin said, “and to work with so many of the state’s growing businesses. However there is an opportunity now to focus on our own family business’s growth.”

Vermont Business Magazine In a joint announcement dated today, FairPoint Communications, Inc (Nasdaq: FRP); System Council T-9 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (AFL-CIO) Locals 2320, 2326, and 2327; and the Communications Workers of America (AFL-CIO) Local 1400 have reached tentative agreements on the terms for new collective bargaining agreements. The strike affected approximately 1,700 workers in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.