Act No. 56 of the Acts of 2015 established a Renewable Energy Standard and Energy Transformation Program for electric utilities in the State of Vermont which specifically includes biomass to produce electricity. Act 56 amended Chapter 87 of Title 10 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated to add a new section 2751, which requires the Commissioner of
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Click for More on House Bills Click for More on Senate Bills Session Winding Down This has been a pretty slim week as far as committee meetings. The Senate and House Ag Committees have dealt with amendments between most of the bills they discussed and have concurred with the language. This includes minor changes to H.434 (Agriculture
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Click for More on House Bills Click for More on Senate Bills Representative Peter Welch Re-Introduces Dairy Pride Act Representative Welch is sponsoring the Dairy Pride Act that would stop the use of dairy terms such as milk, yogurt, and cheese on the labels of non-dairy products. The legislation does not prevent the sale of
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Click for More on House Bills Click for More on Senate Bills H.434 n act relating to establishing the Agricultural Innovation Board Making several changes to the House version, the Senate Agriculture Committee approved the third draft of the bill on a 5-0-0 vote. Members added “study and issue recommendations regarding the feasibility of the use of
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Click for More on House Bills Click for More on Senate Bills S.100 An act relating to universal school breakfast and lunch for all public school students and to creating incentives for schools to purchase locally produced foods The Senate Agriculture Committee reviewed changes to this language based on conversations with Chair Campion from Senate Education. The
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Click for More on House Bills Click for More on Senate Bills Presentation on The Future of Vermont Technical College Members of the leadership team have been tasked with finding a solution for VTC’s challenges. They met in a joint session of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees this week to offer their plan. Pat Moulton,
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Click for More on House Bills Click for More on Senate Bills Senate Finance Reviews S.128 An act relating to the taxation of grid-connected renewable energy plants, energy storage facilities, and energy transformation projects The Senate Finance Committee discussed a bill aiming to treat energy storage facilities and small scale solar projects (under 50kw) the
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USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers USDA Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack met with American Farm Bureau, state presidents and others on Wednesday, March 24th to preview the next round of funding for farmers and ranchers. The four areas of focus: Investing $6 Billion to expand help and assistance to more producers. The money come from a
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MORE INFORMATION ON UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE S.10 We are attaching a graph courtesy of the Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce as well as a letter from Associated Industries of Vermont that sets out more data regarding the proposed 20% increase in Unemployment Insurance benefits in S.10. If you have employees and are paying UI benefits, please
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CROSSOVER UPDATES FOR COMMITTEES Friday, March 12, is the deadline for bills containing no budget issues (that is, no tax, fees or charges that would affect the budget) to be voted on the floor and moved to the other body. Here is a review of what has gotten out of the Agriculture Committees: Voted out
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