Tuesday, February 23, 2016
The governor proposed divestment in his State of the State speech in January. Treasurer Beth Pearce has pushed back, saying that decisions about pension investments should be based on financial criteria, not political considerations.
But after Shumlin made his pitch to the pension investment committee Tuesday morning, citing financial — as well as moral — reasons to divest from coal and ExxonMobil, Pearce said, “I am committed to a full vetting of the issues.”
Representatives of organizations lobbying for divestment welcomed the thawing in the stance that Pearce and the panel had taken. “I see it as progress, although not as fast as any of us who support this want to see,” said Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.
Tags: Beth Pearce , Gov. Peter Shumlin , Vermont Pension Investment Committee , Image , Web Only
Monday, February 22, 2016
The bill nicked its way through the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday, passing by a 4-3 vote, including the support of one member who says she’ll vote against it on the Senate floor. “I think the debate on the floor is important,” said Sen. Diane Snelling (R-Chittenden), in explaining her vote.
Tags: Cannabeat , Diane Snelling , Jane Kitchel , Joe Benning , marijuana legalization , Peter Shumlin , Image , Web Only
Those who would vote as Republicans, meanwhile, favored businessman Donald Trump, who had the support of 33 percent of likely primary voters. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich trailed with 14 percent each.
The same poll indicated that Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott had a commanding lead over other declared candidates for governor, but that Vermonters aren’t paying much attention to that race yet.
The poll, conducted by the Castleton Polling Institute from February 3-17, posed to 895 Vermonters a host of questions about political races and public policy, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent. Full results are available at www.vpr.net.
Tags: Bernie Sanders , Bruce Lisman , cannabis related , Donald Trump , Matt Dunne , Patrick Leahy , Peter Shumlin , Peter Welch , Phil Scott , presidential campaign , Senator , Sue Minter , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
The vote fell largely along party lines, with most Democrats supporting the measure and Republicans objecting.
Gov. Peter Shumlin has already pledged to sign the measure.
Tags: Rep. Tom Stevens , Rep. Helen Head , Rep. Cynthia Browning , Rep. Oliver Olsen , Rep. Loren Shaw , paid sick leave , Image , Web Only
Thursday, February 11, 2016
“We have no objection to finding a way to fill the beds,” she said. But she added that filling beds would likely require a change in law governing the type of offenders allowed at the facility. The camp has operated in St. Johnsbury since 1993.
The budget that Gov. Peter Shumlin presented to the legislature in January calls for closing the work camp, which would eliminate 22 jobs and save $1 million. Closure of the camp reduces state spending by $2.5 million, but finding prison beds for the 50 offenders now there would add to the number of prisoners confined in out-of-state facilities — which would cost the state an additional $1.5 million.
Tags: Lisa Menard , Department of Corrections , St. Johnsbury , Sen. Dick Sears , Image , Web Only
The tax — along with fees that would be charged to those growing, testing and selling marijuana — would bring in an estimated $6.9 million in 2018 and $14.4 million in 2019, according to the legislature's Joint Fiscal Office.
Senate Finance Committee chair Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) said the estimates are conservative and are made on the premise that the state would permit 25 retail stores, 15 small cultivators and 10 large cultivators in the first year, with more the next year.
The 25 percent tax is the same rate that Oregon started charging this year, Ashe said, but less than the 37 percent Washington state charges. The Vermont proposal would be an excise tax charged on marijuana sales made at stores that sell marijuana.
The rate at which marijuana is taxed is a key decision, which will influence whether a legal market can compete with the black market while still raising enough money to provide the drug counseling and policing that advocates have promised.
But there are questions about whether the marijuana legalization bill will even reach the Senate floor this year, let alone make it to a more reluctant House chamber.
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana , Peter Shumlin , Tim Ashe , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Last Thursday, Doyle forced a second Senate vote on that issue. Since then, Senate President Pro Tempore John Campbell (D-Windsor) found a strategy — and the votes — to block the exemption.
While senators initially rejected a small-employer exemption, they approved an amendment that gave employers with five or fewer workers an extra year after the law went into effect — January 2017 — before the mandate would apply to them. But Doyle later asked for reconsideration, saying he had changed his mind about the rejected exemption.
Campbell bought himself some extra time to respond to this unexpected development by getting senators to agree to delay reconsideration of the exemption until this week. Wednesday afternoon, he proposed that instead of voting on the pending exemption amendment, the Senate consider his amendment calling for a study. He proposed that the Department of Labor research what sick leave benefits small businesses already offer, and effects of the mandate. The report would be due next January — a year before small employers would have to start offering paid sick leave.
Tags: Sen. John Campbell , Sen. Bill Doyle , Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce , Image , Web Only
"I try to make it very inviting to kids," he said, noting that more than 50 school groups visit each year. He has to be alert for potential hazards, he said. "Kids climbing on things is what scares me," he told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Isham came to the Statehouse Wednesday to support a bill that would grant immunity from lawsuits to agritourism operations such as his.
Committee members agreed that agritourism is good for farmers and the public. But Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington) told the bill's advocates: "We need to be convinced we need to give you immunity."
Tags: Sen. Dick Sears , agritourism , Chris Maley , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
The administration now intends to break the large projects into smaller components to increase the chances of successful implementation, Secretary of Administration Justin Johnson explained to the Senate Committee on Institutions Tuesday afternoon.
The state has spent several years planning the two big technology upgrades at the Agency of Human Services. One, with a price tag of more than $147 million, would have created an integrated eligibility system for dozens of social service programs. The other, required by federal health care regulators and with a cost estimated at $75 million, would have overhauled the Medicaid management information system. The state had selected vendors for these IT projects. Johnson said that last week the state halted its negotiations on the scope and payments of both projects.
Tags: Justin Johnson , Medicaid , Sen. John Campbell , Sen. Peg Flory , information technology , Agency of Human Services , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Monday, February 8, 2016
Defense attorney Brooks McArthur would like the first one to cover allegations that McAllister forced his Statehouse assistant to have sex with him. “I find her story to be the most incredible,” said McArthur, contending the alleged victim has given different accounts of the timing of the assaults, and that legislators have said in sworn depositions that the woman never indicated anything was amiss.
McAllister is also accused of coercing a woman who worked on his Highgate farm to have sex with him in exchange for rent. A third woman who has since died was allegedly propositioned. Criminal charges involving those two women would be addressed in a second trial, if a judge agrees, McArthur said.
McAllister, 64, of Highgate Springs, was arrested last May as the legislature was completing the 2015 session. He pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of sexual assault and three misdemeanor counts of prohibited acts. When the legislature reconvened in January, his Senate colleagues suspended him while the charges remain pending.
In a phone interview about his legal strategy, McArthur said he expects the Franklin County State’s Attorney’s Office to oppose separate trials, but he argued it would be more fair for McAllister. “If a jury hears about multiple incidents, it’s more likely they’ll go along with it,” McArthur said.
Tags: Norm McAllister , Brooks McArthur , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only