Current News

The Senate Economic Development committee has proposed a tax on Vermont workers that would go towards replenishing the state's unemployment insurance fund, which ran out in February and is currently being funded with loans from the federal government, according to a story in the Burlington Free Press. The committee passed the bill with a 3-2 vote.
The 0.02 percent payroll tax would raise around $24 million a year. Additionally, the proposal would increase taxes on employers. The maximum unemployment benefit would be kept at $425 a week, but changes would be made regarding who can collect unemployment. Changes would include making those fired for misconduct ineligible to file, and requiring workers who are laid off to wait a week before filing. The tax on workers would mean that the tax on employers would not be raised as much as the Douglas administration had proposed.

Provisions negotiated by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to modernize satellite television services and to reauthorize the expiring statutory licenses that permit satellite providers to retransmit broadcast stations to consumers has been included in legislation introduced Monday to bolster job growth and creation. When enacted, the legislation will again authorize satellite providers to retransmit broadcast stations to consumers.
This important legislative package will modernize and streamline the statutory licenses that allow cable and satellite providers to retransmit the content of broadcast television signals to their subscribers, said Leahy. After months of negotiations, we have struck a reasonable agreement to advance this legislation. I hope Congress will quickly pass this important bill.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) has been named one of 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Corporate Responsibility Magazine. The 100 Best list is known as the world s top corporate responsibility ranking based on publicly-available information.
The 100 Best Corporate Citizens List is based on over 360 data points in seven categories: Environment, Climate Change, Human Rights, Philanthropy, Employee Relations, Financial Performance, and Governance. The 100 Best Corporate Citizens are selected from among the large-cap Russell 1000 companies, with data provided by leading ESG investor data firm IW Financial. GMCR ranked 39th overall and was among the top ten food and beverage companies on the list.

Governor Jim Douglas passed into law last week a program called Challenges for Change, which aims to find $38 million in savings in state government operations. Rather than making traditional budget cuts, the law urges state government agencies to find new, less expensive ways of implementing their services. The program is part of the effort of state lawmakers to close a $150 million budget gap.

(Source: The Burlington Free Press)

Legislation passed by the Vermont House last week would make it easier to recycle computers, televisions and other electronics, according to a story in the Burlington Free Press. The bill would require manufacturers to fund the disposal of their products, which would fund free drop-off sites for e-waste in every Vermont county. Electronics companies would be required to pay a $5,000 registration fee to sell their products in the state, followed by a fee of 25 to 35 cents per pound of electronics sold. Governor Jim Douglas is expected to sign the bill, which would make Vermont the 21st state to implement an e-recycling program. The program is scheduled to start running in July 2011.

The Vermont Senate has passed a bill which would use $8.6 million in federal economic stimulus money to help create more than 1000 new jobs around the state. The bill, which was drafted by the Senate Economic Development committee, will put $3 million dollars towards expanding high speed broadband internet service in rural areas of the state. $1 million will be used to provide equity capital to Vermont businesses, and an additional $1 million will help dairy farmers to refinance loans and consolidate debt. It also allocates $1 million for employment training programs. Another $800,000 will provide no interest loans to Addison County businesses that were affected by the closing of the Champlain Bridge. The bill still needs to be approved by the House.
(Source: Vermont Public Radio)

This February eLEI report brings a first possible glimpse of an upcoming double dip in the US economy. Following 10 consecutive months of increase, eLEI has gone down. Growth has pulled back from the previous highs reached and the recession probability has increased dramatically. It will be important to continue to watch the recession probabilities index to determine if the course reverses.

CVPS completed restoration efforts late Sunday night in the aftermath of last week’s two-pronged snow and wind storm that knocked out power to more than 1 million electric utility customers across the Northeast, finishing one day ahead of initial estimates.
“This was certainly one of the most trying yet productive work weeks in our company’s history, and it revealed the tremendous spirit of our employees and the people we serve,” President Bob Young said. “But this storm is not over for many in the New England. This morning we sent six crews to help Public Service of New Hampshire in their restoration efforts, which are ongoing.”
More than 91,000 CVPS customer outages occurred over the course of the storm, making it the largest in company history. CVPS staged an unparalleled restoration effort, which included more than 90 CVPS linemen, more than 90 two-person contract line crews, more than 20 two-person tree crews and hundreds of support staff.

Governor Jim Douglas today announced that workers compensation insurance would cost less for most Vermont employers when new rates approved by the Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA) become effective on April 1, 2010. This is the fourth straight year Vermont rates have decreased.
I am pleased to announce another year of decreased workers compensation rates. This is excellent news, especially for the many Vermont small businesses that will benefit from this decrease, said Governor Douglas. Four consecutive years of decreased rates would not be possible without employers continued attention to the issue of workplace safety, and the work of state regulators who successfully maintain a positive business environment for insurers.

Tired utility crews are making steady progress today in the wake of a hard-hitting one-two-punch storm system that caused 88,000 Central Vermont Public Service customer outages. As of 5 p.m., 8,500 customer outages remained, but storm recovery is likely to extend through the weekend into Monday. Across the Northeast, nearly 750,000 customers lost service Thursday night and Friday morning as high winds tore through the region.
“This storm recovery will be remembered as one of the most complicated in our history,” spokeswoman Christine Rivers said. “We’ve had two back-to-back major storms in the span of a few days, and Albany National Weather Service forecasters have predicted additional snow in southern Vermont through Saturday night. Each wave would have been a challenge by itself. Together the first two waves caused more customer outages than any storm in our history.”

The state is making roughly $250,000 in grants available to communities across the state for municipal planning and other special projects. Officials at the Vermont Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development announced the Municipal Planning Grants of up to $15,000, which can be used for a variety of planning projects.
“While the budget crisis has curtailed the amount available, we are committed to funding the most urgent planning projects to maintain our commitment to smart growth,” said Tayt Brooks, Commissioner of the Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development.
Through a competitive process, towns can be awarded grants for such planning activities as updating town plans, maps and zoning bylaws; however, Brooks said priority will be given to the following types of projects this year:

Updating municipal bylaws for the purpose of bringing bylaws into conformance with the municipal plan by 2011 as required by law;

By Neale F Lunderville. On Town Meeting Day, many voters will be confounded by a riddle on their school budget ballot: how is it that we cut school spending, but our property tax bill went up anyway?
The answer is buried deep within the labyrinth of Act 60 and Act 68, the complex and impenetrable school funding laws that still confuse taxpayers many years after their enactment. This system – which Governor Douglas has called “fundamentally broken and beyond repair” – threatens another year with higher property taxes at a time when families and small businesses can least afford them. And it only gets worse as the problem compounds in years to come.
Since the passage of Act 60, school spending has grown dramatically with the true cost to taxpayers masked by a surging housing market and expanding subsidies. As home values climbed, lawmakers and school boards could lower the property tax rate and still collect more than enough for schools.