Leonine: Broad(band) fight looms, but PPP tax looks dead

On Wednesday, the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee passed S.10, the unemployment insurance bill, by an 8-2-1 vote. The draft they approved would remove 2020 from the UI rate schedule formula, peg the maximum weekly benefit (MWB) to 57 percent of the state average weekly wages and clarify that in no event may the MWB decrease. The House made other changes to the Senate bill including cutting the $50 dependency benefit. Labor advocates and some legislators were immediately critical and concerned by the removal of the benefit. S.10 as approved by the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee includes employer experience-rating relief for the 2020 calendar year and directs the Department of Labor (VDOL) to study and report on changes made to the UI Trust Fund since 2000 and to compare Vermont’s UI benefits and dependent benefits to other states. It also directs VDOL to study and report on UI fraud.

Lawmakers are currently working through the details of what a possible physical return to the statehouse would look like for the 2022 Legislative Session. A report released last week by an architectural firm recommended two possible approaches to meeting in person in Montpelier next year. Option A proposes that only legislators and staff should be allowed in the building. Legislative hearings and floor work would be accessible only virtually by livestream. Option B would include Option A, but in addition to restricted statehouse capacity, it would include utilization of other state office buildings to allow for some in-person public participation in larger spaces.

Members of the press, lobbyists and advocates weighed in this week on the proposals. Many of these stakeholders oppose the architectural firm’s recommendations and have asked the legislature to ensure accessibility and transparency should in-person meetings resume. Leadership in both the House and the Senate have also rejected the idea of meeting in-person without giving members of the press and members of the public some access to the statehouse.

On Wednesday the Senate Finance Committee finalized its version of the telecom bill, H.360. The Senate Appropriations Committee reviewed and approved it on Thursday, although it took the $100 million in ARPA funding out of the bill, as that amount is already earmarked for broadband expansion in the Senate’s version of the FY2022 budget bill, H.439. That money will go into the Vermont Community Broadband Fund established by H.360. Grants from the fund for the deployment of broadband infrastructure and pre-construction planning activity will be awarded by a new three member Vermont Community Broadband Board that will be housed in the Department of Public Service. For the most part only municipal Communications Union Districts, small independent telephone companies and Internet Service Providers serving no more than three counties will be eligible for grants. Grants can only be provided for projects that will provide at least 100/100 mbps internet service and that are part of a larger plan to provide such service to all of the premises in the grant recipient’s territory. However, larger cable and telephone companies can receive grants for broadband projects that provide at least 25/3 mbps service, but only for projects outside the territory of a CUD and only if the project will provide service by the end of this year. The fund and the board are to sunset on July 1, 2029. The bill will be up for consideration on the Senate floor next week. If, as is likely, the bill is approved by the full Senate it will then go to a conference committee to reconcile the two chambers’ versions. Here is a section-by-section summary of the Finance Committee’s strike-all amendment.