On video + story: Shumlin promotes jobs bill that marries ag, tech and economic development

How do you propose a jobs bill without federal stimulus funding? Very carefully.

Last year Gov. Jim Douglas and the Legislature passed an economic development bill that infused about  $8.6 million into the state’s economy.

This year, there is no federal money to spur direct investments, and so Vermont’s new governor has proposed a package of 32 initiatives — some novel, some old standbys — on a shoestring.

Gov. Peter Shumlin held a press conference at a cheese manufacturing plant in Barre to present a “jobs bill” that is long on new ideas and, given the state’s austere budget for fiscal year 2012, short on cash. Instead of plowing more money into extensive lending programs for businesses, Shumlin proposes a broad array of low-budget items that together will cost less than $1 million, he said.

“It is by far one of the most comprehensive jobs bills that reflect our commitment to grow jobs in Vermont one job at a time,” Shumlin said.

Shumlin drew a parallel between the entrepreneurial spirit of the founders of Vermont Butter & Cheese, Bob Reiss and Alison Hooper, who hosted the presser, and the kind of enterprises the state will need to foster in order to spur long-term job growth in Vermont.

State government, he said needs to find new ways to help businesses succeed. The governor emphasized a need for collaboration between state departments and agencies, particularly the agencies of agriculture and commerce. Broadband access, the governor said, is the other key element of his jobs plan that is crucial to the state’s infrastructure. (His mantra? If we can’t communicate, we can’t compete.)

Shumlin said more Vermonters are out of work or are “making the same amount of money they did a decade ago.” That, he said, is not acceptable.

Shumlin declined to say how many jobs would be created as a result of the jobs bill. He said he would, however, create a mechanism for “measuring outcomes” for the program. That system, described as a “dashboard,” would keep track of telltale data points, such as how many workers were laid off in a given week, how many found jobs, how many inmates entered the prison system and how many were reintegrated into the community.

Photo of artisan cheeses from Vt. Butter and Cheese

Three state officials from different parts of state government flanked the governor at the presser — Karen Marshall, the head of ConnectVT (a broadband program separate and apart from the Vermont Telecommunications Authority), Chuck Ross, the secretary of the Agency of Agriculture, and Lawrence Miller, the secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. Getting these agencies to work together to coordinate strategies is part of the administration’s economic paradigm.

“In this bill, you see one of the most extraordinary partnerships between the agencies of state government to growing jobs, breaking down silos and being creative,” Shumlin said.

The governor’s economic development plans, as outlined in the bill, are a hodgepodge of business incentives, agricultural programs and employee training opportunities.

Sen. Vince Illuzzi, chair of the Senate Economic Development committee, said at the presser that his committee will be taking the bill up. He approves of all of the items listed in the proposal — though he may add a few more of his own.

“This is an effort to meld economic development initiatives with our bubbling ag sector,” Illuzzi said.

Among those initiatives is aggressive promotion of the existing EB-5 visa program for immigrant investors. Individuals who want citizenship in the U.S. contribute investments of $500,000 or more to fund business expansions. Most states have such a program; in Vermont the allowable business categories include: ski industry development, manufacturing, IT, professional services, education and retirement homes.

“There’s a lot of small incremental pieces in here that together we hope will make a significant impact, but as we know there aren’t a lot of resources out there right now,” Miller said. This isn’t about spending a lot of money in new areas. This is about focusing our efforts, being strategic about our thoughts and working across agencies and across the private sector with our educational institutions to get things done in a way that could really transform what we’re doing.

Alison Hooper of Vermont Butter & Cheese.

Miller told reporters that his agency is “keenly aware it’s not government that creates jobs it’s entrepreneurs like Bob and Alison who create the jobs.”

He said the Agency of Commerce and Community development can “facilitate” and “remove obstacles when we identify them.”

Miller’s strategy for wooing businesses to Vermont is a pull on the heartstrings: He wants to go after business people who are already doing business with Vermont firms, who grew up in the state and left or who have visited Vermont. “We want to recruit companies that already have a connection to Vermont,” Miller said.

In particular, the state will look to entice vendors working with companies here to move operations to the Green Mountains.

“This isn’t about spending a lot of money in new areas,” Miller said. “This is about focusing our efforts, being strategic about our thoughts and working across agencies and across the private sector with our educational institutions to get things done in a way that could really transform what we’re doing.”

Shumlin’s ag-related initiatives:

• Miller wants to license the “Made in Vermont” brand and to expand its business base to include food producers and manufacturers.  Controlling the branding message is crucial, Miller said, so that the state’s marketing approach is unified.
• Community Supported Agriculture programs would be promoted through state agencies and programs. At National Life, for example, farmers drop their CSAs off at the insurance company.
• Increase slaughterhouse capacity.
• Enable the Agency to participate in the creation of the congressional farm bill.
• A transition/diversification program for farmers that want to shift from conventional dairying to organic or diversified agriculture.
• Development of a skilled “meat cutters’” apprenticeship program.
• Create a “local foods coordinator” in the Agency of Agriculture who will coordinate with institutional food buyers to connect local farmers with colleges, hospitals and businesses.
• Funding a competitive grant program for the Farm to School system.
• Create a large animal vet loan repayment program.
• Matching fund for “good agricultural practices” food safety certification.

Shumlin’s employee-related programs:

• Under the governor’s plan, employers who hire veterans of Afghanistan would be eligible for a tax rebate of $2,000, or up to $1,000 when a business hires a long-term unemployed Vermonter. Unemployment among recently returned soldiers is about 30 percent. Shumlin anticipates that the tax credit would encourage businesses to hire several hundred soldiers;
• Expansion of the governor’s career readiness program.
• Statewide internship program linking students with employers.
• A mentorship program for entrepreneurs.
• A seasonal workshare program.
• Workforce retraining for laid off employees.

The business incentives Shumlin proposes:

• The administration wants to establish a “creative economy” office. As Shumlin put it: “We wanted to look beyond film.” The administration proposes rolling the existing Film Commission into an expanded office of state government that is charged with attracting artists, software developer, computer animation, Internet game designers and film crews.
• Shumlin calls for the expansion of the EB-5 program and he suggests placing a surcharge of 0.5 percent on the money income tax on wealthy foreigners to help to subsidize the program.
• Shumlin supports reauthorization of the Vermont Economic Growth Incentive program for six months until his administration can evaluate the VEGI’s effectiveness.
• Enable developers to apply for and receive designation and incentives under the Vermont Neighborhood Program.
• Improve funding for Vermont businesses.
• Tax credits for companies that hire qualified science, tech, engineering and math students from Vermont.