Tuesday, July 4, 2017
The biggest spenders of Vermont's 2017 legislative session included a liberal advocacy group, the state workers' union and a trade group representing hospitals. Each shelled out more than $100,000 on direct lobbying expenditures over a five-month period, according to a database maintained by the Secretary of State's Office.
From January 15 to June 15, 364 groups collectively devoted $5,445,009 to lobbying — slightly less than the $5,583,285 spent last year during the same time period. The Vermont Public Interest Research Group, the Vermont State Employees' Association and the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems led the way — each spending $25,000 more than the No. 4 lobbyist employer, Entergy, which owns the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
VPIRG spent $113,738 to push an assortment of liberal causes in the Vermont Statehouse. It focused on environmental issues — including climate change, toxic chemicals and recycling — and an ethics reform bill, which passed in watered-down form.
At various points during the 2017 session, some 36 people registered as lobbyists for VPIRG, according to the database. Many were members of the nonprofit's staff, but others were contract lobbyists for the Montpelier firms Ellis Mills Public Affairs and the Necrason Group.
Tags: Vermont secretary of state , VPIRG , VSEA , Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems , lobbying , Image , Web Only
Thursday, June 29, 2017
The Mad River Valley resident has been a partner at Summit Ventures NE, which owns Sugarbush Resort, since 2002. He has served in the legislature since 2009, carving out a reputation as a fiscal conservative. He replaces Andy Pallito, who announced in late April that he would leave the post on July 1 to become director of health system finances for the Green Mountain Care Board.
Greshin will occupy a crucial post in state government. The finance commissioner is responsible for writing budgets and providing accurate fiscal information — and must have a comprehensive understanding of state finances. The new commissioner served for seven years on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. Greshin is also a chartered financial analyst, and before assuming co-ownership of Sugarbush’s parent company he served as research analyst and lead portfolio manager for 16 years in the global bond group at Scudder Stevens & Clark.
Tags: Adam Greshin , Phil Scott , Andrew Pallito , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
“I enjoyed that, putting myself in the shoes of others and learning different aspects of the challenges of Vermont,” Scott said at his weekly press conference Wednesday, at which he signed the state budget bill.
This time, the Jobs Tour would have a twist: He would concentrate on state government. Scott already knows plenty about elected office, having spent 10 years in the state Senate and another six as lieutenant governor.
Tags: Phil Scott , Everyday Jobs Tour , Thunder Road , Image , Web Only
Monday, June 26, 2017
The audits prompted a dismissive written response from Department of Human Resources commissioner Beth Fastiggi — although in a phone interview Monday morning, she took a much more conciliatory tone.
One of the audits covered complaints in three departments of the Agency of Human Services from 2014 through 2016: the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Corrections.
The second audit did the same for other state entities: the Agency of Transportation except for the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Buildings and General Services, the Department of Labor and the Vermont Veterans’ Home. It also included complaints involving civilian employees in the Department of Public Safety. (Separate audits were done because AHS conducts its own investigations of employee misconduct, while DHR investigates cases in the five entities covered in the second audit.)
Both audits are sharply critical of how complaints are recorded and documented.
The audits reveal that records are kept only for complaints that result in investigations. Other complaints are not recorded, nor is there any accounting for why those complaints didn’t trigger investigations.
Tags: Doug Hoffer , Beth Fastiggi , Image , Web Only
Friday, June 23, 2017
Donovan’s predecessor Bill Sorrell had served nearly two decades as attorney general; Donovan said it made sense to get an outside perspective.
“I figured after close to 20 years, we’d want to kick the tires, look under the hood, see what’s working, what’s not working, what needs to be tuned up, what doesn’t,” he said, calling it “a very useful process.”
Donovan agreed to an interview Thursday after Seven Days learned of the review and approached him with questions about it. As far as the review’s outcome is concerned, it’s unclear how much we will ever learn. A written report would be discoverable under public records law — but no such report has been produced. And Donovan gets uncharacteristically tongue-tied when asked about the review’s findings.
Tags: T.J. Donovan , Al Lama , Vermont Attorney General , management review , National Association of Attorneys General , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
The legal weed bill passed the Senate easily, as it has the past two years. But the bill hit a wall in the House, where an effort to suspend rules to bring the bill to the floor fell far short.
“It is our best chance to pass legalization of small amounts of marijuana,” Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington) told fellow senators before their vote early Wednesday evening.
Tags: Cannabeat , Dick Sears , Don Turner , Jill Krowinski , Maxine Grad , Phil Scott , Vermont legislature , Vermont marijuana legalization , Vermont politics , veto session , Image , Web Only
The Republican governor and the Democrat-led legislature came to an accord a mere nine days before the current budget expires, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown. The bill they passed includes a compromise on what seemed like an intractable disagreement over how to save money on teachers’ health insurance plans.
Lawmakers adjourned shortly afterward, concluding a special veto session that started Wednesday morning.
They had returned to the Statehouse because Scott vetoed previous budget and property tax bills. The governor did so to protest lawmakers’ rejection of his proposal to create a statewide teachers’ health insurance contract. All districts are renegotiating their health care contracts this year, moving to less expensive plans to avoid a penalty created by the Affordable Care Act. Scott argued that with his administration doing the negotiating for a single consolidated contract, the state could recapture as much as $26 million.
The compromise deal — which closely resembles an alternative proposal offered by Senate Democrats back in May — requires that school districts find $13 million in savings and creates a commission to study a statewide teachers’ health care contract. The state will use those savings to reduce property taxes.
Tags: Vermont legislature , Phil Scott , teachers' health insurance , budget , Image , Web Only
Nolan, a graduate of the University of Vermont and Boston College Law School, would become the first woman to hold the top federal prosecutor's job in Vermont if she is nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
In a joint statement, Leahy and Scott called Nolan a "fair and tough" prosecutor.
"Christina is uniquely familiar with the many challenges brought by our state's opioid crisis through her focus on heroin prosecutions and other drug-related crime," they wrote. "She recognizes that addiction is a pressing threat to the health of our state, and she will make dismantling trafficking organizations a top priority, as well as working side-by-side with partners in the prevention and treatment communities."
Tags: Christina Nolan , Patrick Leahy , Phil Scott , Eric Miller , Eugenia Cowles , U.S. Attorney's office , federal court , Image , Web Only
Try this: When Gov. Phil Scott and legislative leaders held a press conference Wednesday morning to announce the agreement, they could not provide a written summary. Final details of the teacher health care bill were still being worked out. Nothing was on paper.
This is a deal that emerged from closed-door bargaining over the last several weeks, involving a handful of lawmakers and Scott administration officials — none of whom was willing to disclose any particulars along the way.
There has been no public testimony, no hearings, no chance for interested parties to have their say. Lawmakers are given little opportunity to read or ponder the bill.
Tags: Phil Scott , Mitzi Johnson , Tim Ashe , Darren Allen , Image , Web Only
The Vermont Senate passed a bill that would legalize adult possession of up to an ounce of marijuana just after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“It is our best chance to pass legalization of small amounts of marijuana,” Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington) told colleagues.
He assured fellow senators that Gov. Phil Scott has agreed to sign the bill if it reaches him. Whether that will happen remains unclear.
The legislation, H. 511, would legalize possession of up to an ounce for adults 21 or older. Scott vetoed a similar bill earlier this month, but the latest iteration contains several changes his staff sought. Wednesday’s vote came during a special session focused on the state budget bill, which Scott also vetoed.
Tags: Cannabeat , Dick Sears , marijuana , marijuana legalization , Phil Scott , Vermont politics , Image , Web Only