Initial Carbon Tax, Other Tax Increases Pass House

On Wednesday, the House passed the first version of a carbon tax in H.439, which increases the tax on the retail sale of heating oil, propane, kerosene, and other dyed diesel fuel delivered to a residence or business from $0.2 to $0.4, and increases the tax on the retail sale of natural gas from 0.75% […]

Action Alert | Mandatory Paid Family Leave On the House Floor

H.107, imposing mandatory paid family leave, is currently in the House Appropriations Committee, which is expected to approve the bill early next week and it is expected to come to the House floor Wednesday or Thursday.  The bill is expected to follow the recommendations of the House Ways and Means Committee, which modified a number […]

Action Alert | Draft Reissuance and Amendment to Construction General Permit 3-9020

ANR is proposing to issue a general permit for stormwater runoff from construction sites.  The draft permit is referred to as General Permit 3-9020 (2019). On September 13, 2006, the Agency issued General Permit 3-9020 (2006) for Stormwater Construction Runoff from Construction Sites.  In February 2008, the Agency amended General Permit 3-9020 to the current […]

On the Wire | News & Analysis from the Web for the Week of March 18

Casting a Wide Net to Attract Manufacturing Talent.  IndustryWeek 3/21 “The light is a little too dim for Carolyn Lee, executive director of the  Manufacturing Institute at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM.) She wants the industry to shine a brighter light on itself and attract the recognition it deserves. . . .” U.S. labor market solid; manufacturing […]

Vermont Labor Market

The Vermont Department of Labor released data on the Vermont economy for the time period covering February 2019. According to household data, the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for February was 2.4%. This reflects a decrease of one-tenth of one percentage point from the revised January rate. The current estimate of 8,436 unemployed Vermonters is the […]

New Stormwater Permitting Rule Effective March 15

The new Stormwater Permitting Rule has been adopted and will go into effect on March 15.  The final adopted rule and associated information are available at https://dec.vermont.gov/watershed/stormwater/stormwater-rule-update  As of March 15 the Chapter 18 Stormwater Management Rule will be repealed, and the Chapter 22 Stormwater Rule will be amended to be the new Stormwater Permitting […]