Current News
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by John Herrick vtdigger.org Vermont has become the nation’s leader in solar jobs per capita – an achievement praised by the Shumlin administration, environmental groups and solar developers. But solar’s growth is not so bright for those near the state’s so-called “Solar Capital” in Rutland, who say they are struggling to keep up with the burgeoning industry.
Don Chioffi, clerk of the Rutland Town Select Board, said while Rutland City has been called the solar capital of the state (thanks to a notable Green Mountain Power project), Rutland Town – a rural community of about 6,000 citizens is not ready adopt that moniker because of the impact large solar could have on the town’s rural character.
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by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org The Vermont Land Trust on Friday announced that it will not continue to support S.119 in its current form.
S.119, now in the House Judiciary Committee, would set criteria for conservation easement amendments and create a panel for reviewing the changes. Currently, there is no state law regulating conservation easement amendments.
The Vermont Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy have been working on the bill for two years and drafted much of the language.
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One of the provisions in the legislation, a Category 3 amendment is highly controversial because it would give an easement-holder, typically a land trust, the ability to make major changes to the development rights as long as a special panel approves.
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Governor Peter Shumlin proposed a 5 percent budget increase in January, which included $14 million in new revenues and an array of spending initiatives. As the deadline for the Big Bill in the House approaches, it has become clear that lawmakers have no interest in raising taxes for new spending.
Last week the House Ways and Means Committee rejected the governor’s $14 million claims assessment proposal, which would have taxed every medical care transaction filed with a health insurance company. Rep. Janet Ancel, D-Calais and chair of the committee, said the Shumlin administration has not made it clear what the money is to be used for. Last year the House rejected a similar proposal.
Lawmakers are determined to balance the budget without the new revenue.
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by John Herrick vtdigger.org
The Senate approved a proposal Wednesday to expand a program that allows ratepayers to generate their own electricity and sell power to utilities. The bill, H.702, expands the state’s net metering program. Several utilities have stopped accepting applications from homeowners and businesses seeking to generate their own electricity because the program sets a limit on a utility’s total installed net metering wattage at peak demand.
The new cap – which the bill raises from 4 percent to 15 percent – will allow the program to continue for the next few years.
Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, who chairs the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, took up the bill early this session.
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by Morgan True vtdigger.org Representative Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington, isn’t satisfied with Governor Peter Shumlin’s decision to delay the presentation of financing options for single-payer to lawmakers before the end of the legislative session.
Browning sent a public records request to Shumlin’s health care financing expert asking to see the work he’s completed thus far on tax options to pay for Green Mountain Care, the Vermont’s planned universal health care program.
A fundamental premise of Green Mountain Care is to decouple health insurance from employment by paying for it with taxes instead of premiums.
“It is past time that this administration was asked to stand and deliver,” said Browning in an email release.
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by Morgan True vtdigger.org Health care providers and insurers joined Governor Peter Shumlin Wednesday to announce two new programs they hope will contain system-wide costs and improve treatment quality.
“We all know that as we move to the first sensible health care system in America we’ve got to find a way to deliver better quality care for less of a cost increase,” Shumlin told a group of reporters at the Green Mountain Care Board offices in Montpelier.
The so-called “shared-savings” programs announced at the press conference are offered by payers, in this case Medicaid and commercial insurers, to provider groups called Accountable Care Organizations.
Under the agreement, ACO providers will meet quality standards for the care of a patient population at an agreed upon cost. If the providers can meet the quality standards for less, they split the savings with the payer.
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by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Burlington area bus drivers are scheduled to go on strike March 17. Members of the drivers’ union, Teamsters Local 597, voted 54-0 on Wednesday to reject the latest offer from the Chittenden County Transit Authority. CCTA has 68 drivers; all are in the union.
During the strike, there will be no CCTA service: All local and LINK routes operated by CCTA bus drivers would no longer be available. LINK services to Montpelier would be limited to five trips a day and Hinesburg would be limited to two.
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by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org
Lawmakers are considering letting Vermonters keep more money they earn from part-time work while they collect unemployment insurance benefits.
House Commerce Chair Bill Botzow, D-Bennington, said Wednesday afternoon that his committee has “great interest” in increasing the “earnings disregard” — the amount of earnings kept out of calculations that set a worker’s unemployment benefits.
Bill Botzow, D-Bennington, chair of the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development, at a news conference at the Statehouse in January. Photo by John Herrick/VTDigger
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Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger has announced his support of Champlain College’s Eagles Landing project, based on the project’s furthering two key Administration goals: repairing the City’s finances and addressing Burlington’s housing shortage. A letter from the Mayor to the City’s Development Review Board follows and a PDF copy of the letter is attached.
Weinberger Letter
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Campaign for Vermont today announced the hiring of Cyrus Patten as the new executive director of the non-partisan public advocacy organization.
"Cyrus has a diverse and proven background in social services, non-profit management, fundraising, community outreach, as well as public and government relations, said Louise McCarren, chair of the CFV board. "We are thrilled to have someone of his caliber as our first-ever Executive Director."
Patten most recently served as the Director of Comprehensive Care Programs at the HowardCenter in Burlington, where he supervised a continuum of programming for children and families while managing a multimillion dollar budget and over 100 staff and foster parents.
During his tenure, Patten oversaw a significant overhaul of programming that eliminated redundancies, identified new revenue and strengthened relationships with stakeholders.
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Nine Vermont companies have joined a Continuous Energy Improvement partnership with Efficiency Vermont. The first of its kind in the Northeast, the partnership provides participating companies with technical assistance and support to develop a comprehensive approach in energy management to reduce waste and improve energy performance over time.
“These companies have some of the largest energy needs in the state,” says Greg Baker, Senior Account Manager with Efficiency Vermont. “They’ve made a commitment to prioritize energy considerations in every aspect of their operations. As a result, they’re getting significantly greater return on their efficiency investments than by viewing energy savings as a series of unrelated upgrades. In other words, they’re not only installing efficient equipment, they’re also using it in the most efficient way for their specific needs.”
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by John Herrick vtdigger.org Vermont lawmakers passed a committee bill Wednesday that sets a plan to restore Lake Champlain’s water quality and raises some money to back it up. Federal regulators have ordered the state to clean up the lake.
Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains in New York as seen from the waterfront in Burlington. Photo by Roger Crowley/for VTDigger
The House Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources Committee voted 7-1 in favor of an omnibus water quality bill, H.586, just before Friday’s crossover deadline, the date by which a bill must pass from one chamber to the other.
