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Messages - Carolyn Branagan
16
« on: May 22, 2012, 08:10:54 PM »
Readers will be glad to know our state university is in much better shape than it was a year ago. This past weekend the University of Vermont Board of Trustees held a regular meeting on campus. The May meeting is always quite interesting because it occurs on graduation weekend and we trustees get to see the most important results of our work. I'm always so proud of our students, especially the Franklin County folks who graduate or receive graduate degrees.
Revenue to operate the university comes from several sources, including student tuition. The economy seems to be recovering and this shows in the reduction of need for student aid. There is $5 million left over in unspent FY12 student financial aid because of reduced need. Applications received from incoming students are stable with previous years. Tuition will increase 3.5% for both in state and out of state students. Eighteen percent of Vermont students at UVM pay full tuition, the rest receive some financial aid. Twenty-seven percent of the 2,991Vermont undergraduates attending UVM pay no tuition or fees at all. Four percent of the 6,384 out of state students pay no tuition at all, and twenty percent of them pay full tuition and fees. Instate tuition and fees is $14,754; out of state tuition and fees is $34,394. The Spires of Excellence are being recognized and the application of knowledge generated from each of the spires is encouraging . The University's reputation for excellence in scholarship does not appear to be tarnished.
One of the other major revenue sources is donations. This past year was one of the very best for private fundraising ever at UVM. Monetary gifts are up and the new UVM Foundation is on solid footing. Governor Shumlin's Committee is set to have significant input. At the end of April 95% of expected revenue for the fiscal year had been collected and 75% of it had been spent. Budget revenue and expenditures are projected to increase 2.4% overall for the 2012/13 school year. Good efforts have been made in revenue enhancement and cost reduction. The main reasons the budget has slowed has to do with reduced student aid need, lower energy costs and a modest 2% salary increase for all employees.
Nobody knows better than a trustee how extremely difficult the circumstances were for UVM a year ago. I'm watching closely and can report that things are getting better. If you'd like more information on the University of Vermont contact me at cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Carolyn Branagan
Franklin-1, Georgia/Fairfax
Vermont House of Representatives
17
« on: May 17, 2012, 09:39:54 AM »
When first reading H.495, legislators gulped at the twenty-seven 'findings' section followed by no less than nine legislative 'intents'. Readers will recall H.496 is the Working Lands Enterprise Investment law which has received so much attention from the press lately. Most of the findings and intents came from comments made by Vermonters closely involved in agricultural economy and from those who are knowledgeable about economic development.
Vermont Representatives Will Stevens, Tess Taylor, Mollie Burke and I were the four original sponsors of H496. We all worked very hard move it through the House, with lots of help from Franklin County Representatives Norm McAllister and Dick Howrigan and also Rep. Dick Lawrence and House Agriculture Chair Rep. Carolyn Partridge. Many days were spent in the House Agriculture Committee working on the language of the bill. We had support from my longtime friends and colleagues Senator Sara Kittell and Senator Vince Illuzzi, who both had sponsored it in the Senate. The new law would not have survived without the extremely capable help of Paul Costello from Vermont Council on Rural Development (why did we ever let this guy leave Franklin County?) and tireless work of Amy Schollenberger. And of course, from the start we benefited from strong support of Governor Shumlin.
The new law strengthens Vermont’s working landscape by providing technical and financial support for the agriculture, forestry and value-added business sectors. The bill creates the Working Lands Enterprise Fund and Board to stimulate the economic development of these sectors. The new law advances agricultural and forest based entrepreneurism, business development and job creation, all much needed statewide but especially here in Franklin County. The bill does not give 'handouts'. It sets up opportunities for agriculture and forest industries to flourish, making the most of Vermont's good name and using our agricultural heritage to connect with the mandate of economic development. This law is a sensible way to use the resources we have already in state to bring in capital from outside to help Vermonters.
The creation and support of this bill is textbook like illustration of how concerted bi-partisan effort can join to turn a good idea into a new law that will really help Vermonters. I am proud of this bill. It is one of the most valuable pieces of legislation to be signed into law during my ten years of legislative service.
If you want to know more about this bill, contact me at cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Carolyn Branagan
Franklin-1, Fairfax/Georgia
18
« on: May 12, 2012, 12:09:15 PM »
Mother's Day is coming. I've heard rumors that some hate Mother's Day because they feel guilty for not being a perfect mother. Think about this: Mother's Day is no more for celebrating perfect mothers than going to church is for celebrating perfect people. We're all trying, and we should celebrate that we're surviving so far.
Parenting, like many tasks in life, is best done in the midst of lots of communication and a good support system. You are not alone.Here's wishing you a Happy Mother's Day!
19
« on: April 30, 2012, 02:18:57 PM »
Ed and Rev., My understanding is anyone can kill an injured deer for humane reasons with permission from a constable, police officer, or selectboard member. Constables are restricted in their duties if they haven't completed the required training, mainly the use of a firearm for law enforcement. There are a few exceptions and killing injured deer is one of the exceptions. This change does not change the abilities constables have now.
Rep. Carolyn Branagan
20
« on: April 30, 2012, 02:01:09 PM »
The re-districting efforts that come before the legislature every 10 years finally came to a conclusion today in the House. Our legislative district of Franklin-1 has been split apart, as requested by both Boards of Civil Authority. This decision was backed up by census data showing that both towns have grown. The towns of Georgia and Fairfax will no longer share representatives. Starting next legislative session each of the towns of Georgia and Fairfax will be represented by one person.
Both towns have grown since the last census. Georgia now has 4515 residents and Fairfax has 4285. Both towns are now big enough to have their own representative.
The election will be in November.
Rep.Carolyn Branagan
21
« on: April 25, 2012, 01:32:15 PM »
Regular readers will remember back in 2008 the legislature decided to require town constables to complete the training offered at the Vermont State Police Academy for part time officers before serving as an elected town constable. Currently serving constables were supposed to have their training completed by 2010. The intent of this change was to provide the public with the assurance of trained competent personnel in the role of law enforcement officers.
It soon became apparent many constables could not complete the requirements of this training, mainly because it was so hard to get field training. So the deadline for completion of the training was extended to 2012. Access to field training opportunities continues to be an issue. This is the part of the training that puts the student officers in the cruiser with trained officers and allows the student a chance to observe real on the job situations. This week the legislature extended the deadline for current constables to complete training by 2013. Students who have begun the basic training course at least by May 1st this year will have until July 1, 2013 to complete all aspects of the training including field training. After this date, constables must have all aspects of the basic training completed before they can work, this includes the field training.
In addition to these extensions of training time, the new bill asks the Law Enforcement Advisory Board in conjunction with the Criminal Justice Training Council to report to the House and Senate on ways constables can receive training as law enforcement officers including recommendations on how constables can complete the program’s field training officer experience. There is belief that the field training may best be done at the Police Academy. This bill was approved on voice vote and the governor is expected to sign it into law. All Vermonters who wish to serve as elected town constables will have to comply with this new regulation
A municipality can vote to prohibit constables from exercising any law enforcement authority. When a town does this, the constable can continue to serve criminal or civil process, kill injured deer, and assist the health officer. The Vermont League of Cities and Towns report that 195 towns have light duty officers, these are constables who have duties restricted. Thirty three people have begun training to become part time police officers, 15 have completed the training and one received training in another state. That leaves 17 people who are in some phase of completing the training. If you’d like more information on this or any other issue dealing with our state government, contact me at cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Carolyn Branagan
Franklin-1, Fairfax/Georgia
Vermont House of Representatives
22
« on: April 24, 2012, 02:21:46 PM »
What a wonderful story! I did not know about this. It shows how powerful the voices of children can be. Congratulations to all involved.
Carolyn
23
« on: April 24, 2012, 02:18:20 PM »
Hi everyone, Obviously I depend too much on spellcheck. It was late in the day and I was tired, but still should have caught the error. A regular reader first contacted me about it early Saturday. The humor was not lost on him and we got such a kick out of it, I decided to wait and see if others would notice too. Duels are going on all day here at the statehouse, but it's worse in the Senate. Don't worry, I'm hanging in there today. I hope some of you could see humor in duel. We're all human.
Carolyn
24
« on: April 20, 2012, 01:15:59 PM »
Several difficult bills are working their way though the House and Senate. Most of the sponsors have no idea from where the funding should come, so the bills end up on the doorstep of the Ways and Means Committee.
One of the bills that arrived is H776, a bill encouraging flexible pathways leading to high school completion and career/college readiness. The bill sets up a structure called Flexible Pathways that would house several existing programs and a new program called ‘Duel Enrollment’. The existing programs are designed to help Vermonters complete high school. They are open to anyone at least 16 years old who wants to complete secondary school. Students can get a high school diploma or a GED. The new Flexible Pathways structure would also house a new program called ‘Duel Enrollment’. This would allow some high school students to take college courses and get both high school credit and college credit. So the same student would take one course and get 2 kinds of credit: high school and college. Some schools across the state are already doing similar things, but H.776 would allow Duel Enrollment in every high school statewide at public expense. This Duel Enrollment concept has potential to be of enormous benefit for students who are at risk of not graduating high school but who have potential to complete college. It would help students who simply don’t have the aspiration to complete high school, who have dropped out of school or who may drop out, are bored because they have high ability or any of several other groups of at risk students.
The question no one has answered yet is ‘how will these college courses be paid for?’ That’s of course why the bill ended up in the Ways and Means Committee. Approval of this program is far from a no brainer, because the Education Fund is not a bottomless pit of money. No one here wants to take money from the Education Fund because that would raise the property tax rate. The Education Fund is treated as a bottomless pit of money…..have you got an idea vaguely related to schools? Great! We’ll just raise the property tax and pay for it with Education Fund money. This is not responsible and as property owners all over Franklin County realize, their ability to pay tax is not endless. The Duel Enrollment would be a whole new use of Education Fund dollars, and no estimate of the costs available.
So I and several other legislators have spent a lot of time working to find a way to fund this program without opening the floodgates to waves of expenditure out of the Education Fund for college tuition. We drew a box around the existing high school completion programs to make sure they are not shorted. Then we set up a special fund to pay for the new Duel Enrollment program limiting the kinds of money that can be used. Revenue possibilities would not include the Education Fund. So what are the other funding sources? They could be any of the General Fund, Perkins money, Federal Grant money, Next Generation money, or a special appropriation. We also put in the requirement for the Commissioner of Education to do some research on funding possibilities and report back to the legislature early next year.
This morning I learned that the House Education Committee has decided to bring the bill off the floor back to their committee and not vote on it this year at all. They have some concerns with the way the Duel Enrollment program will be administered and feel that it needs quite a bit of additional work. They are fine with our funding plan, though.
The crazy season has arrived here at the statehouse, a sure sign the end of the legislative session is near.
Rep. Carolyn Branagan
Franklin-1, Fairfax/Georgia
Vermont House of Representatives
25
« on: April 19, 2012, 10:00:45 AM »
This has been a great week for students to visit the statehouse and I was pleased to have three different groups from the legislative district.
Two groups of high school students from Bellows Free Academy in Fairfax came from Mr. Clark’s and Mrs. Stewart’s senior level civics/social studies class. This is an annual trip for these students, who are always extremely well prepared. Each student came to research a particular bill and as a group they were impressive in the background research they’d completed, behavior and respectful appearance. Having theses students at the statehouse is always a high point of the year for me.
Delightful 4th graders from Georgia Elementary School came yesterday. They were so excited to see the statehouse building where laws are made and to tour the grounds. This group also visited the State Historical Society Museum and got to meet Governor Peter Shumlin. These 4th graders came with a suggested piece of legislation: that all schools and businesses in Vermont be required to have a compost pile. I promised them I’d pass along the suggestion to the proper committee. I have known their teacher Miss Alexis Bell for over 40 years.
I was pleased to be able to speak about both groups on the House floor and even got to introduce the younger children from Georgia to Speaker of the House Shap Smith. If you would like to know more about visiting the statehouse contact me at cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Carolyn Branagan
Franklin-1, Fairfax/Georgia
Vermont House of Representatives
26
« on: April 19, 2012, 09:36:27 AM »
Reports for the week of April 7 are below. Please note that work is slowing in the statehouse as several committees are not meting on a regular basis.
Rep. Linda Myers from Essex reports the House Institutions and Corrections Committee spent considerable time on S. 138, an act relating to calculation of criminal sentences and record keeping for search warrants. Institutions and Corrections deals with corrections policy concerning those incarcerated and part of S. 138 deals with credit for time served in computing consecutive and concurrent sentences. The committee examined three sections of the bill and took testimony. Rep. Myers reported the Committee's findings to the House Judiciary Committee and will report those sections on the floor. The Committee also reviewed the Senate version of the Capital Budget Adjustment Bill, H. 785. The Senate will have the bill on the floor next week and the House will decide whether to concur or call for a committee of conference. The Committee looked at the Senate Judiciary changes to H. 765, the serious functional impairment bill, and continued work on two land swap resolutions for ANR.
Rep. Jim Eckhardt from Chittenden reported the House Health Care Committee continues to work on 6 bills sent over by the Senate. The Committee passed out S.199 also known as the immunization bill. The bill then went to the floor where there were over 5 hours of debate before it passed out of the House with the Philosophical Exemption intact. The vote was 126 to 3. Once the Health Dept. gets accurate information the discussion can begin again. It was obvious that the Health Dept. numbers were not calculated correctly with the information available. This bill will give accurate information to make an informed decision on rates of vaccination starting in 2014.
S.200 is a reporting bill requiring health insurance companies to report more information than they currently provide. The insurance companies already provide this information in different formats to the state. This bill is not a big concern to the insurance companies at this time. However, an amendment to the bill that is in committee asks more information such as how much these health insurance companies give to charity, how much they give to lobbyists, and other things. Attached to this bill is the H-764 which deals with Pharmacy Benefit Managers and their relationships with auditing independent pharmacies. I have spent time visiting with my local independent pharmacies to understand the issue. This is a good piece of legislation for them.
Mark Higley of Lowell reports that the Government Operations Committee, on Tuesday pulled their Burlington amendment, and on a vote of 126 to 13 passed the reapportionment bill H.789. However, when it reached the Senate reapportionment committee, Senators Sears and Ashe, proposed an amendment which passed 6-1. This means a conference committee is probably in the future. The amendment puts the House Map in the 24% deviation range and a written response from the Attorney General's office states this is not acceptable. Jim Condos, Secretary of State and Kathy Scheele, director of elections stated the legislature is coming down to the wire and if the bill doesn't pass this soon and with the Governor's signature, we could possibly have to run under our current districts this year, again in 2013 if the new districts get settled and again in 2014. This bill is scheduled for a vote by the full Senate on Tuesday 4/17/12.
Gov. Ops. Committee has attached the embezzlement bill to S.106 (Misc. changes to municipal government law), and is on the calendar for 2nd reading on Tuesday 4/17/12.
Rep. Vicki Strong from Albany reported the House Judiciary Committee has been finishing up work on the Senate bills.
S.203-An act relating to child support enforcement will be on the floor this week. The intention of this bill is to help individuals with
delinquent child support payments to get help with work skills,education, and employment opportunities and to also work out reasonable
payments according to the individual's ability to pay.
H.777-An act pertaining to malpractice insurance for midwives; After further discussion the committee decided to refer the bill back to the
Healthcare Committee without recommendation, and to let the House debate the policy on the floor about exempting midwives from having to have
malpractice insurance for two more years.
S.226- There was further discussion about combating illegal prescription opiates and increasing treatment resources for addiction, and the bill
proposes to spend over $40 million on the use of methadone and buprenorphine treatments for addiction, in conjunction with counseling
requirements for those who receive the treatments. There are hundreds of people on waiting lists for these treatments. The success rate of the
treatments was questioned and not conclusively answered. Other bills discussed and possibly coming to the floor soon;
S.189-An act relating to expanding confidentiality of cases accepted by the court diversion project, which will be combined with H.669-An act
relating to confidentiality of applications for compensation to the victim's compensation board.
S.138-An act relating to calculation of criminal sentences and record keeping for search warrants.
H.706-An act relating to reducing the sale of stolen property. This bill is trying to address the problem of stolen property being sold to pawn
shops for the purpose of obtaining money to buy illegal drugs. The bill will require pawn shops, and other shops that sell used items, to keep a
record of the items that they buy and sell, and to hold the goods for a period of 5 days. This will help law enforcement to have the information
and time to find stolen goods. I personally feel the sale of stolen goods will then happen more through other means, such as on the internet
or across state lines, and that this bill will add more work and regulation to these businesses.
Let me know if you have questions about any of this. Contact me at cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Carolyn Branagan
Franklin-1, Fairfax/Georgia
27
« on: April 19, 2012, 09:27:45 AM »
Regular readers will be interested to learn that the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund for the state of Vermont is in much better shape than a few months ago. For a long time providing unemployment insurance required no additional payment from employers and the employees who were collecting from this fund got increasingly generous benefits. All worked well until the economy crashed. And then when an ocean of red ink faced the legislators, some serious corrections were made in the entire fund.
Basically the fix involved increasing the base wage on which employers pay and reducing the benefits that were paid out. The base wage threshold will shortly rise again to $18,000. Employees who need to collect from the fund now get less in the maximum unemployment check and there is a one week delay before payments start. There were other changes too, but the state still needed to borrow a lot of money from the federal government to keep the Unemployment Trust Fund going through the worst of the recession. The borrowed money of course has to be paid back. Total debt was originally expected to be over $350 million.
I am pleased to report that of all these efforts combined with improvement in the economy have had positive impacts on the fund, which is now in relatively good shape. The balance sheets now show a debt of $77 million, which though substantial is much better than predicted.
A plan is being proposed to pay this off early. Reducing debt is always a good thing because it reduces interest payments and overall expenditure. If this debt is removed the state will save about $3 million in interest payments, but also Vermont employers will save approximately $6 million in payments into the Trust Fund. The repayment would take about $30 million out of the Trust Fund itself and the remainder from the budget stabilization funds. This proposal has yet to make its way though money committees, but the State Treasurer and Commissioner of Labor are in favor of the plan. Much discussion on this proposal will follow.
If you’d like more information on this proposal or any other issue involving state government contact me at cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us . I want to hear from you.
Rep. Carolyn Branagan
Franklin-1, Fairfax/Georgia
Vermont House of Representatives
28
« on: April 12, 2012, 06:08:12 PM »
Noun 1. germaneness - pertinence by virtue of a close relation to the matter at hand
applicability, pertinence, pertinency - relevance by virtue of being applicable to the matter at hand
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2011 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
29
« on: April 12, 2012, 06:05:38 PM »
Rev.,
Here's H157:
BILL AS PASSED THE HOUSE H.157
2011 Page 1 of 3
VT LEG 261587.1
1 H.157
2 Introduced by Representative Ancel of Calais
3 Referred to Committee on
4 Date:
5 Subject: Health; tanning facilities; minors
6 Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to prohibit the use of tanning
7 facilities by minors.
8 An act relating to restrictions on tanning beds
9 It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:
10 Sec. 1. 18 V.S.A. § 1513 is added to read:
11 § 1513. TANNING FACILITIES; MINORS; PENALTY
12 (a) As used in this section:
13 (1) “Operator” means a person designated by the tanning facility owner
14 or tanning equipment lessee to operate or to assist and instruct in the operation
15 and use of the tanning facility or tanning equipment.
16 (2) “Tanning equipment” means any device that emits electromagnetic
17 radiation with wavelengths in the air between 200 and 400 nanometers used for
18 tanning of the skin, including a sunlamp, tanning booth, or tanning bed.
19 (3) “Tanning facility” means any location, place, area, structure, or
20 business that provides persons access to any tanning equipment, including
BILL AS PASSED THE HOUSE H.157
2011 Page 2 of 3
VT LEG 261587.1
tanning salons, health clubs, apartments, and condominiums, 1 regardless of
2 whether a fee is charged for access to the tanning equipment.
3 (b) This section shall apply to any tanning facility in Vermont; provided,
4 however, that it shall not apply to any physician duly licensed to practice
5 medicine who uses, in the practice of medicine, medical diagnostic and
6 therapeutic equipment that emits ultraviolet radiation or to any person who
7 owns tanning equipment exclusively for personal, noncommercial use.
8 (c) It shall be unlawful for a tanning facility or operator to allow any person
9 who has not yet reached the age of 18 to use any tanning equipment.
10 (d) Any tanning facility found to be in violation of this section shall be
11 subject to a civil penalty of up to $500.00 for the first violation, not less than
12 $750.00 and not more than $1,000.00 for the second violation, and not less
13 than $1,000.00 and not more than $1,500.00 for the third violation and each
14 violation thereafter.
(d) Any tanning facility or operator that allows a person under 18 years of
age to use any tanning equipment shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more
than $100.00 for the first offense and not more than $500.00 for any
subsequent offense. An action to enforce this section shall be brought in the
judicial bureau pursuant to 4 V.S.A. chapter 29.
15 (e) The commissioner of health shall adopt such rules as are necessary to
16 carry out the provisions of this section.
BILL AS PASSED THE HOUSE H.157
2011 Page 3 of 3
VT LEG 261587.1
(f) A tanning facility owner, lessee, or operator shall post in a conspicuous
place in each tanning facility that the individual owns, leases, or operates in
this state a notice developed by the commissioner of health addressing the
following:
(1) that it is unlawful for a tanning facility or operator to allow a person
under the age of 18 to use any tanning equipment;
(2) that a tanning facility or operator that violates the provisions of this
section shall be subject to a civil penalty;
(3) that an individual may report a violation of the provisions of this
section to his or her local law enforcement agency; and
(4) the health risks associated with tanning.
Sec. 2. 4 V.S.A. § 1102(b)(23) is added to read:
(23) Violations of 18 V.S.A. § 1513, relating to minors using tanning
facilities.
30
« on: April 11, 2012, 10:23:45 AM »
Things are wild here at the statehouse. The Death bill is one reason we call this the 'crazy season.' Several legislators have told me the process makes no sense because the bills are not related to one another . I'll try to keep all of you up to date.
Carolyn
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