Legislative Update No. 4

Happy Spring, Everyone! The sap is flowing, a sure sign of spring. I’ve started my seeds and can’t wait to get into the garden to play with the dirt. I hope your spring plans are beginning to bloom despite this current cold snap. I will be in Halifax for Coffee Hour at the Community Hall this Saturday. I hope to see you there.

Federal Update: The federal landscape continues to pose a challenge to the affordability goals of Vermont. On Saturday I was in Brattleboro with the rest of our Windham County delegation and Treasurer Mike Pieciak. We heard from the community about their fears, hopes, driving principles, and ideas for change. It is very clear that we will have to lean on our Vermont Values of community, common sense, resilience, and humor as we sail these choppy waters

Our current reality is that we are a state that gets back more than what we put in given the rural nature of our state. 36% of our state budget comes from federal grants and programs. This includes our already stressed healthcare system and our understocked housing supply. It also includes fresh local food getting to our schools and communities. As programs are cut and federal priorities are shifted we will have to develop innovative and maybe some past ways to fill in the gaps.

Our relationship with Canada remains strong overall. Agency of Commerce and Community Development Secretary Kurrle is working to strengthen the relationship between our state, UVM, and several Quebec organizations in the semiconductor industry. Despite this, we are hearing reports of Canadian travelers canceling trips and orders for products. For this reason, departments like ACCD are working to strengthen our trade relationships and to pursue new partnerships both internationally and with other states.

In Committee

In the Commerce and Economic Development committee we’re continuing to take a close look at Career Technical Education. We’re working to improve accessibility and reduce competition for money and resources between sending schools and CTE. We are looking at the Governor’s proposal for a single CTE district that would oversee the statewide CTE centers. There are many details to work out with this proposal particularly how this fits in with the rest of the education system. We are also concerned about continued transportation costs associated with CTE centers. We’ll continue to work with the CTE directors and the Administration to make sure that the program thrives going forward.

My Thoughts

I am a big fan of CTE programs. They offer a proven method of delivering the hands-on learning students need to get the relevant, applicable experience to ready them for a thriving future. Our career technical education teaching framework allows students to learn the needed academics coupled with what is often engaging experiential learning. Oftentimes programs like CTE are cast aside as a place to send students who may have difficulty in traditional classrooms. This adds a harmful stigma to these proven programs. These programs also mirror longstanding career readiness programs carried out by both public and private educational institutions that employ programs like coops and internships to provide students with on-the-job training.

As a teaching style combining hands-on learning and academic study, CTE can be employed throughout our education system. Not just for trade subjects like construction or advanced manufacturing but also for the accountants, computer programmers and educators that our state needs. I think that this could help unify the education system allowing us to reach the scale we need to stabilized education finance.

Bill updates

H. 342 Is a data privacy bill that will offer workers including federal and municipal workers, those working in the courts, law enforcement and others the option to protect their data online. This is modeled on “Daniel’s Law” which is current law in New Jersey. Daniel’s Law is named after Daniel Anderl the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed in July 2020. Salas’s husband Mark Anderl was also critically wounded when a former litigant came to the family’s door posing as a deliveryman. There are also versions of the law in Maryland. The US Congress passed a version of the bill in 2022

H. 398 is a bill that makes technical corrections to the statute governing VEDA (Vermont Economic Development Authority) (Title 10 Chapter 12). It also established a disaster relief fund to allow VEDA to be more responsive in the case of a disaster. It also codifies the Vermont Sustainable Job Strategy, a 26-year-old set of guidelines used to assess project eligibility. It also expands the authority of VEDA to issue additional products other than mortgages. The purpose of the bill is to bring VEDA’s governing statute up to date and modernize the language. This will allow VEDA to move more efficiently.

H. 243 + H. 206 General clean-up bills. H.243 cleans up business classifications at the Business Services Division of SOS. H. 206 makes technical changes to the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). The UCC is a widely adopted set of laws that governs how commerce is conducted. As technology and advancements occur like electronic signatures the UCC is occasionally updated to reflect this.

Community Updates

SEVCA is looking for feedback

Whitingham Community Survey: Whitingham Residents please share your thoughts on the town survey

Governor’s Institute applications close on March 31st for their summer sessions. If you know a student who might be interested.

Service Changes to the Moover

Due to a request from the Vermont Agency of Transportation to cut $1.5 million from the statewide public transportation, The Moover is making some cuts to service that will affect our area. They worked to make internal cuts before resorting to this measure but unfortunately, these route changes are unavoidable. The House Transportation Committee is looking for ways to backfill this funding but with all the changes at the federal level, this is proving to be a challenge.

  • The Brattleboro Microtransit system is ending on June 13th

  • Cutting the first of five Monday-Friday trips from Wilmington to Brattleboro at 7:00 am effective May 5th

  • eliminating weekend service from Wilmington to Brattleboro effective May 3rd,

  • ending the Wilmington to Bennington service effective June 13th,

  • cutting two of the four monthly shopping trips in Brattleboro for seniors effective April 21st.