— At Thursday’s Scott administration press conference, Susanne Young, administration secretary, said agency and department leaders have been asked to draft budgets for the first three months of FY21 at 23% of their FY20 budget.
“That does represent, on an annualized basis, an 8% decrease in funding,” Young said. “Now whether that 8% will continue through the last quarters of FY21 remains to be seen.”
Interim Corrections Commissioner James Baker, speaking during a meeting Wednesday of the Senate Judiciary Committee, talked of the challenges of putting together a budget with such cuts in mind.
If that 8% cut were applied to the corrections department for the full FY21 budget, Baker said, it would represent a $12 million decrease. “That’s devastating,” he said of that figure. “It’s going to be very, very difficult to deal with.” – Alan Keays
— In an afternoon all-Senate caucus, where lawmakers organized what non-Covid-19 related bills would hit the Senate floor first, Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, reminded her colleagues of the budget stresses awaiting the state.
“There’s only three things we can do,” Kitchel said. “Hope for divine intervention and Congress will help the states. The second is you can raise revenues. And the third is you’re going to have very significant reductions in state government and state services or both.”
Now that the 2020 budget adjustment bill is moving through the House, the three-month 2021 budget “skinny bill” as lawmakers are calling it is next for the Statehouse appropriations committees to figure out. – Grace Elletson
— House Commerce lawmakers are considering waiving “penalty weeks” for those who are barred from receiving unemployment benefits for a period of time because of misconduct at a past job or for defrauding the unemployment system.
Labor Commissioner Michael Harrington told lawmakers Wednesday morning that the department does not support removing penalty weeks for the 211 people in Vermont who are currently affected by them.
“For example, there’s an individual that repeatedly over multiple years and multiple instances, created his own business, hired himself, laid himself off, collected 26 weeks, created a new business, hired himself, laid himself off and then collected another 26 weeks to accumulate a total fraudulent benefit amount of over $100,000,” Harrington said.
Rep. Michael Marcotte, R-Newport, told Harrington that “under normal circumstances” he would agree. “During this time, normally when that happens and people apply and know they’re going to get penalty weeks, they’re going to go out and find another job because they’re going to need money,” he said. “They’re not in that position anymore.” – Grace Elletson
— Joan Goldstein, commissioner of the Department of Economic Development, told Senate Econ lawmakers that her department is beginning to develop a plan to keep Vermont businesses from folding en masse due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She estimated that the Agency of Commerce and Community Development may need 30% of the $1.25 billion in CARES Act money the state received to prop up Vermont businesses. She said the agency plans to use this money to issue grants directly to businesses to cover some operating costs and fund an employee assistance program. – Grace Elletson
— As belt tightening is about to begin across Vermont’s government sectors, Senate Econ lawmakers also discussed the future of the state’s remote worker program — the brainchild of Committee Chair Sen. Michael Sirotkin, D-Chittenden.
Multiple senators brought up concerns that continuing to fund the program, which gives grants to entice workers to work remotely in Vermont, would create damaging optics for the state as it struggles to contain soaring unemployment rates among its own citizens.
Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, added that the program was established to raise more revenue for the state, which Vermont is in desperate need of now. She also questioned whether migrations to Vermont might occur without the program, because the state has had a better coronavirus outlook than others. – Grace Elletson
— The Vermont Democratic Party announced today that Rep. Ro Khanna, D-CA, will be giving the virtual keynote address at this year’s State Democratic Convention, which is being held May 25-30. Khanna, who represents California’s 17th District, is known for his progressive policies in the U.S. House of Representatives. – Grace Elletson
