Brooke Olsen-Farrell (Superintendent, Slate Valley Supervisory Union) shared that their budget failed by a 464-vote margin. Voters in her district seem to “pride themselves on keeping education spending low.” Despite being among the lowest spending in the state and being “advantaged” by Act 127.

Representatives Walker and Harrison joined the House Energy and Environment Committee on Thursday to propose an amendment to H.289. The amendment would attempt to target new generation facilities in areas that already have additional distribution capacity. In areas where additional distribution capacity is necessary, the amendment would protect ratepayers from bearing the cost of these upgrades.

On Thursday, Gus Seelig (Executive Director, Vermont Housing and Conservation Board) talked to the House Commerce Committee about his annual report and the pictures and write-ups of all the projects they have been involved in throughout the State. But today they are focusing on housing and workforce development. Seelig mentioned that the Chair had asked him to work with the Career Technical Centers to focus on housing and workforce development in the construction/developer careers. He noted that he and Will Belongia (Executive Director, Vermont Community Loan Fund) had talked to CTE Directors throughout the state to find out what is needed. They said they need more students interested in the construction/housing field.

A joint presentation was made to the House Commerce Committee on Thursday about Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). Will Belongia (Executive Director, Vermont Community Loan Fund) opened up the presentation with an overview of CDFIs do. He shared that they are community-based organizations that expand economic opportunity and provide financial products and services to individuals and businesses often underserved by traditional financial institutions. The CDFI designation is given by the US Department of Treasury to organizations that have a primary mission of community development and a proven track record of providing financial products and services to underserved communities. CDFIs include credit unions, loan funds, venture capital funds, and banks. They go through a rigorous application process and must recertify every year.

Treasurer Mike Pieciak spoke to the Senate Economic Development Committee on Thursday morning about “10% for Vermont,” a local investment program.

The program authorizes the Treasurer to invest up to 10% of the State’s average daily cash balance for economic development in Vermont.  As noted in an announcement from the Office of the State Treasurer “the State’s average daily cash balance has grown substantially in recent years due to increased state revenues allowing the program’s lending capacity to expand from $39M to $100M and then expanded to $115M.  In total, when combined with funds that were not committed from the original program, there is now $85M available to support local economic development. 

Senator Bray provided an overview of S.305 to the Senate floor on Wednesday afternoon. He described the bill as creating a number of fixes. He reminded Senators that they had passed the Energy Efficiency Modernization Act in 2020, which was a three-year pilot program allowing electrical efficiency utilities to use $2M of efficiency charge money for pilot projects focused on energy reduction. However, the climate crisis is being driven by the thermal sector and transportation so they asked them to see if they could find solutions in these areas.

H.10 was presented in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Representative Toleno spoke for the Committee on Appropriations, reporting in favor of its passage.

Chairman Marcotte presented Jessica Hartleben (Executive Director, Vermont Economic Progress Council) to the House Commerce Committee on Tuesday morning. She focused her presentation on the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive (VEGI) and a proposed forgivable loan incentive. She shared that the Council supports S.247 as it sends a message to the business community that “Vermont is encouraging businesses to come… stay… and create better workforce opportunities for Vermonters.”

S.246, which amends the Vermont basic needs budget, appeared on the Senate Floor on Wednesday afternoon. Senator Clarkson outlined the members that assisted in a Technical Advisory Committee. They reviewed the Basic Needs Budget and Livable Wage metrics which are assessed by the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) biennially and presented to the Senate Committees.