Tuesday, January 20, 2015
That has advocates in Vermont hoping the president's push will provide momentum for a long-stalled state initiative.
"I'm optimistic that this will help us get it over the finish line," says Lindsay DesLauriers, director of Main Street Alliance of Vermont.
Last year, DesLauriers — then a lobbyist for the nonprofit Voices for Vermont's Children — waged a high-profile campaign to mandate paid sick leave in Vermont. Legislation introduced last January would have required employers to provide up to 56 hours of accrued time off for those who are ill, taking care of a family member, or recovering from domestic or sexual violence.
But the bill died halfway through the legislative session, following serious pushback from Vermont's business community, when House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) said his caucus was not unified behind the issue — and Gov. Peter Shumlin said he'd prefer to raise the minimum wage.
Tags: Vermont paid sick leave , earned sick leave , Sarah Copeland Hanzas , Peter Shumlin , Shap Smith , Lindsay DesLauriers , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 19, 2015
According to the Associated Press, those meetings could include a sit-down Monday with President Raul Castro. Leahy spokesman David Carle declined to corroborate the report Monday morning, telling Seven Days that the delegation's itinerary remains "tentative."
Leahy, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, is a longtime champion of restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba. He and a top staffer, Norwich native Tim Rieser, were widely credited with playing a major role in freeing imprisoned American contractor Alan Gross last month — in part, by helping a Cuban spy conceive a child through artificial insemination. Leahy flew to Cuba in December to accompany Gross home.
This time around, Leahy is leading a six-member delegation on a three-day trip to Cuba. In addition to Welch, he is joined by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
Tags: Patrick Leahy , Peter Welch , Cuba , Raul Castro , Alan Gross , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 16, 2015
Should state government tap into that money by making pot legal? The report, written by the RAND Corporation, makes no attempt to offer recommendations but instead pulls together a heap of information lawmakers might use in answering that question.
“It’s there to inform our conversation around this issue,” Administration Secretary Justin Johnson said at a Statehouse briefing Friday afternoon. “It says, essentially, it’s not something you just switch on, switch off. It’s a decision you make carefully.”
The estimated tax revenues represent a wide range because there are so many unknowns, the report's authors said.
Beau Kilmer, RAND's project leader, presented it to roughly 50 legislators, administration officials, prosecutors and others interested in the issue. Supporters were anxiously awaiting the report, hoping it would help kick off a legalization debate this year in the legislature.
Tags: Cannabeat , Justin Johnson , Marijuana legalization , Peter Shumlin , RAND Corporation , Vermont , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Calling it “the toughest budget I’ve put together,” Gov. Peter Shumlin on Thursday called for a mix of spending cuts and tax increases to close a projected $94 million gap in next year’s general fund.
In an unusually long, hour-and-twelve-minute budget address, the third-term Democrat challenged lawmakers assembled in the House chamber to balance the state's books without relying too heavily on tax hikes. But just moments later, Shumlin proposed a significant new payroll tax on employers in order to increase Medicaid payments to providers and drive down the cost of health insurance premiums.
“I know that we will debate these and other parts of the budget throughout the session, but I ask critics of my proposals for restructuring to follow one simple rule — one simple rule,” he said. “If you don’t like my recommendations, propose your own to achieve equal, ongoing savings.”
Shumlin’s proposed $5.66 billion budget includes $1.47 billion in general fund spending. That represents a 4.4 percent increase over the current budget, assuming a package of mid-year cuts is approved later this winter.
To balance next year’s budget, the governor outlined nearly $63 million in spending cuts, including $22 million from the massive Agency of Human Services — $6 million of which would come from a home-heating assistance program. Throughout state government, he would eliminate 72 jobs, but add another 61 — and find another $5 million in unspecified labor savings.
Shumlin also called for $20 million in new revenue to balance the budget, nearly $16 million of which would be raised by scrapping a tax deduction filers can take from their last state tax bill. Roughly 30 percent of taxpayers currently take advantage of the deduction, saving an average of $175.
Most significantly, the governor proposed raising $41 million from businesses over five-and-a-half months by levying a new, 0.7 percent tax on their payrolls. Those funds would leverage another $44.5 million in federal dollars, he said, all of which would be dedicated to reducing the so-called Medicaid cost-shift and funding his other health care initiatives.
Tags: Peter Shumlin , budget address , Image , Web Only
The honor recognizes "industry heroes whose talent, hard work and exceptional accomplishments provide inspiration to all New England journalists," according to NENPA's website.
The induction ceremony will take place February 20 at NENPA's annual convention in Boston. Fellow Vermont publisher M. Dickey Drysdale of the Herald of Randolph will also join NENPA's hall of fame, along with Joseph Heany of the Boston Herald, Jonathan Kellogg of Connecticut's Republican-American and New England Press Association executive director Bob Wallack.
Tags: New England Newspaper and Press Association , hall of fame , Pamela Polston , Paula Routly , Seven Days , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Now two Republican House members say they're hoping to ban the practice.
Individual legislators are currently barred from raising money from registered lobbyists and the companies that employ them until after the legislature adjourns at the end of the two-year biennium. But Vermont Democrats and Republicans alike have long exploited a loophole allowing them to raise lobbyist cash through the PACs they control — even while the legislature is in session. Those PACs then spend the money on electoral activities.
Reps. Kurt Wright (R-Burlington) and Patti Komline (R-Dorset) say they plan to introduce legislation later this week that would extend the restrictions to political parties and PACs.
"We think that practice ought to be banned," Wright says.
Tags: Kurt Wright , Patti Komline , Shap Smith , lobbyists , fundraisers , Image , Web Only
In this week's Fair Game, we wrote about Gov. Peter Shumlin's pledge last month to waive executive privilege and release all documents related to his decision to end his long quest for single-payer health care.
Shumlin made the commitment after WCAX-TV's Kyle Midura asked at a crowded Statehouse press conference, "Will you waive executive privilege for all backdated documents at this point related to this question so we can see what you knew when?"
In response, the governor said, "There is nothing to hide on what we knew when, so we'd be happy to show you any documents you wish to look at."
Turns out Shumlin might have something to hide, after all. As we wrote in Fair Game, Seven Days and other news outlets took the governor up on his offer, filing records requests seeking health care-related communications between him and his advisers. Last week, his office provided 57 emails (see below), but withheld the rest — invoking executive privilege. (Shumlin did release a separate tranche of documents in December, including 1,000 pages of memos and briefing documents.)
Why the flip-flop? Shumlin's legal counsel, Sarah London, explained in an email to Seven Days Monday night:
Regarding the Governor’s statements on December 17, 2014, the Governor was asked about waiving executive privilege on documents related to the specific question of Medicaid reimbursement rates. We feel that is reflected in the recording of the event.As this week's Seven Days went to press Tuesday evening, Vermont Public Radio broadcast a story by Statehouse reporter Peter Hirschfeld on the same topic. VPR filed a similar records request and was also told by the Shumlin administration that it had invoked executive privilege.
But according to Hirschfeld, Shumlin himself provided a markedly different explanation than London.
Tags: Peter Hirschfeld , Peter Shumlin , single-payer health care , Vermont Public Radio , Image , Video , Web Only
The Vermont House is expected to appoint its first-ever ethics committee this week, according to House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown).
The panel will be charged with investigating complaints of ethical violations committed by House members and will be empowered to recommend disciplinary actions to the body as a whole. The five-member committee will also oversee the creation of a new, online database disclosing members' employment and board service.
"This is a pretty big departure from the past," Smith says. "It's not everything that people wanted, but I think it's a good first step."
The panel, which is to be appointed by the House Rules Committee, will include Reps. Donna Sweaney (D-Windsor), David Deen (D-Westminster), Linda Martin (D-Wolcott), Larry Cupoli (R-Rutland) and Sandy Haas (P-Rochester), according to Smith. The tri-partisan committee could be formally named as soon as Wednesday afternoon.
Tags: Vermont House , ethics committee , Shap Smith , Donna Sweaney , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Last week, the Vermont State Colleges announced they'd hired Welch's state director, Tricia Coates, as their new director of external affairs. On Tuesday, Secretary of Natural Resources Deb Markowitz introduced Copans to legislators as DEC's new senior policy adviser. He sat in as the House Fish, Wildlife & Water Resources Committee heard from various ANR officials.
Copans replaces Trey Martin, who was promoted last month to deputy ANR secretary. Martin, in turn, replaced Justin Johnson, who is Gov. Peter Shumlin's new secretary of administration.
Tags: Peter Welch , Jon Copans , Tricia Coates , Image , Web Only
Milne says he paid $325, including a $250 late fee, to register as a lobbyist this week. The filing is retroactive to January 2, Milne says, because that’s when he posted an online video in the hopes of persuading lawmakers to vote for him, putting him over $500 in spending.
Milne, a Republican business owner who has never held elected office, came 2,434 votes short of defeating two-term incumbent Democrat Peter Shumlin in November. Because no candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote, the election went to the legislature, which voted last Thursday 110-69 for Shumlin. Leading up to the vote, Milne urged Vermonters to call on their legislators to support for him if they were unhappy with the direction of the state.
That action qualifies as lobbying, according to Assistant Attorney General Michael Duane. Lobbyists who spend $500 or more on their efforts are required to register with the secretary of state’s office, he says.
Tags: Scott MIlne , Peter Shumlin , Vermont Legislature , lobbyist , Image , Web Only