Thousands of Vermonters are in danger of losing critical public benefits if proposed changes to national poverty thresholds are approved. The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is exploring the impacts of using a lower inflation rate when updating the Official Poverty Measure (OPM), used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to create poverty guidelines that regulate the receipt of many public benefits.

They are accepting comment on the proposal until 11:59 PM on Friday, June 21, 2019. Public Assets filed comments earlier this week.

New Zealand recently unveiled what’s being described as the world’s first “well-being budget,” designed to improve the lives and living standards of all of its citizens. Maybe Vermont can claim credit for being the inspiration. While, unlike Vermont, New Zealand is fully integrating its wellbeing goals into the budgeting process and committing real money to its new priorities, there are echoes of a statute Vermont passed in 2012 in New Zealand’s well-being budget.

A family and medical leave program should make juggling work and caregiving easier for families.

The House bill (H.107) passed in early April would do that through wage-replacement and job protection for employees who are out of work due to a new baby, or for unexpected personal or family medical needs. But the Senate version cuts back these benefits to workers and their families. Focused on decreasing the program cost, the Senate plan undermines the bill’s intent: supporting families.

The Education Fund, for the most part, has stayed out of the headlines this year, perhaps because Gov. Phil Scott hasn’t offered the kind of end-of-session surprises we saw in his first two years. But we should be paying close attention even if the Education Fund isn’t in the spotlight. Important decisions are at hand that affect the stability of the fund.

The Education Fund budget approved by the House earlier this year relied on reserves and other one-time sources of revenue to artificially hold down property tax rates. In the House version, Education Fund spending was projected to increase by about $70 million, and nearly half of that additional money would have come from sources the Legislature couldn’t count on in subsequent years. It was another case of confronting today’s problem by pushing it off into next year.

Tens of thousands of Vermont workers do not make enough to support their families. At the same time, home health and personal care agencies that hire many of these low-wage workers can barely keep afloat because of low Medicaid reimbursements.

But underfunded Medicaid should not put the brakes on a long-overdue minimum wage increase.

A recent Public Assets Institute report shows that people earning minimum wage have lost ground over the past 40 years even as costs for essentials, such as housing, childcare, and college have risen substantially. Raising the wage to $15 by 2024 would start to address this disparity.

Public Assets wants to know not only how the Vermont economy is doing, but who's benefitting from it. Are Vermonters able to make ends meet? How’s the job market? Who's working? We believe the needs of Vermonters should be at the center of policy discussions in Montpelier.

Sen. Sanders’ office made this video about our annual State of Working Vermont report. It’s a great summary, stars our very own Stephanie Yu, and highlights people all across Vermont.

The revenue bill passed by the Vermont House late last month will generate more money—about $5 million annually—by increasing the amount of investment income that is subject to the state’s capital gains tax. The additional revenue is welcome, and the change is a step in the right direction. But rather than simply tweaking the capital gains tax, the Legislature should be asking why it gives away $15 million every year by excluding certain investment income from taxes.

A January report by the Joint Fiscal Office and the Vermont Department of Taxes raises questions about the underlying justification for treating capital gains differently than the income earned by most working stiffs.

Legislators in Montpelier are getting close to the end of the session, but they’re still in search of that elusive prey: revenue. According to legislative watchers, our elected officials are trying to find revenue sources for state investments that are widely acknowledged to be long overdue: clean water, child care, Reach Up, weatherization.

Here’s an idea: How about using some of the $350 million in federal tax breaks delivered to upper-income Vermonters in 2018?

The basic idea is simple: A statewide insurance plan that provides paid family and medical leave to Vermont workers most of whom could not otherwise afford to take time from work to care for a new child, a sick family member, or the worker’s own health problem.

The six other states (and the District of Columbia) that currently offer paid leave plans provide a range of benefits. They all include protection for the employee’s own health condition. Most offer longer leave periods for medical conditions than for the birth of a child. They are funded through a mix of employer and employee contributions. Wage replacement ranges from 50 to 90 percent of the worker’s average weekly wage, depending on where they fall on the wage scale. Every state also caps the maximum benefit.

There’s a paid family and medical leave bill (H. 107) working its way through the Vermont House now and it’s likely to get to the governor’s desk. The governor vetoed the plan passed by the Legislature last year.

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