Friday, May 15, 2015
The Vermont Department of Corrections is poised to abandon its controversial relationship with Corrections Corporation of America, which currently houses about 340 Vermont inmates in a Kentucky prison, in favor of an agreement with a different company, sources tell Seven Days.
The DOC is finalizing a new contract with The GEO Group, which would house Vermont's overflow inmates in a prison it owns in Baldwin, Mich., sources say.
Citing ongoing negotiations, DOC Commissioner Andy Pallito declined to discuss whether he had selected CCA or The GEO Group, the two announced finalists for the inmate contract. CCA has been Vermont's provider since 2005. Their most recent two-year contract, worth $34 million, expires in July.
"I am waiting for the contract to clear a few internal reviews and then will do an official announcement," Pallito, who has the final authority over the contract, told Seven Days.
The Michigan prison is slightly closer to most of Vermont than CCA's Lee Adjustment Center, in Beattyville, Ky., where most of the company's Vermont inmates are currently held. While the DOC has been criticized for relying on CCA, industry experts say there is little difference between the two for-profit companies, which both house prisoners in dozens of facilities across the country.
Vermont inmates housed in Kentucky and a much smaller group held in Arizona would be transported to Michigan this summer, sources say.
Tags: DOC , prison , CCA , GEO Group , Andy Pallito , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 14, 2015
House and Senate negotiators seek out empty rooms in which to settle their differences. Legislative leaders hole up in the governor's ceremonial office to hammer out the budget. But rarely does an entire committee conduct its business behind closed doors.
On Thursday, one did.
As a renewable energy bill neared a final vote in the Senate, all five members of the Committee on Natural Resources and Energy gathered in Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell's (D-Windsor) Statehouse office. They were there to debate a controversial amendment Campbell drafted that would give municipalities greater power to restrict the siting of renewable energy projects.
When a Seven Days reporter attempted to cover the meeting, he was turned away.
"Please, this is not a public meeting," Campbell said.
Tags: John Campbell , Jim Condos , Statehouse , open meetings , Image , Web Only
The bill would offer incentives, but makes no mandate, for consolidating Vermont's 272 school districts into what lawmakers argue will be more efficient entities.
The agreement goes to the Senate for a vote Friday, then to the House.
The bill also would slap penalties on school districts that spend more than a certain threshold for the next two years, with the penalty hitting high-spending districts harder.
“We’re positive this is going to do great things for Vermont’s education,” declared House Education Committee chair David Sharpe (D-Bristol).
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Vermont legislature , school consolidation , Image , Web Only
A week after he was arrested on sex charges, Sen. Norm McAllister (R-Franklin) left a message for Lt. Gov. Phil Scott Thursday morning saying he would not resign, according to the lieutenant governor.
In response, Scott and his fellow members of the Senate Committee on Committees voted Thursday afternoon to strip McAllister of his committee assignments.
The lieutenant governor announced the shakeup late Thursday afternoon from the Senate dais. He read a letter he wrote to McAllister saying he was “extremely disappointed” in the Franklin County Republican’s decision to remain in office.
“I truly hope you will reconsider,” Scott said in the letter.
Tags: Norm McAllister , Phil Scott , committee assignments , Image , Web Only
"We are confident we will make the deadline," Matt Stearns, vice president of external communications, said in an interview after private sessions with legislators. "Testing is ongoing," he said, adding, "It is on track."
Since Vermont Health Connect launched in October 2013, corrections to policies have had to be made using a labor-intensive manual process. That led to backlogs that grew to 14,000 accounts by last summer. The Shumlin administration fired its first contractor — CGI — because of its failure to deliver promised functions such as the automated change of circumstance. Optum was hired to replace CGI. It first attacked the backlog and then turned its attention to creation of the change-of-circumstance function.
Gov. Peter Shumlin put pressure on Optum in March, saying that if the new contractor couldn't deliver a working change-of-circumstance function by the end of May, it would be time to consider abandoning the state exchange and moving its customers to the federal exchange.
If Optum meets the deadline, Stearns said, the function would be available only to staff at the state's health insurance marketplace, not to the public. That has long been the plan. Insurance customers would still need to call Vermont Health Connect to request changes in their accounts. Changes might be as simple as new address, or could involve changes in income that affect eligibility for federal tax credits and state subsidies.
Tags: Optum , Vermont Health Connect , Peter Shumlin , Image , Web Only
As lawmakers negotiate a final tax package to fund state government, the third-term Democrat has voiced strong opposition to several taxes that the House and Senate have approved. On Wednesday, the gov assembled a group of nonprofit executive directors at a Statehouse press conference to take aim at a proposed cap on income tax deductions they say would harm Vermont charities.
Though Shumlin hasn't said publicly he'd veto a bill that included such tax increases, Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell (D-Windsor) said Wednesday that the governor has dropped the v-word in private.
To override a gubernatorial veto, Democrats would have to muster two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate. But House Republicans said Thursday they would oppose such an override and vote as a block to sustain a Shumlin veto.
"If the governor is serious, then we want to make sure that we send a loud and clear message that we're with him or we're not," House Minority Leader Don Turner (R-Milton) said Thursday during a lunchtime caucus meeting at the Statehouse.
Tags: Don Turner , Peter Shumlin , Shap Smith , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Gov. Peter Shumlin said Wednesday he's likely to sign a bill that would remove the philosophical exemption allowing parents to opt out of vaccinating their children.
Shumlin, who has long argued against removing the exemption, said at a press conference, "I'm inclined to sign it."
He conceded Wednesday that Vermont’s relatively low vaccination rate is not improving. "I'm sympathetic to the notion that we've got to move more quickly," he said.
The measure passed the House on Tuesday by an 85-57 vote after a long debate in which many members said they were torn between wanting to prevent disease and supporting parental rights. Parents would still be able to opt out for religious or medical reasons.
The Senate took a similar vote to remove the philosophical exemption last month and is expected to agree to changes the House made, which include delaying its implementation until July 2016.
Tags: Peter Shumlin , vaccinations , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
The move would require a nod from the Senate and the governor’s signature to become law. Parents could still opt for a religious exemption, though some argue that fewer will.
“The right of a parent sometimes is trumped by what’s in the best interest of society as a whole,” said Rep. Paul Poirier (I-Barre), who championed the change. “Vermont’s immunization rate is the lowest of all New England states. We need to change that.”
Tags: vaccinations , Vermont legislature , Paul Poirier , philosophical exemption , Anne Donahue , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 11, 2015
"I have heard from several people who are interested," said Franklin County Republican Party chairman Stephen Trahan. "Even one Democrat has contacted me personally and told me he'd like to be considered for this position. I admire his spunk, but we're not going to nominate a Democrat."
Among those who have contacted Trahan is former Franklin County senator and state auditor Randy Brock, the 2012 Republican nominee for governor.
"If [McAllister] resigns, I would certainly be interested in filling the seat, because I think it needs to be filled and I think it needs to be filled by someone who can get to work immediately, who's up on the issues," Brock said. "So I'm willing to serve, yes. It depends on the governor, because it's his decision solely."
Tags: Norm McAllister , Peter Shumlin , Randy Brock , Image , Web Only
First off, those gun silencers you see (and hear go "blip") in James Bond movies? They’re not real.
In real life, the devices don’t silence the sound of a gun. They muffle it to about the noise level of a jackhammer. So gun enthusiasts prefer that they be called suppressors.
“It’s definitely not silent,” said Knox Williams, president and executive director of the American Suppressor Association, an Atlanta-based trade group that represents manufacturers. (His organization formed in 2011 as the American Silencer Association.)
Whatever you call them, they’re illegal in Vermont. But legislators are poised to change that, potentially making it legal both for companies to manufacture suppressors and for Vermonters to use them — except to hunt.
Tags: Vermont legislature , gun suppressors , hunting , Image , Web Only