Rep. Jubilee McGill, D-Bridport, recalled a point in her life 15 years ago when, as a single mom going to school, she relied on 3SquaresVT — the state’s supplemental nutrition assistance program — to put enough food on the table for her and her young daughter to survive.
“You’ll notice I said survive, rather than thrive,” McGill said at a press event in the Statehouse on Tuesday morning. “Because even with the (maximum) benefit for our household, I still needed to make regular trips to the local food shelf to get through the month.”
McGill is sponsoring H.703, a bill that — together with its Senate companion, S.215 — would task the Department for Children and Families with estimating the process and resources required to change how Vermont calculates the minimum monthly benefit 3SquaresVT recipients can receive.
Advocates said Tuesday that they hope the change would substantially increase the minimum benefit for many of the state’s most economically vulnerable residents. In all, about 68,000 people are enrolled in the 3SquaresVT program, advocates said Tuesday.
Currently, Vermont uses the least expensive of four categories of food plans created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to calculate the benefits people can receive. Today, it’s a minimum of $23 a month in Vermont for one- or two-person households.
By transitioning to a more expensive plan, advocates said, 3SquaresVT benefits would be better aligned with the costs of living outlined in Vermont’s basic needs budget from the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office.
The bills propose to calculate minimum 3SquaresVT benefits based on 30% of the food costs identified in the feds’ second-highest level plan, known as the “moderate” plan. The result, advocates said, would be a minimum budget for all households of something like $117 a month.
The legislation would also require the administration to enroll Vermont in a USDA program active in a handful of other states that would allow some recipients to use their benefits at restaurants — provided that the restaurants meet certain criteria, too.
In order to use benefits at a restaurant, recipients must be 60 years or older, receive federal disability benefits, or be experiencing homelessness — or be the spouse of someone who meets one of those criteria.
Advocates said using the benefits at a restaurant could be especially useful to people who don’t have consistent access to a kitchen or food storage, such as those who are displaced by extreme weather such as last summer’s flooding.
“What we’re all standing up here saying is that it is possible to completely end hunger. It is possible for government to ensure food security for all,” said Anore Horton, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont. “We have the policy tools — and we could make the policy choices — to make that happen.”
— Shaun Robinson
In the know
A new estimate puts the projected average homestead property tax bill increase next year at more than 20%. In response, the house tax committee is considering its options, including changing a controversial cap on local property tax rates.
Summarizing lawmakers’ views, Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a hearing Tuesday that the immediate priorities would be finding new revenue sources for the education fund, adjusting the income-based property tax credit, and — perhaps most controversially — changing Act 127’s 5% cap on homestead property tax rate increases.
— Ethan Weinstein
During a caucus meeting on Tuesday, two key state representatives admitted they don’t see a path forward in their effort to impeach Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore, barring significant new revelations in their ongoing investigation.
This is despite a series of allegations against Grismore, the severity of which were only candidly presented to the public at Tuesday’s caucus meeting.
— Sarah Mearhoff and Shaun Robinson
Last year, the Green Mountain Care Board flexed a newfound muscle.
Now, a bill in Vermont’s Senate would substantially overhaul the healthcare regulator, limiting its oversight powers and shifting some of its mandate to the state Agency of Human Services.
— Peter D’Auria
The Vermont Community Broadband Board is raising alarm over the potential end of a federal program offering broadband discounts to low-income households, warning that tens of thousands of Vermonters could soon be unable to afford high-speed internet.
Board Executive Director Christine Hallquist wrote to members of the Vermont House and Senate last week suggesting that, if the federal government does not re-up funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program by April, the state should consider taking action.
— Shaun Robinson
Junk mail
Welcome back to Junk Mail, where we here at Final Reading nominate the most absurd PR pitches we’ve received recently.
Did you know that Vermonters are willing to sacrifice an average of four years of their lives in exchange for living like a millionaire? Well, neither did we — nor did we ask — until a handy press release courtesy of WealthofGeeks.com landed in our inboxes Monday afternoon.
The fine Geeks claim to have commissioned a survey of 3,000 people to ask what they would sacrifice — sleep, friendships and even years on God’s Green Earth — if it meant being able to “enjoy the splendors of a millionaire’s existence indefinitely.” Such splendors, the authors note, include “sipping cocktails on a private beach or jet-setting to exotic destinations.”
Speaking of exotic destinations, the survey found that New Hampshire residents were willing to sacrifice the highest number of years of any state in the Union — nearly eight — in exchange for the chance to truly ball out. Live Free or Die a Lot Sooner, I guess.
“The results of our survey reveal a striking paradox in the American psyche,” commented Michael Dinich, who’s described as the founder of WealthofGeeks, in the press release. Say what you will, but that analysis goes pretty hard.
— Shaun Robinson
What we’re reading
Veteran Vermont journalist Stewart Ledbetter to retire after four decades on air, VTDigger
Global Music Rights sues Vermont-based radio stations for allegedly playing songs without a license, VTDigger
The rural ski slope caught up in an international scam, The New Yorker
An earlier version of this story misidentified the town where Rep. Jubilee McGill resides.
