Scheuermann: Town Meeting Day break legislative update

Submitted by tim on Mon, 03/04/2019 - 23:04

by Representative Heidi E Scheuermann (R-Stowe) While a great deal of my focus over the first few weeks of the legislative session was, and continues to be, on the effort to extend by one year the Act 46 forced school district merger deadline to July 1, 2020, it is certainly not the only issue on which I have been working diligently. As both the Stowe community and the region well know, I have spent my years in the House of Representatives doing all I can to bring more attention to the importance of our state's tourism industry. This year is no exception.

The tourism industry in Vermont is absolutely critical to our success as a state - economically and otherwise. From the millions of dollars in tax revenue the industry generates ($391 million in FY 2018) to the thousands of Vermonters whose jobs and salaries are supported by tourism (32,000 jobs in FY 2018), the economic impact of the industry is over $2.5 billion.

Unfortunately, far too often, leaders in Montpelier simply don't recognize this importance.

In fact, while the limited dollars provided for statewide tourism marketing have been invested wisely and have succeeded in maintaining and increasing the value of our brand, we have had to fight repeatedly against efforts to curtail funding for tourism marketing, in addition to fighting against policy initiatives that would be incredibly detrimental to the industry (i.e.: $2.00 occupancy fee, mandatory minimum wage increase, and waiver/consent law changes).

To be clear, in the tourism industry, we are competing in an ever-increasingly global market. In order to grow and increase our market share of those global tourism dollars, we cannot lose sight of staying economically competitive.

Toward that end, I have introduced two pieces of legislation that are designed to bring greater attention to, and investment in, our state's tourism industry.

H. 298 would provide for a dedicated fund for tourism marketing. Following in the footsteps of the State of Maine, this bill would take a percentage of the revenues generated from tourism (rooms and meals tax) and direct that percentage into promoting and marketing Vermont as a tourist destination. This amount would be above and beyond the stagnant $3 million we fund tourism marketing through the General Fund.

H. 101 would include in the General Fund an appropriation for a State Event Marketing Fund. This fund would be used to support events that bring visitors to our great state, and would bring us in line with the countless cities and states that put skin in the game to help promote the big events in their areas.

In an effort to bring more attention to these bills and to the critical nature of the industry itself, and to provide an opportunity for Vermonters with knowledge and on-the-ground experience to speak about its importance, we have decided to bring to the State House and to all 180 legislators the statewide tourism industry!

Specifically, on Wednesday, April 3^rd, we will be hosting Tourism Day at the State House.

This day will include a House Commerce and Economic Development Committee hearing on the importance of tourism, informational tables and displays about the industry, and other activities.

Most importantly, it will bring Vermonters from across the state to the State House for important conversations with their local legislators with the simple goal of ensuring all 180 legislators know and understand the importance of the tourism industry, and of greater investment in it.

If you are in the tourism industry, employed by it, or have a direct or indirect connection to it, and you are interested in being part of this effort, please contact me.

Don't Forget

Town Meeting Day Tomorrow

Tuesday, March 5th / 8:00 AM

Stowe High School Auditorium

Outdoor Recreation Industry

You might recall that toward the end of the 2018 session last year, a bill passed both the House and Senate that, in my view and the view of many, put at risk the health and growth of our state's outdoor recreation industry. This was a critical issue for me, and I led the charge against the bill.

Specifically, the bill (S. 105) mandated a "rebuttable presumption" of anti-consumer intent in all instances in which there was any limitation of a claim in a contract; essentially, that the 5 items listed in the bill would have been considered "substantively unconscionable" when included in a contract.

This may sound like gobbledygook to many, but it is important to understand, as it raised significant, well-founded concerns from our state's outdoor recreation industry.

What this change would have done is opened the door to a much wider array of legal claims - specifically very costly lawsuits, consumer fraud claims, and fines, in addition to the potential for costly increases in a business' or organizations liability insurance.

In the cases of the many recreational activities offered in this state by the thousands of non-profit and for-profit providers - biking, skiing, riding a horse, fishing, boating, golf, etc. - this would have meant that those who offered those activities may not have been able to include in their contracts some of the important waiver conditions that have historically been in their contracts.

Simply put, the importance of these kinds of waivers in the outdoor recreation industry cannot be overstated, so I was very pleased when Governor Phil Scott vetoed the legislation last year.

Upon the bill's re-introduction this year (S. 18) in the Vermont Senate, my concerns, and the concerns of our outdoor recreation industry, remained.

I am pleased to report though, that our concerns were heard this year in the Senate. While the bill continues to have far-reaching impact on numerous things, the Senate included an exemption for our outdoor recreation industry.

(e) Limitation on applicability. This section shall not apply to the following contracts:

(1) A contract to which one party is:

(A) regulated by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation; or

(B) a financial institution as defined by 8 V.S.A. § 11101(32).

(2) A contract for the non-drafting party's enrollment or participation in a recreational activity, sport, or competition.

I am very pleased to have fought for this exemption last year, and that ultimately (at least this far in the process), legislators have agreed to include it this year.

Consumer Protection and Vermont Technology

You might also remember last year that a piece of consumer protection legislation caused great concern among our burgeoning technology sector, and I led the charge to fix it.

The legislation in question was specific to automatic renewals of contracts/subscriptions. But, more specifically, one part of the bill required a secondary consent for automatic renewals of the product/service. The seller who offers a contract to a consumer that contains an automatic renewal provision, would be required to obtain a second, separate consent from the buyer for the automatic renewal.

To be clear, I completely understand the consumer protection aspect of this - to ensure Vermonters are protected and are provided the opportunity and ease to withdraw from an automatic renewal in contracts.

At the same time, however, because no other state in the country requires this kind of secondary consent, the concern was that many companies who offer the products and services that our technology companies desperately need to compete in the global technology industry, would no longer offer it in Vermont. The sellers would, essentially, have to choose between selling their products in Vermont and to Vermont companies, or rewriting their national contracts and/or their software in order to comply with the law of Vermont, but no other state.

This would put at risk our growing and competitive technology industry.

While the concerns were realized and came to light at the end of the session last year, I fought diligently anyway, and received a commitment from Rep. Mike Marcotte (R-Coventry), the then Vice-Chair of the Commerce and Economic Development committee, to return to this issue during this legislative session to understand more fully the issues raised and see if changes should be made.

Not at all surprisingly, Rep. Marcotte, now Chair of the Committee, was true to his word and returned to the issue early this 2019 session. And, I'm pleased to report that last week the House took its first step to pass legislation sponsored by Rep. Sam Young (D-Greensboro) that would provide a workable solution to this challenge.

The consumer protection law that passed last year - with this change - would now be in line with the State of California in offering the strongest consumer protections in the country with regard to automatic renewal, and like California, do so in a way to not jeopardize our technology sector.

My sincerest gratitude to Rep. Mike Marcotte for holding true to his word of last year, and returning to address this important issue.

Broadband Deployment

The House Energy and Technology Committee, the committee on which I serve, has been working diligently over these two months to advance legislation that will address the challenges our state has with high-speed broadband access.

And, I am pleased to report that last week we voted out of committee, H. 513, a bill related to broadband deployment.

As you are well aware, the lack of high-speed broadband access and cell phone coverage are two of the most critical issues facing Vermont - rural Vermont especially. While we have known this for many years, the nut has historically been an incredibly difficult one to crack in a rural state like Vermont.

In fact, far too often, unrealistic promises to achieve 100% coverage within a certain number of years have been made by state leaders. Yet, no realistic plan has been put forward to do so.

For that reason, our committee is trying to tackle this in a realistic and responsible way.

First, how do we support our companies and assets currently in place doing the work and providing these services to Vermont families and businesses? How do we ensure they can continue to expand and upgrade their services throughout Vermont?

Second, might there be an opportunity - where other options are not readily available, for example - for our electric companies to offer services?

Third, how can we support municipalities and regional entities in their quest to ensure service? Can we develop a kind of tool box for these rural municipalities and regional entities to explore and understand their options? Can we provide funding opportunities to them to deploy service?

In an effort to put into place the above, we have included the following in H. 513:

An increase in the Universal Service Fund Rate by .5% for four years (total rate would increase from 2% to 2.5%).
- This raises $1.6 million annually, which would go to the state's Connectivity Fund, in addition to providing funding for a specialist in the Department of Public Service to help municipalities, utility districts and others plan and implement broadband deployment in their regions.
$700,000 to a new Broadband Innovation Grant Program
- Fund grants of up to $60,000 each for feasibility studies for the provision of broadband deployments at speeds of at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload
$205,000 to the Connectivity Initiative
$50,000 to the Department of Public Service to assess the feasibility of providing broadband service using electric utility infrastructure.
New Broadband Expansion Loan Program created in the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA)
- Make loans that expand broadband service of at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload to unserved and underserved Vermonters
- Loans can be made up to $1.8 million, with a total VEDA lending amount of $10.8 million.

This bill will now be considered in both the House Ways and Means and Appropriations Committees, and I hope, progress through the legislative process.

My hope now is that in addition to tackling some of the energy issues that the committee is working on, that we also take considerable time to address the cell phone coverage challenges we have throughout the state.

After all, coverage and access to both high-speed and high quality broadband and cell phone coverage are critical to our future as a state!

If you have any questions or concerns about any of the items above, or any other issues that arise, please feel free to contact me.

Representative Heidi E. Scheuermann

Stowe, Vermont