ESSEX — The governor’s office took the weekly press conference show on the road this week — a field trip, of sorts — to “Vermont’s Largest Job Fair,” hosted at Champlain Valley Expo.
Over 100 employers — ranging from local businesses to national behemoths — came to strut their stuff at the event, organized by the Associated General Contractors of Vermont. Presenters for Casella Construction joked that they got probably 70 high schoolers into construction by letting them take a spin on an excavator.
(In the name of research, obviously, I also had to give it a try. A passerby commended my effort, but warned it wouldn’t get me any job offers.)
Several employers had flyers with QR codes that linked to job applications, and they really, really hoped Tuesday’s visitors would apply.
“It’s a nose-to-nose battle to get good employees in the door,” said Kyle Agpar, trucking manager for the Richmond-based contractor J. Hutchins, Inc.
Representatives from the Dairy Farmers of America said they were hoping to fill several positions at their 24-hour-a-day processing plant in St. Albans, and to sign up as many truck drivers as they could find.
“Cows don’t take holidays,” said DFA spokesperson Kiersten Bourgeois, who was tabling for the dairy co-op.
Gov. Phil Scott and top labor officials used Tuesday’s event to tout some aspects of Vermont’s economic bounceback since the start of the pandemic. The unemployment rate has sunk to 2.7%. There’s a flood of available jobs, Scott said, particularly in well-paying trades.
But the tone turned urgent as they presented other data on Vermont’s workforce.
This labor crunch was a long time coming, well before the pandemic, said Mike Harrington, commissioner of Vermont’s Department of Labor. He pointed to sweeping demographic trends: More retirements, fewer K-12 students.
“The workforce gap cannot be filled with Vermont’s current population alone,” Harrington said. “There simply aren’t enough working age Vermonters to fill all the vacancies that our employers have.”
Top line numbers from the Department of Labor bear this out, at least in a broad-strokes, zoomed-out way: As of Tuesday, there were more than 21,000 jobs on Vermont Job Link, a statewide job site. At the same time, the department reported fewer than 8,800 unemployed Vermonters.
Scott hopes his workforce proposals help turn the tide on those trends, and pitched his vision for the state budget yet again on Tuesday. Lawmakers will continue to hash out the $8 billion Big Bill over the next couple weeks.
“If we don’t right this ship, we’ll continue to see our workforce shrink,” Scott said.
— Riley Robinson
IN THE KNOW
A House bill to help Vermont’s independent pharmacies would now also benefit the largest hospital operator in Vermont after a last-minute amendment in the Senate on Friday.
H.353 started out as a bill to make drugs more affordable by regulating pharmacy benefit managers, third-party companies that negotiate medication coverage plans for consumers with private insurers.
Then on Friday morning, the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare inserted language from S.242, a bill that died earlier in the session. The revisions would all but guarantee that specialty drug prescriptions given to patients in health care settings — including expensive medicines to treat cancer — would be filled at UVM Health Network’s pharmacy in Burlington, rather than at cheaper mail-order pharmacies that insurers prefer.
The Senate committee voted unanimously in favor of the amended bill.
— Liora Engel-Smith
Near the end of his first term, Sen. Joshua Terenzini, R-Rutland, has decided against running for reelection this year — setting up Rutland County for a competitive Senate race for a second election cycle in a row.
In a Monday phone interview, the senator said it was “heartbreaking” to make his decision. He said he hoped to return to the Statehouse someday. But with four children under 10 years old, the job became impossible to juggle.
“The way that we govern in Vermont is not what I would call family-friendly,” Terenzini said. “Because, you know, the $19,000 that legislators are paid between their salary and reimbursement, it’s certainly not enough to raise a family.”
— Sarah Mearhoff
ON THE MOVE
The Senate suspended parliamentary rules on Tuesday to hustle through its tax relief package. The Senate’s version significantly reduces the child tax credit proposed by the House but keeps the House’s expanded social security exemption. The Senate’s version adds tax breaks for child and dependent care and interest paid on student loans.
The Senate’s version of H.510 is also time-limited, with a three year sunset. The Legislature’s economists are predicting rising inflation could signal a recession is on the horizon, so the Senate Finance Committee took a more cautious approach, said Senate Finance Committee Chair Ann Cummings, D-Washington.
“Is it really the prudent thing to give all this money back? Because once you’ve given a tax credit, it’s very hard to take it back,” Cummings said on the Senate floor.
At his weekly press conference Tuesday, Gov. Phil Scott said he was “thrilled” that the Legislature was moving ahead on tax relief. He hadn’t yet reviewed the Senate’s tax package, but he generally disagrees with a large child tax credit, he said. The administration’s tax proposal suggested smaller exemptions that would apply to a larger percentage of Vermonters.
“I will say that I wouldn’t support [it] in its entirety, but I have to look at the whole package,” Scott said.
— Riley Robinson
SHAMELESS PLUG
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ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
A new University of New Hampshire poll shows U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., leading former U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan by a 2-1 margin in a head-to-head matchup in Vermont’s open U.S. Senate race.
Of 582 survey respondents, 62% said that they would vote for Welch, a Democrat, and just 27% said they would vote for Nolan, a Republican. The poll was conducted this month.
Welch’s Senate bid means that Vermont’s sole House seat is up for grabs. Of 278 survey respondents likely to vote in the Democratic primary this August, 28% said they would vote for Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, 21% said they would vote for Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, 19% said they would support state Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden, and less than 1% said they would vote for Sianay Chase Clifford.
— Lola Duffort
Kitty Toll, a former House Appropriations chair and candidate for lieutenant governor, was out with an endorsement from State Treasurer Beth Pearce on Tuesday. It was the Danville Democrat’s first endorsement from a statewide official.
“From her time as a middle school teacher, a State Representative, and Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Kitty has dedicated her life to helping Vermonters,” Pearce said in a statement. “This record of public service, combined with her ability to work with others, make her uniquely qualified to lead during these challenging times.”
— Lola Duffort
#VTPOLI
We regret to inform you that Gov. Howard Dean has exited Vermont politics Twitter. The former six-term Democratic governor (follower count: 177K) threatened to leave the platform yesterday when news broke of Tesla founder and tech bro idol Elon Musk’s bid to buy the social network. He wasn’t the only one. Twitter has since accepted Musk’s $44 billion offer to take the company private, and lo and behold:
Adieu, governor!
— Lola Duffort
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
According to email correspondence, Wednesday’s lunch special will be “an old favorite, tuna pea wiggle, with a side of mixed vegetables.”
I had never heard of the curiously named dish, but a quick Google search of food blogs tells me it’s tuna with peas and white sauce.
From the grill tomorrow, you’ll be able to grab a grilled cheese with a side of tots, AKA my elementary school dream meal. And from Sandwich Man Peter, treat yourself to a chicken florentine sandwich with house-made smoked tomato chutney.
— Sarah Mearhoff
WHAT WE’RE READING
Green jackets: Essays from Vermont’s legislative pages (VPR)
Pride Center of Vermont’s Burlington headquarters vandalized (VTDigger)
Brattleboro’s EMS pullout set to leave southern Vermont with ‘bumps in the road’ (VTDigger)
Casella’s dominance in the Northeast leads to monopoly concerns in Vermont (VPR)
Would any Democrat run against Gov. Phil Scott? (VTDigger)
