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Related Company: Vermont Electric Power Companyby John Herrick vtdigger.org The state’s transmission utility told lawmakers to keep a close watch on the region’s costly electrical transmission build-out – a portion of which Vermont ratepayers are required to pay.
The Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO) said Vermont has improved much of its electrical infrastructure designed to increase reliability, but other states have not.
“And what we are seeing is a continuing rise of the regional transmission costs that Vermont will be required to pay a portion of,” VELCO Vice President Kerrick Johnson, told the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee on Friday.

Strolling of the Heifers, a Vermont-based local food advocacy group, has released its third annual Locavore Index, a state-by-state ranking of commitment to local foods.

Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding released the March 2014 General Fund (GF) revenue results Friday. General Fund revenues totaled $92.56 million for March 2014, $5.21 million or 5.97 percent ahead of the monthly target. Year to date, General Fund receipts are now $926.19 million, $4.95 million or 0.54 percent ahead of the cumulative target. Year to date revenue is $39.12 million (4.41 percent) ahead of the same period for the prior fiscal year (FY 2013). March is the ninth month of fiscal year (FY) 2014.
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Secretary Spaulding commented, “March was a positive month overall for the General Fund, with strong collections in both the personal and corporate income tax sectors. Consumption tax receipts, including sales, rooms and meals and fuel taxes were a little off for the month, but that mainly reflects February activity and we may well see better than pro-jected performance in this month’s receipts, due to the snowy March.

New unemployment claims in Vermont fell again last week for the fourth consecutive week. Weekly claims had decreased for the first seven weeks of the year before a two-week increase and have fallen steadily since the end of February. For the week of March 29, 2014, there were 565 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is a decrease of 53 from the previous week's total, and 121 fewer than they were a year ago.
Altogether 8,002 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 219 from a week ago and 803 fewer than a year ago. The Department also processed 59 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 7 fewer than the previous week.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org
Vermont signed a revised contract with technology firm CGI this week, setting up a timeline for completing the state’s online health insurance marketplace over the summer.
The revised contract says the so-called “change of circumstance” function, which allows people to fix mistakes or update their application or coverage online, must be operable by May 21.
Small businesses, which are currently enrolled directly with the insurance carriers participating in the exchange, mustl be able to use the website by July 2, according to the new contract.
The revised contract includes an additional $2 million in penalties if CGI is unable to meet the new deadlines. In signing the new deal, CGI also waived its right to contest the $5 million in liquidated damage penalties the state has already assessed over problems with Vermont Health Connect.

by Hilary Niles, vtdigger.org Vermont lawmakers are poised to “boldly go where no other state has gone before,” Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, said Thursday before casting his vote for an unprecedented food-labeling law.
The Senate Judiciary Committee gave H.112 unanimous approval Thursday. The bill would require the labeling of food made with genetically modified ingredients sold in Vermont.
Vermont will not wait for more states to adopt similar laws before it moves ahead with GMO labeling.

by Morgan True, vtdigger.org Lawmakers in Vermont got a glimpse Thursday of Maryland’s unique system for compensating hospital systems.
Maryland has had a waiver from the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS) since 1977 that allows them to set reimbursement rates for those programs. In addition, state law allows a rate-setting commission to regulate private insurers in much the same way the Green Mountain Care Board does in Vermont.
Robert Murray, who spent nearly two decades working for Maryland as a hospital regulator and now consults for the Green Mountain Care Board, said Maryland has created what is known as an all-payer system, in which Medicare and Medicaid, private payers, insurance companies and self-insured employers, all compensate providers at roughly the same rate.
Photo courtesy of vtdigger.org

by Anne Galloway, vtdigger.org The House gave initial approval to a property tax rate bill that will raise rates by 4 cents for residential property and 7.5 cents for nonresidential property.
Representatives also approved a six year phase out of the $7.7 million small schools grant as part of a package of changes to the state’s education financing law. Starting in 2019, the grant program would be reduced by one-third each year for three years.
More than 100 small schools in Vermont receive a grant from the state.

The Vermont State Police issued the following information regarding the death of a subject during a Brattleboro Police investigation early Friday. VSP received a call at approximately 5:43 am from the Brattleboro Police Department regarding a shooting incident at the American Best Inn on Putney Road in Brattleboro. Detectives with the Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and troopers from the Brattleboro Barracks responded immediately to begin an investigation at the request of Brattleboro Police.
Members of the Crime Scene Search Team responded to process the scene. The decedent will be transported to the Vermont Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Burlington for a post mortem examination to determine cause and manner of death.

Senator Bill Doyle (R-Washington) has released results of his Town Meeting Day survey, with voters supporting a cell phone ban while driving, an increase in the minimum wage and labeling GMO foods, while being torn about the legalization of marijuana, wind turbines and the new health care law.
Senator Doyle has been conducting this survey for 44 years. Over 13,000 returns were tabulated from 155 Vermont Cities and Towns. It is an unscientific poll and non-binding, but it has regularly matched hard polling data and often jibed with what ultimately comes out of Montpelier.
Doyle said this is the most response he's ever had to the iconic poll. He said seven or eight of the questions are still in play in the Legislature.

Related Company: Norwich UniversityNorwich University’s College of Graduate and Continuing Studies (CGCS), based in Northfield, Vermont, will present former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a keynote speaker during its 2014 residency conference on Thursday, June 19, at 10 am in Shapiro Field House.
Rice will share remarks as part of the Todd Lecture Series, and the event is free and open to the public.
CGCS will host its annual residency conferences during the week of June 16, when more than 600 students from all over the world in nine graduate programs and two bachelor’s degree-completion programs will participate in academic activities, conference sessions and commencement exercises.

Governor Peter Shumlin, with Johannes von Trapp, kicked off Vermont's 2014 maple sugar season Thursday, officially tapping a maple tree at the Trapp Family Lodge sugarhouse. The governor predicted a strong maple season despite the late start, and highlighted the maple industry’s important impact on Vermont’s economy and tourism business.
“We’re getting a late start this year, but by all accounts Vermont is expecting a great maple season,” the governor said. He said the Trapp Family Lodge, where sugaring has been taking place since the late 1800s and the roughly 300 gallons produced each year are sold in the gift shop or online, is illustrative of the link between Vermont’s maple industry and its strong tourism focus.
“Trapps draws visitors to ski, swim, hike, mountain bike, sample our locally brewed beers, go bird-watching, and take home a few containers of Vermont maple syrup,” Shumlin said.