Friday, March 20, 2015
But the governor expressed confidence that his administration — and contractor Optum — will get the job done.
"We think that we're going to deliver finally on an exchange that's going to work for Vermont," Shumlin said at an impromptu press conference Friday morning at the Statehouse. "If not, we want Vermonters to know what the contingency plan would be."
That plan would be to adopt what's known as a federally supported, state-based marketplace for those who buy private health insurance. Such hybrid systems — currently in use in Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico — make use of the federal exchange's web platforms and call centers, but allow states to retain control over which plans are offered.
Shumlin said he would only deploy the contingency plan if Vermont Health Connect is unable to automatically process changes in account information by May or if it's unable to smoothly reenroll users by October. Even then, the state would not adopt the new system until October 2016, in time for the 2017 open-enrollment period.
Tags: Vermont Health Connect , Peter Shumlin , federally supported state-based marketplace , Image , Web Only
Thursday, March 19, 2015
In a letter to House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown), 23 members of the Working Vermonters Caucus said they were "unable to support a budget that includes drastic cuts, reductions in work force, and new revenue of only $35 million."
The four-sentence letter was light on details: It did not specify what level of cuts its signatories would accept, nor what taxes they hoped to raise. But according to Rep. Susan Hatch Davis (P-Washington), who co-chairs the caucus, she and her colleagues were united in the belief that "austerity measures are not working for us."
Appropriations committee members spent much of Thursday combing through the budget in search of savings and debating which programs might be spared. Under the current framework, House leaders expect to fill the $113 million budget gap with close to $37 million in new revenue, $21 million in one-time funding and nearly $56 million in cuts, though those numbers continue to fluctuate.
Liberals were not the only ones to express dissatisfaction with that mix.
Tags: Vermont state budget , Working Vermonters Caucus , Susan Hatch Davis , Joey Donovan , Shap Smith , Mitzi Johnson , Don Turner , Image , Web Only
Trying to close a $113 million budget gap, Rep. Mitzi Johnson (D-Grand Isle), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, has proposed closing Southeast State Correctional Facility, which houses 100 inmates. That would save an estimated $820,000 in both of the next two fiscal years, officials say.
Roughly 100 more inmates would be sent to private prisons, Pallito said. The controversial practice of sending inmates out of Vermont has gone on since the mid-1990s. Critics say it severs ties between inmates and their families and provides for a lower standard of inmate care.
DOC is nearing the end of a two-year, $34 million contract with Corrections Corporation of America to house up to 660 overflow inmates. The agency is expected to announce a new contract with an out-of-state provider in April, and the DOC is currently finalizing the contract, Pallito said. CCA was one of two finalists.
Almost all Vermont inmates in CCA's custody are housed in the Lee Adjustment Center in Kentucky. Some are imprisoned in Arizona.
Bellini likes what he hears — the governor pledging to stand up for state workers — until he wakes up and realizes the dream was too good to be true.
That's the gist of a new Vermont State Employees Association video featuring Bellini, a Department of Corrections worker and union activist. It was posted to YouTube early this week and is featured on the VSEA's website and Facebook page.
The video is the latest step in the union's effort to counteract Shumlin's proposal to cut $10.8 million from state personnel costs by reopening the union's year-old contract. If it doesn't, Shumlin has told the union, he'll lay off up to 325 workers. Seven Days wrote about the governor's disintegrating relationship with the state's public sector labor unions in this week's issue.
Tags: Gov. Peter Shumlin , Vermont State Employees Association , Image , Video , Web Only
Lawmakers never intended to allow use of hand-held phones while stopped in traffic, Sen. Peg Flory (R-Rutland) said Wednesday on the Senate floor. Not true, countered Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington). When they passed the cellphone law last year, senators specifically discussed how they were trying to ban use of hand-held devices only while a car is moving.
Whatever their initial intent, senators decided this year that it’s too dangerous for drivers to check their phone or send a text while a light is changing.
“That is very unsafe,” said Senate Transportation Committee Chair Dick Mazza (D-Grand Isle). “If you want to get serious about banning texting … let’s go all the way. When you’re at a stop sign, you don’t know if you’re there for five seconds or one second.”
Tags: Vermont Senate , cellphone ban , Vermont State Police , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
So it was Tuesday as the Senate debated S.93, a bill that would require those seeking to influence legislation to share more information about who’s spending what.
“Our restrictions on lobbyists are minimal,” Senate Government Operations Committee Chair Jeanette White (D-Windham) told fellow senators. “S.93 is a slight constriction without restraining free speech.”
Tags: Vermont legislature , lobbyist disclosure , Image , Web Only
But before the strike ended, Gov. Peter Shumlin and others suggested that perhaps it was time for Vermont to outlaw teacher strikes, as many other states do.
On Tuesday, lawmakers took a first step in that direction. Over the strenuous objection of teachers, the House Education Committee voted 8-3 for a bill, H.76, that takes away the option to strike, requiring teachers and school boards to keep negotiating if they fail to reach an agreement.
“I think we’ll be doing a good thing for Vermont in ending strikes,” said Rep. Kurt Wright (R-Burlington), who sponsored the bill. “Both sides are giving up the nuclear option.”
Tags: teacher strikes , Vermont NEA , labor , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Monday, March 16, 2015
The senator learned of her 71-year-old spouse's death late Friday afternoon on her way home from the Statehouse, according to Sen. Jeanette White (D-Windham), a close friend.
Dr. Ayer worked at Addison Associates in Obstetrics and Gynecology and on the medical staff at Porter Medical Center in Middlebury, most recently in a part-time, semi-retired capacity. The couple had three grown children.
Tags: Dr. Alan Ayer , Sen. Claire Ayer , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Friday's vote set up an exceedingly rare floor debate next week over the supposed third rail of Vermont politics: the state's relatively permissive gun laws.
But even as the committee prepared to sign off on the bill early Friday afternoon, its members appeared focused on what they weren't approving: namely, universal criminal background checks.
"S.31 is not being acted on in this committee," its chair, Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington), said. "S.31 is dead — I guess that's the proper term — and will not be acted on this year or next year by this committee."
Tags: Vermont Senate , guns , S.31 , background checks , Dick Sears , Gun Sense Vermont , Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs , Gun Owners of Vermont , Image , Web Only
Friday, March 13, 2015
The plan, authored by Rep. Mitzi Johnson (D-Grand Isle) and distributed to committee members Friday afternoon, is anything but a final product. It will, however, serve as a framework for House appropriators as they complete a budget in the next two weeks.
Because Gov. Peter Shumlin presented his January budget proposal shortly before an $18.6 million revenue downgrade, Johnson's committee has been in the unusual position of having to come up with far more money than the administration. She proposes doing so through a mix of cuts and one-time money.
Tags: Vermont House Appropriations Committee , budget , Mitzi Johnson , Image , Web Only