Business
The unemployment bill formerly known as S.10 – Business owners had their most challenging year in memory. Many hoped that the legislature, knowing this, would have sought to offset their challenges. Unfortunately leveling unemployment tax rates was considered by some to be too much help.
One of the most contentious negotiations of the session centered on the formula that determines the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund balance. Recent years unemployment rates are entered into the calculation, and many experts felt that 2020 was an anomaly and should be removed from the formula given the pandemic. Without 2020 in the equation, the balance required would be $600 million, and with 2020 it would be $1 billion (by all accounts too much).
Senate committee budget vote delayed until next week
As the end of the week approached, the Senate Appropriations Committee was still finalizing FY 2022 budget details, and a planned Friday vote was pushed until Monday. On Wednesday, Committee Chair Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, expressed repeated frustration that she was still receiving bills and specific appropriation requests from committees, including H.171 (a child care bill) and H.360 (a broadband bill). Those attempting to follow the budget deliberations were likewise frustrated by the lack of documents and transparency in the process.
Some of the delay in the always-complex legislative budget process is due to the influx of federal funding coming to Vermont from the American Rescue Plan, and disagreements between the administration and the legislature on how and when ARPA money should be spent. The House-passed budget included $650 million of ARPA dollars, and the administration immediately opposed what they viewed was a prema
[co-author: Jessica Griswold]
Senate passes budget
On Friday, the Senate gave final approval to the $7.17 billion FY 2022 budget, H.439. Senate Appropriations Chair Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, called it “as complicated a budget as I’ve ever had to put together in my time in the Senate” due to the flood of federal aid to Vermont for coronavirus relief and an unexpected $211 million revenue surplus.
The bill spends $478.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, while incorporating only a portion of Gov. Scott’s ARPA spending proposal. Kitchel said the governor’s plan did not focus enough on the legislature’s funding priorities, including service delivery structure, court re-opening and higher education needs. Scott had asked the legislature to place all of the ARPA expenditures in a separate bill. Kitchel rejected that request, instead placing all ARPA spending in one designated section of the budget bill.