Thursday, January 19, 2017
Turns out, despite all the words available in the English language, these very ones are already employed in Vermont state government.
The Office of Economic Opportunity is part of the Department for Children and Families.
Tags: Phil Scott , Jason Gibbs , David Yacovone , Office of Economic Opportunity , Agency of Economic Opportunity , Montpeculiar , Image , Web Only
For fiscal year 2017, which lasts through June, the state can expect to see $24.6 million less in general fund revenues than had been anticipated. For the 2018 budget, Gov. Phil Scott and legislative leaders were told to expect $7.7 million less than previously thought. And in 2019, expectations were curtailed by $10.4 million.
To handle the blow in the current 2017 budget, Scott’s financial team doesn’t seem to be sweating the details. Finance Commissioner Andy Pallito said he is proposing to tap into various reserve funds and areas where spending was less than expected.
The 2018 figures are being built into Scott’s much-anticipated first state budget, which he will release next Tuesday. “We were forecasting this,” he said. But he bemoaned, “We’re starting with less revenue than last year.”
Tags: Phil Scott , Vermont legislature , Tom Kavet , Jeff Carr , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
The unusually convoluted process to appoint a new justice to the Vermont Supreme Court is provoking some existential angst on the Judicial Nominating Board, an 11-member body tasked with submitting candidates to the governor.
In response to an eleventh-hour legal challenge, the Vermont Supreme Court stopped Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin from choosing Justice John Dooley’s replacement on his final day in office. That left the decision to incoming Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who inherited the same list of six candidates the JNB offered to Shumlin.
Last week, Scott asked the board to give him more names. According to his lawyer, Jaye Pershing Johnson, the governor has not even looked at the names on the original list. But he’s concerned that the legal challenge dissuaded potential candidates from applying the first time around, she added.
Tags: Vermont Supreme Court , Peter Shumlin , Phil Scott , Judicial Nominating Board , Image , Web Only
under one agency? That proposal from Gov. Phil Scott makes sense, legislative leaders said Tuesday. His idea of merging the state Liquor Control Department and Lottery Commission? That, too, probably has merit.
But merging the Labor Department with the Agency of Commerce and dubbing it the Agency of Economic Opportunity? That’s not going over as well.
“This will better align putting workers with employers,” Scott said Tuesday in explaining the proposed change, which he seeks to make through executive order that he formally filed Sunday.
Of Scott’s three reorganizational proposals, the Labor/Commerce one stands out as the most problematic, said Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden).
“The two organizations have two different missions,” said Rep. Bill Botzow (D-Pownal), chair of the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee. Commerce’s job is to attract business while Labor’s job is to regulate business, he said.
Tags: Phil Scott , Michael Schirling , Tim Ashe , Lindsay Kurrle , Bill Botzow , Agency of Digital Services , Agency of Economic Opportunity , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 16, 2017
A per-parcel fee would help raise just over half the cash needed to get the state in compliance with agreements it has in place with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up various waterways, Pearce concluded in the much-anticipated 91-page report.
Pearce said that she envisions officials establishing regional stormwater utilities statewide. While Lake Champlain phosphorus cleanup gets much of the attention, virtually all of the state is under orders from the EPA to reduce the phosphorus load, she said.
Establishing stormwater utilities to collect funding through user fees would take two years, Pearce said in the report. Homeowners, developers, farmers and store owners would all contribute based on how much pollution they generate.
“I think it should be tied to the usage as much as possible,” Pearce said Monday.
Lawmakers and Gov. Phil Scott’s administration would need to set standards for who gets charged how much by the stormwater utilities, she said.
Tags: Lake Champlain , Beth Pearce , EPA , TMDL , Alyssa Schuren , Julie Moore , Phil Scott , Vermont legislature , Tim Ashe , James Ehlers , Image , Web Only
Scott plans to announce the changes Tuesday, according to a memo Susanne Young, his secretary of administration, sent to staff members Friday.
According to the memo, Scott plans three moves. One would merge the Department of Labor into the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. The agency would be renamed the Agency of Commerce, Workforce and Community Development.
Scott also plans to combine the lottery and liquor departments into one, and to reorganize oversight of information technology projects throughout state government.
Tags: Phil Scott , Labor Department , Agency of Commerce , Susanne Young , executive order , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 13, 2017
The House Government Operations Committee officially got its assignment Friday to look at the Orange County race between Republican Bob Frenier of Chelsea and Progressive Susan Hatch Davis of the town of Washington.
In a report filed with the legislature this week, Assistant Attorney General Michael Duane advised that the House has broad authority to decide whether to order another recount or not.
The race has followed a winding path since election day in November, when it appeared Frenier won by eight votes. After Hatch Davis, the incumbent, petitioned for a recount by electronic tabulator, his lead shrunk to six. A judge declined Hatch Davis’ request for a hand recount and after examining several disputed ballots, declared Frenier the winner.
Frenier was sworn in January 4 when the legislature convened for the new session.
Tags: Susan Hatch Davis , Bob Frenier , Vermont legislature , recount , Michael Duane , Image , Web Only
The relevant portion of the code prohibits any “full-time appointee” from being “financially interested, directly or indirectly, in any private entity or private interest that is subject to the supervision of his or her respective department or agency.”
DuBois Construction is a frequent bidder on state construction projects. As long as Scott is governor, DuBois is “subject to the supervision” of his administration and his chosen officials.
On December 30, Scott sold his share in DuBois Construction to business partner (and cousin) Don DuBois for $2.5 million. There was no down payment; instead, Scott himself is financing a 15-year loan at 3 percent interest. The initial payments, for an unspecified period, will be interest only.
Tags: Phil Scott , Executive Code of Ethics , DuBois Construction , Don DuBois , Jaye Pershing Johnson , Peter Shumlin , Peter Hirschfeld , VPR , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Only a few days before the former Franklin County Republican senator pleaded no contest to lewd conduct, his prosecution contributed to a surprise change in Senate Republican leadership. Last Friday, the members of the Senate GOP caucus — all seven of them — voted unanimously for Sen. Dustin Degree (R-Franklin) to serve as minority leader, as VTDigger first reported. He’ll replace Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia).
In the end, the process was collegial; Benning himself nominated Degree, and is clearly at peace with the outcome. “I left the vote feeling like I had 20 pounds of weight taken off my shoulders,” he said. Before that day, however, there was plenty of backstage drama, and there’s disagreement on some key points.
Take the McAllister effect.
“The foundation, I think, was the McAllister situation,” says Benning. He tried to convince McAllister to resign from the Senate after his 2015 arrest. When McAllister refused, Benning pushed for his removal. That didn’t sit well with McAllister loyalists in the caucus.
“There were folks who weren’t happy with how Joe handled it,” Degree says. “But I don’t think it played a large role in the leadership decision; I really don’t.”
Well, if not McAllister, then why replace a respected leader?
Tags: Brian Collamore , cannabis related , Dustin Degree , Joe Benning , Peg Flory , Senate GOP Caucus , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
“There is a two-year window where we can put sizable money into clean water without raising taxes,” she told the panel. After that, she said, new revenue would be required. Her suggestion for a long-term funding source will be included in her full proposal. And she warned that the funding “can’t be ‘catch as catch can.’ It has to be a stable funding source for 20 years.”
Members of the committee recoiled. A 20-year unbreakable promise? Sufferin’ succotash!
In 2016, the legislature asked Pearce to prepare a funding plan to meet federal mandates under the Clean Water Act. Her plan is due by Sunday, January 15, and she predicts that her team will be working up to the last minute before releasing her report.
Pearce told the committee that the estimated cost of the project is at least $60 million per year. That includes all contributors: the state, local governments and the private sector. Pearce is aiming for $25 million a year in the first two years — without raising new revenue.
That’s quite the coincidence. It jibes nicely with Republican Governor Phil Scott’s promise not to raise any taxes or fees. If Pearce wasn’t a Democrat, one might be inclined to suspect politics at work.
Tags: Beth Pearce , Lake Champlain , James Ehlers , Lake Champlain International , Chris Kilian , Conservation Law Foundation , Phil Scott , Tim Ashe , Senate Appropriations Committee , Image , Web Only