Current News
by tim
Governor Peter Shumlin today announced the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation will be awarding $504,279 in grants to 15 municipalities and non-profit organizations across Vermont for recreational trail projects. Grants are provided through the Recreational Trails Program, and more money is on the way.’
Recreational Trails Program funds come from the Federal Highway Administration, helping to improve livability for Vermonters.’ Funds may be used for the development, rehabilitation and maintenance of trails and trailhead facilities for non-motorized, motorized, and/or multiple compatible recreational trail uses. ‘
"Vermont’s outdoor recreation opportunities are so important to our way of life and our economy. These grants provide opportunities for Vermonters to spend more time on our trails, encouraging outdoor activity and healthy living,’ said Governor Shumlin.’
by tim
The legislative health care debate begins on Day One of the 2014 session Tuesday when Governor Peter Shumlin appears before a joint committee. The early and unusual address to the House and Senate health care committees takes place at 11 am in Room 11 at the Statehouse.
The governor is expected to respond to the fitful start of the state’s new health care exchange and outline his plans for a publicly financed system due in 2017.
Opening week
11 a.m. Tuesday: Gov. Peter Shumlin addresses to joint health care committees, Room 11.
by tim
Members of the Vermont State Employees’ Association’s (VSEA) Election, Rules and Nominating (ERN) Committee counted ballots at union headquarters Monday and announced the ratification of new contracts by VSEA members belonging to the union’s Supervisory, Corrections and State Colleges Units.
‘Judging by the votes, it’s pretty clear that VSEA members in these three Units are very pleased with their new contracts,’ said ERN Chair Mary Poulos, herself a DOC employee. ‘It’s a great testament to the hard work of the rank-and-file VSEA bargaining team members who negotiated the agreements.’
VSEA President Shelley Martin hailed the votes and the fact that each contract features respectful and well-deserved pay increases as well as very sought after improvements in benefits and working conditions.
by tim
Following an unprecedented outreach and education campaign, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT) implemented a late-year contingency plan in 2013 that protected more than 52,000 Vermonters from interruptions in their health care coverage. The member-focused work reflected a historic commitment by Vermont’s only local health plan to support Vermonters in their transition to the state’s new health care exchange, Vermont Health Connect (VHC).
At year’s end, more than 14,000 Vermonters who receive their health care coverage through small businesses had enrolled in VHC-approved qualified health plans directly through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont. An additional 38,000 Vermonters had extended their 2013 coverage with BCBSVT under contingency options approved in late October by Governor Peter Shumlin.
by tim
After long careers at previous firms, Kevin Ellis and Bryan Mills have formed an eponymously named public affairs firm based in Montpelier and Boston. They intend to offer new approaches under the public affairs umbrella, including public relations, state government affairs, corporate and non-profit strategy, crisis management, land-use projects and media training. It is a new, fast-moving, low-overhead approach that we think clients will appreciate.
The new firm, Ellis Mills, springs from their shared belief in the value and importance of responsive, high-quality strategic counsel for companies and non-profits in a rapidly changing world dominated by technical and political change. Like it or not, clients of all kinds must talk to government and vice versa. When that conversation is clear and constructive, everybody wins.
by tim
Attorney General Bill Sorrell has joined 42 other state and territorial attorneys general in sending a letter to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging it to require manufacturers of generic prescription pain relievers to develop tamper-resistant versions of their products. Sorrell was also part of a coalition of attorneys generals that requested the FDA reconsider its recent approval of Zohydro ER, a high dose narcotic painkiller.
by tim
As a brutal cold front grips much of the country, Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) is calling on President Obama to restore funding for LIHEAP, the federal program that helps vulnerable Americans pay their energy bills.’ ‘
In recent years, funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has been slashed, literally leaving low-income families, children and seniors out in the cold. ‘ Citing a 30 percent decline in funding, Welch is urging Obama to fund the program in his upcoming budget proposal at no less than $4.7 billion. ‘ ‘ ‘
Last winter, Vermont received $18.3 million in federal LIHEAP funding, with the state contributing an additional $9.7 million. In that same period, just under 28,000 Vermont households received LIHEAP assistance. ‘
by tim
CVAA’s Executive Director John Barbour has announced his intention to retire this year from the agency. Barbour has been the Executive Director for 26 years and has been with the agency for nearly 34 years advocating for seniors, their families,’ and their caregivers. During his tenure he has dealt with the surge in the senior population, the reduction of funding, and the move toward more community based services. In the ever changing world of senior services, Barbour has been the one constant.
by tim
This year, VNRC is urging legislators wrap up two pro-environment measures left over from last year, as well as pass some additional, but relatively targeted, changes to land use and clean energy policy. The following is VNRC’s primary legislative priorities for 2014.
by tim
by Morgan True vtdigger.org Vermont’s plans for a single-payer health care system have catapulted it into the national spotlight. With so much attention being paid to health care as the Affordable Care Act moves from rolling-out to up-and-running, Americans (or at least media and policy types) are asking what’s next?
Filmmaker Michael Moore, of ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’³ fame, recently penned an op-ed for the New York Times on the failures and successes of Obamacare, which concluded with the proclamation that Vermont’s single-payer experiment could ‘change everything,’ adding the president ‘knew in his heart that a single-payer, Medicare-for-all model was the true way to go.’
For just about everything you wanted to know about the state’s health care exchange, but were afraid to ask, go to VTDigger’s user’s guide to Vermont Health Connect.
The guide includes an interactive chart that helps you find your estimated subsidy level instantly.
by tim
by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org A 13-year-old girl committed suicide in a group home at the Brattleboro Retreat last Friday. The teenager was last seen in a common room on Friday evening 10 minutes to 15 minutes before she was found dead in an upstairs room, according to Retreat officials. Staff at the adolescent residence hall called her for dinner, and realized she was missing when she didn’t respond.
The Brattleboro Police Department and the Vermont Department for Children and Families are both investigating the death.
Peter Albert, a spokesman for the Brattleboro Retreat, said psychiatric hospital staff are ‘gathering the data for the investigation and at some level coming to grips to how tragic this is, and how horrible it is for family ‘ that’s where our energies are at this point.’
by tim
Lawmakers returned to the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier Tuesday and the Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility has issued its stance on big questions regarding health care, clean energy, food security, economic development and the state budget.
VBSR’s 2014 Legislative Agenda
Health Care
We support the full implementation of Vermont Health Connect and will work to ensure that the system is successful for our businesses and their employees. Vermont must also continue to build on federal health care reform efforts and create a health care system that covers all residents, cuts unnecessary waste and spending and decouples insurance from employment. This system must also be funded fairly and based on a person’s ability to pay.
Tax Reform and Fiscal Policy