NORTHFIELD — Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a 176-page bill on Thursday that lawmakers designed to help create jobs, boost wages and make it easier for people to do business in Vermont.
Shumlin signed S.138, the economic development bill, at the Cabot Hosiery Mills headquarters where Darn Tough Socks are made. He stood in front of several lawmakers, advocates for affordable housing, business groups and the disability community.
Among its many provisions, the law repeals the state’s sales tax on software bought through an online cloud, starts a down payment assistance program for first-time homebuyers, makes it easier for entrepreneurs to obtain funding from investors and helps people with disabilities find jobs.
“If there’s any one thing that runs through it, it’s Vermonters,” said Rep. Bill Botzow, D-Bennington, who chairs the House Commerce Committee. “This is part of a long progression of economic development bills, and in my opinion, they get better every year.”
There are several provisions in the bill that pay companies to put their workers into workforce training programs. Other provisions direct the state to work with the federal government to help Vermonters with disabilities save money without supplanting benefits they get from Social Security or Medicaid.
Sam Liss, vice president of the board for the Vermont Center for Independent Living, said the bill’s proposed savings account programs “incentivize employment” for people with disabilities.
“People with disabilities by and large want to work and are motivated to find employment,” Liss said. He said helping them work would decrease pressure on entitlement programs.
House Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morristown, lauded the Vermont workforce in general. “One of the reasons [companies] stay here is because we have such a good workforce,” he said.
“We do that; that’s no accident,” Smith said. “Vermonters like to work hard. They’ve always had to work hard. They continue to do so.”
Smith said repealing the cloud tax was one of his top priorities this session. He said it took three years of work in the Legislature, but the bill would send a message to technology companies that Vermont is a good place to do business.
Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, talked about entrepreneurs who were born in Rutland County, like tractor-builder John Deere, motor-builder Thomas Davenport and the inventor of the flat-bottomed paper bag.
A provision in the new law, also one of Smith’s priorities this year, would allow businesses to lend up to $250,000 to each other without going through the typical regulation process. Previously, the limit was $75,000.
“Government doesn’t create jobs; entrepreneurs do,” Mullin said. “There are so many people in Vermont who have a great idea but are struggling to get by. Whatever we can do to make it easier for them, we should be doing it.”
Ric Cabot, president of Darn Tough Vermont, said the bill “keeps Vermont competitive in a global job market.” He said the company plans to reach a total of 400 to 500 employees in the next five years.
Cabot Hosiery Mills is one of several recipients of the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive, a program that gives cash to companies after they hire workers or make capital improvements.
Shumlin called the VEGI program “the best targeted tax program in America.” The new law loosens some of the rules on the program in ways that would allow more companies to qualify for incentives in rural areas.
“Vermont is a great place to work, to raise a family,” Cabot said. “And we are hiring!”
