Current News

by John Herrick vtdigger.org House leadership made its final pitch to amass the votes to pass a minimum wage bill late Thursday evening, but the rally was stalled until Saturday when lawmakers discovered a technical error in the bill up for a vote. Democrats are torn between the Senate’s version of a bill to increase the state’s minimum wage more over a longer term and an amendment offered up Thursday to raise the wage sooner. The House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee on Thursday pitched a plan to increase the hourly wage to $9.25 on January 1, $9.75 in 2016 and $10.10 in 2017.

This latest leadership-backed proposal is similar to the Shumlin administration’s three-year phase-in to $10.10. Party leadership asked fellow Democrats to cast a “disciplined” vote and support the committee’s amendment.

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org All signs point to Saturday adjournment for the Vermont Legislature — with or without the minimum wage and economic development bills. But a new employer tax assessment which would be used to help balance the budget may be the key to whether or not those bills end up passing. House Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morrisville, and Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell, D-Windsor, said Friday morning they expect the tax and budget bills to be worked out today and make it through both chambers Saturday.

They say they are leaving it up to Republican leadership to decide whether to take up the minimum wage and economic development bills. The minority party would have to agree to suspend procedural rules in order to act on the legislation quickly enough to finish by Saturday night.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) has announced $230,000 in Sea Grant funding to the University of Vermont for research and management of fisheries, water quality, invasive species control and other efforts for Lake Champlain and its surrounding watershed. The funding is the latest installment made possible because of the status Lake Champlain now has within the Sea Grant Program, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Leahy memorably fought and won his battle in 1998 to include Lake Champlain in the Sea Grant Program. In the process the lake briefly was deemed a "Great Lake" for the program's purposes. Since Leahy's win, the Sea Grant Program has included Lake Champlain grant funding to UVM and other institutions.

Leahy said, “As we've hoped and worked for, the Sea Grant Program has become an engine in the ongoing work to clean up our 'great' Lake Champlain."

Vermont Business Magazine New unemployment claims in Vermont fell considerably last week to their lowest levels since March. For the week of May 3, 2014, there were 568 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is a decrease of 418 from the previous week's total, and 354 fewer than they were a year ago.

Altogether 7,225 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 795 from a week ago and 883 fewer than a year ago. The Department also processed 35 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 11 fewer than the previous week.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org No budget and tax deal had been formally reached as of Thursday and there was a late-night scuffle in the House over a minimum wage bill, but legislative leadership in the House and Senate say the legislative session still could end Saturday. The conferees of the Senate and House budget and tax committees were engrossed in closed-door negotiations late last night and they are expected to announce a deal this morning. House Speaker Shap Smith says if the budget and tax conferees can resolve an outstanding $2.2 million gap, the path could be clear for Saturday adjournment.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org Democratic leadership has found a way to resurrect a health care reform bill that earlier in the week looked as though it were on life-support. In its new form, S252, a bill that originally had set deadlines for the development of financing plans for Green Mountain Care, now includes no scheduled date requirement for the Shumlin administration to reveal how it plans to pay for a government-funded universal health care system. Senator Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, had said at a Tuesday conference committee meeting that the House and Senate versions of S252 could not be resolved in a timeframe that would allow the conference committees compromise to get approval in the House. That’s because House Republicans had said they would not vote to suspend the rules to allow it to be brought to floor more quickly.

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org As part of a plan to shore up Vermont’s retired teachers’ health care fund, schools likely will have to pay an annual health care fee for new hires. The joint House-Senate budget conference committee gave preliminary approval to the $1,072 fee Thursday night, along with several other aspects of a multi-million dollar, decade-long plan to shore up the fund. State treasurer Beth Pearce asked lawmakers for a July 1 start date for the assessment on new teacher hires, which would have impacted current year school budgets. But lawmakers rejected that request. They do not want to disrupt school budgets that have already been set. The conferees decided the state will assess the $1,072 fee for new teacher hires after July 1, 2015.

By the time the new hire assessment kicks in, the fee will be slightly higher, as it is indexed to inflation.

A new report evaluating grass biomass energy as a potential heating fuel has been released. Grass Energy in Vermont and the Northeast summarizes current research on the agronomy and usage potential of grass as a biofuel, and points to next steps for the region to fully commercialize this opportunity. The report was released last week by the Vermont Bioenergy Initiative, a program of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. The full report can be found on the Vermont Bioenergy Initiative website.

Joined by farmers, environmental groups, businesses – including Ben & Jerry’s CEO Jostein Solheim -- and others from across the country, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin today signed a first-in-the-nation law requiring the labeling of food produced from genetic engineering.“Vermonters take our food and how it is produced seriously, and we believe we have a right to know what’s in the food we buy,” Shumlin told the crowd gathered on the State House lawn for the signing event. “I am proud that we’re leading the way in the United States to require labeling of genetically engineered food. More than 60 countries have already restricted or labeled these foods, and now one state – Vermont -- will also ensure that we know what’s in the food we buy and serve our families.”

by Walter Judge The Vermont legislature has passed a bill that mandates, effective July 1, 2016, the labeling of food that contains – or might contain – genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The governor signed the bill Thursday afternoon. Although two other states have passed GMO labeling bills (Connecticut and Maine), Vermont’s bill is a first-in-the-nation bill because it does not contain a “trigger” clause, as the Connecticut and Maine laws do. The trigger clause in Connecticut’s and Maine’s laws means that those laws do not take effect until some other state’s labeling law goes into effect first. The idea behind including a trigger clause is that it reduces the likelihood that the enacting state will be sued by the food industry because, by definition, it will not be the first state to mandate labeling.

Standard & Poor’s has affirmed its A (Strong) financial strength ratings for National Life Insurance Company and Life Insurance Company of the Southwest, the two insurance companies of National Life Group. At the same time the rating agency revised the outlook on the group’s insurance companies to positive from stable. According to Standard & Poor’s, the “positive outlook reflects our expectation of continued improvement in operating performance, very strong capital adequacy, and strong fixed-charge coverage.”

Mehran Assadi, president and chief executive officer of National Life Group, said he was extremely pleased with S&P’s decision to revise the group outlook to positive from stable.

“This action reflects our strong positive growth over the past few years,” he said. “We have been setting sales records as well as setting records in net income, total assets under management, insurance in force and statutory surplus.”

Wyatt Investment Research, based in Richmond, Vermont, is circulating a petition asking US Attorney General Eric Holder to end high frequency trading. "We represent a coalition of individual investors who are deeply concerned about the state of the financial markets in the United States," said Ian Wyatt, president and publisher of the Vermont-based investment research company. "We believe that High Frequency Trading is an illegal activity that gives certain stock market participants an unfair advantage. There is clear and convincing evidence that trading firms, Wall Street banks, stock exchanges, and online brokerage firms all profit from High Frequency Trading."