 Thank you. Good afternoon folks or good noon folks. This is a public hearing of the house appropriations committee on January 25th on the proposed budget adjustment act. We very much appreciate the members of the public who are joining us here today. And before I invite the first person to testify, I would just like to introduce for us to introduce ourselves to you. I am Mary Hooper. I'm the chair of the house appropriations committee and I represent the city of Montpelier. I'm one of two reps here. Peter. Hi, I'm Peter Fagan. I represent the city of Rutland one of four reps. Good afternoon. I'm made of Townsend. I'm one of four state reps from the city of South Burlington. Good afternoon. I'm Tristan Tolino and I represent Brattaburro along with two other representatives. Good morning. I'm Marty Feltas. I represent Lyndon Sutton and Burke. Good afternoon. I'm Dave Yacoboni. I represent Elmore, Morristown, Woodbury and Worcester. Hello, I'm Jim Harrison. I represent Chittenden, Benden, Killington and Bridgewater. Good afternoon. This is Robin Shy. I, along with one other rep, represent Middlebury. Hello. Good afternoon. This is Trevor Squirrel. I represent Underhill and Jericho. Hi. This is representative Bob Nelm and I represent Cousin Bearhaven, West Haven and Huberton. And finally, I'm Kimberly Jessup representing Middlesex and East Montpelier. Hello. Thank you, committee. And we have scheduled, we have 20 people who are scheduled to address us. And so we're allocating three minutes per person. I think everybody can see the clock, which has a countdown and will give you a sense of where we are in time. And then I think Peter, Representative Fagan will also help if we're running out of time or over time with his handy warning on the screen also. And I will give, as we call people up, I will call the person to testify and then the person who is behind that person so that they can know that they are on deck and be prepared to go. So joining us first is John Sales with the Vermont Food Bank. And then after John is Susan Aronoth. And so, Susan, if you'll please be ready. And with that, John, we will turn it over to you. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Hooper and members of the committee for the record. I'm John Sales. I'm CEO of the Vermont Food Bank. I wanted to talk to you today about our Vermont Farmers Feeding Farmers Program and request consideration of a $1.5 million allocation to that program. Many of you, I'm sure, are familiar with the federal Farmers Feeding Families, a Farmers to Families program that's been going on since about May or June. It was CARES Act funded and the funding ran out at the end of December. The Food Bank understanding that a lot of people in Vermont were getting food assistance from this program decided that we would go ahead and fund it for January and February as the middle of winter. We didn't think it was appropriate to be cutting people off from this important source of food. We put out an RFP, chose the Abbey Group, a Vermont company, and they have put together boxes of food that contain more than 50% Vermont products. And we've been distributing 500 boxes a day since the beginning of February. And we'll continue that, excuse me, since the beginning of January. We'll continue that through February 8 weeks. That's 20,000 boxes in total. Those are distributed in every county all across the state. There are several different, many, many different needs and many needs that the Food Bank is serving across the state. Some are urgent. And we consider this one of the urgent needs. The Food Bank is also expending a lot of resources on what we consider very important needs. And those are things like community building, racial justice activities and really special projects. How can we help with things like transportation and access to food for folks. But like I said, we consider this an urgent need. I think it's an appropriate one for state funding and will we believe be eligible for reimbursement for any federal funds that might come to the state. And I think we're all hoping that there's more federal relief on the way. This really is about not only feeding our neighbors, but feeding our neighbors and supporting Vermont producers were really thrilled with the work that we've been able to do with the Abbey Group and the fact that they've been able to source Vermont fruits, vegetables and dairy for these boxes for our neighbors. Thank you, John. You're welcome. Next up is Susan Aronoff. And then after that is Abbey Thomas. Can I begin? Again. Okay. Good afternoon. My name is Susan Aronoff and I am the Senior Policy Analyst for Vermont's Developmental Disabilities Council. I recognize that a lot of you might be unfamiliar with the council. In my written testimony, I've given you a good description of it. Basically, we are, I'm a state employee, but my council is almost entirely federally funded. And we exist to serve Vermonters with developmental disabilities and their family members. And specifically, we're supposed to engage in advocacy at the state level and other levels to impact the systems that impact Vermonters with disabilities. I'm here to talk with you about a specific item in the Budget Adjustment Act, and that has to do with some Medicaid funds. So it's the diva part of the budget. And these are specific Medicaid funds that have been called delivery system reform dollars. Vermont received permission from the federal government to spend these funds on delivery system reform for two types of organizations. Based nonprofits like the designated and specialized services agencies and ACOs, which in Vermont means we only have one ACO and that's One Care Vermont, a for-profit accountable care organization owned by the University of Vermont Medical Center Health Network and Dartmouth Hitchcock. And you'll note that there's $2.5 million of Medicaid going to One Care Vermont in budget adjustment. We would, the council would respectfully request that you not invest anymore Medicaid DSR funds in One Care Vermont, and especially not before investing in equal amount of those precious Medicaid funds to community-based organizations that are so critical in Vermont. Those of you who were here last year might remember in the year before that I testified about this issue before. And last year, the committee was unhappy enough with the budget adjustment process that it basic that the care at the time. The committee as a whole reduced the amount of money Diva was seeking for One Care. And the committee chair at the time made sure that the commissioner, Commissioner Gustafson understood that the committee did not like the process of giving One Care money ahead of time. And then that was not appropriated and then coming back through budget adjustment and seeking to recoup those funds. And so last year, you did it anyway, you gave them less than they asked for, but the committee chair specifically said, Commissioner, this is a slap on the wrist. Nevertheless, they're back again for $2.5 million. Apparently this money was money that was, this is very convoluted, me anyway, appropriated in last year's budget adjustment for 2020, but was given to One Care by contract in December. In December of 2020. So you might want to track those funds down. And keep in mind again, all the DSR funds were decided to go to One Care Vermont Vermont by Algo Bay. He was Secretary of Agency of Human Services and Corey Gustafson has continued that practice. And so Thank you. I don't know if you can see the timer, since your video is off, I don't know how you're appearing, but we have over three minutes. Thank you for your. Yes, I couldn't see the timer I'm available for questions and thank you very much for your time. Yeah, thank you very much. Abby Thomas and then after and after Abby is Angus Baldwin. Abby you're welcome to start. And you're I can see that you're muted now so you'll need to unmute and I don't know if you're wanting to be by video, but you may need to turn your video on to there we go thank you. Good afternoon my name is Abby Thomas and I am part owner of Thomas Dairy in Rutland town Vermont. We are unfortunately closed at this point after 99 years of local dairy distribution. COVID hit in March, we our business really suffered, and we lost at least half of it about overnight. And so, when the farmers to families food box program came across my doorstep in May, we were really, really excited to have the community to not only get get a home for our excess milk that we were really struggling to find a place for but also to help for monitors, because that's what we do for monitors help for monitors. That program was really big for us this summer. And for that reason I'm asking for you to please allocate $1.5 million to support the Vermont food bank, and this program that helped us so much. After the end of our contractor that Abby groups contract that they source to us in August, we really found it difficult to make up that that subsidiary business that we saw and we kind of, we had, we had no other choice, but to close and obviously there was many factors and and this program was not the reason why we closed but it certainly kept us going through the summer. So, the Abby group was wonderful to work with I'm really excited that they're they might be getting another opportunity to do this again. And all I can say is I think it's a really great program for, for the people of Vermont, the producers like we were and also the community. Thank you. Thank you very much Abby, appreciate your testimony. Next up is Angus Baldwin, and then after Angus is Drake Turner. I see you Angus and I now we see you. Yeah, thank you please begin. Hi, my name is Angus Baldwin. I'm the operator at West Farm in Jeffersonville Vermont. It's about a 10 acre wholesale produce production farm. I've been working with Abby group in the farmers feeding family program. Since it started in May, trying to help them secure as much local produce as they could. It's been quite a ride and it was pretty disappointing to see that program get taken out of Vermont in September. So I'm testifying in support of the reimbursement for the Vermont food bank. I'm really excited that the Vermont food bank and Abby group are working together to continue this program and to source as much as they can locally. It's been, we benefited financially and I know many other farms have as well. And it's been great to know that we can provide quality fresh Vermont foods to our neighbors who are in need. And I'm, yeah, I think the whole program has been really valuable, but the food bank and Abby group in particular have been very supportive of local agriculture. So I'm excited to see them continue to do that work. Thank you, Angus. Thank you for your testimony. Next up is Drake Turner, and then after Drake is Claire Kendall. Hi, Drake. Thank you for joining us. Please go ahead. Thank you very much. Thanks for the time. My name is Drake Turner and I'm the policy manager at Let's Grow Kids. And on behalf of Let's Grow Kids, I want to thank you all for your hard work and dedication to supporting Vermont's childcare system during this unprecedented time. The incredible investments made by the administration and the legislature since COVID-19 hit Vermont last March have and continue to really set a standard for the nation and how to sustain this essential industry. Because of your swift, thoughtful and consistent action, Vermont's essential but fragile early childhood education system has avoided utter disaster. And that means that programs, the children and families they serve and the early educators who work there have received official support. But nevertheless, we're still in the midst of a pandemic, even as we see light on the horizon. While critical investments have stabilized our state's early childhood education system in 2020, the pandemic has also significantly impacted how and when early childhood education programs operate. Family choices regarding the use of childcare during a pandemic and the availability of qualified early childhood educators to staff programs. And as a result, this has shifted standard utilization of Vermont's childcare financial assistance program or CCFAP, and has left an underspend in FY21. So as your committee considers the administration's proposed FY21 budget adjustments, let's grow kids strongly recommends that the committee reserve the $4.8 million in underutilization of CCFAP funds and direct these to supporting some of the urgent needs in our early childhood education system. These funds should be used for the purpose for which they were intended, which is supporting children, families and the early childhood education programs that we know are so crucial in Vermont. They should not be used to support the bottom line in the general fund. Let's grow kids recommends that these funds be carried into that FY22 budget and allocated to the desperately needed IT system upgrade that the child development division has begun to implement. The budget adjustment amount for CCFAP is almost exactly the amount that the child development division needs, or has reported that it needs to purchase and implement the remaining modules of this new IT system. And we believe it's a perfect use of one time funds and also know that all of the legislature and administration's future plans for solving Vermont's childcare crisis hinge on this IT infrastructure. Nevertheless, if allocating these funds for IT and FY22 is not possible. There are other early childhood education system needs that these funds support. Thank you. Yeah, I have testimony that goes into greater detail, but just to hit the highlights, some other uses for these funds can be issuing CCFAP payments based on child enrollment versus dependence, temporarily increasing CCFAP benefits for families, or providing another round of workforce stabilization payments to early childhood educators. We're happy to speak more about any of these and again thank you so much for your time and your work. Thank you, Drake. Claire, you're up next and then after Claire is Melissa Dessordia. Good afternoon. Hi, good afternoon committee. My name is Claire Kendall for the record code director of the family center of Washington County. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my testimony today. I'm just testifying on behalf of the FY21 budget adjustment to reallocate the $4 million within CCFAP and childcare programs to transition to an enrollment basis. On Tuesday DCF presented to the House Human Services Committee, their proposals for the FY21 budget adjustment. I'm no surprise to this committee that additional funding for the childcare sector as a system is needed. We need higher pay for staff and teachers, and more financial support for programs and families to ensure sustainability and affordability. It is time for the state to consider paying CCFAP subsidies to programs based on enrollment, not attendance. It is the attendance process currently is making it very difficult for early childhood programs to create balanced budgets. This is an issue that has to be addressed. It has significant impacts and real impacts on families, especially families that are experiencing trauma or risk factors. Vulnerable children and families are often in precarious living situations, which involve domestic violence, homelessness, DCF involvement and substance use. Having a stable childcare slot is often the most therapeutic and stabilizing force in these child's lives. We experience multiple instances where a child becomes involved with DCF and leaves the area temporarily, or the mother is in flight from a domestic violence situation, or a family becomes homeless and couchsurfs for a few weeks. When this happens as a parent child center, we always hold the slot for the child to return. This is best practice for children and family well-being, but is a tremendous financial burden on the program. Programs lose thousands and thousands of dollars. When we hold slots for vulnerable children, we do not receive CCFAP payments. Many programs across the state cannot afford to hold slots for these families. The financial burden is too great and therefore these children lose the one stabilizing force in their lives, which is their childcare program for them to return back to, where they have attachments to their caregivers already in place. We know this can be done because it has been done in the past. There is a process to pay payments, I mean to pay programs based upon enrollment and on active and valid BFIS certificates. This will help secure additional slots so that the state's economy recovers as we know it will, we will have slots for parents and children to return to while they return to the workforce. We are currently being negatively impacted by the regular children attendance and closed days requirements because we have forced closures and unforeseen absences due to COVID. This would also support closed teacher training and in-service days to support teachers' needs for training and to maintain staff wellness. Thank you very much for your time today and thanks for your work and your service on behalf of Vermonters. Thank you, Claire. Next up is Melissa Disorda and then after Melissa is Joy Ellie or Eli, forgive me for not pronouncing your name correctly. Melissa, I saw you there and now I don't see you. I think that was my error. It jumped on me just as I was letting her in. Let me grab her again. And I think we have lost Peter too. Yeah, I noticed he was gone. Sorry, Melissa, something happened. You jumped around in it. There we go. A person not back out. And then after Melissa will be Joy, Eli. I'm here. Hi. And so please begin. If you want, turn your video. There we go. Hi. Hello. So good day. My name is Melissa Disorda and I'm a resident of Brandon, which is located in Northern Rotland County. And I want to thank all of you for hosting up today and more importantly for your service to the state. Before I begin my official testimony, I want to make sure that I'm transparent and I share with all of you that I'm currently employed as a temporary part-time employee of Vermont Food Bank, supporting a different program than the one I'll be speaking about today. I'm not here in an official capacity and what I'm about to share with you is actually very personal for my family and I. Our family is one of the faces of hunger in Vermont. Due to the pandemic this summer, my husband and I were forced to face a very difficult decision to ensure the safety of our two children. Zoe at the time was five and Logan 11 and differently able. The pandemic had closed daycare summer camps and the school wasn't going to be functioning in the traditional model yet both of our employers needed us to return full time work. We've been splitting the week of parental and employer responsibilities. My husband and I spent countless hours really deliberating over what we were faced with which was just this inevitable decision one of us was going to have to quit our job. I left my amazing career as an affordable housing developer in Rutland County, working for a nonprofit there. This decision, although vital for the safety of our children, created a huge financial hole for our family at. As time went on, we were forced to make ongoing difficult decisions about how to spend our limited funds and unbeknownst to our children, my husband and I began to skip meals. The farmers to family distributions have allowed me to supplement my family's budget in a dignified and meaningful way. There's no walk of shame associated with this program at all. This program is a resource for homeowners who are hungry and fallen through the cracks. In addition to the face that my family and I bring to hunger there's another side of this story that I want to ensure that I share with all of you. And that is that recently, we actually made homey macaroni and cheese with fifth generation creameries cheddar out of West Lover. And last week, my kids were actually having an after school snack that included carrots from Harlow farm in Westminster. And these ingredients actually came from our January farmers to family boxes. At a time when my family isn't able to purchase our usual CSA share or even shop at our local farmers market. We're so grateful to have locally sourced food available to us in some small meaningful way. It's really interesting to have the farmers and the families helping each other during this pandemic. It's ironic for our family because I went from a developing affordable housing to qualifying to live in it. And I went from volunteering with the food bank to actually meeting to access resources. The important part I want to make sure I share with all of you is that it's vital that these resources exist for Vermonters. During this time and with that I asked that on behalf of my family that you fund the 1.5 million support to Vermont food banks farmers to family food box program. I have a written testimony and I will be sending it off for everybody. But in the meantime, thank you for today and thank you again for your commitment to Vermont. Thank you Melissa. Thank you for sharing your story. We appreciate it. Next up is Joy, whose last name I'm afraid I mispronouncing so I will let you say it properly and I will try to remember. And then after Joy is Chris, Chris Kessler. Thank you. Hi Joy. And thank you for taking the time to meet with me and to hear my testimony. My name is Joy Ealy. I'm the deputy director for Northeast Kingdom Community Action and Parent Child Centers in St. Johnsbury as well as in Newport. Our Community Action and Parent Child Center support families across the entire Northeast Kingdom. And with their support on behalf of the Vermont Food Bank farmers to family food box program, and their ask of $1.5 million to continue the food box distribution for the months of January and February. The collaboration between NECA's PCC's and the food bank has always been strong. And during the pandemic, our partnership has only strengthened. And with their support, we have been able to help hundreds of families across the Northeast Kingdom. NECA has perhaps the most rural and expansive area in Vermont with major barriers to connection of services. The lack of broadband and transportation continues to have a negative impact on the most vulnerable Vermonters. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, there has always been a significant increase, there has been a significant increase in people experiencing food insecurity. Many of our participants are facing this challenge for the very first time. NECA has relied on a close and seamless partnership with the Vermont Food Bank. We have collaborated with the Vermont Food Bank to identify locations for food distribution sites and to help reach out to all corners of the Northeast Kingdom to share information about this program, as well as support families who are unable to sign up online. Additionally, our collaboration went one step further. We were given farmers to family food boxes to give out at our food shelves. By this collaboration, we were able to support families who are not able to make the distribution times due to being employed, educating their children at home, or transportation barriers. The pandemic has affected so many families from all socioeconomic classes. So many families have reached out to express their gratitude for the support and the sense of relief that the Vermont Food Bank Farmers to Family boxes program has provided them. Please continue to support the Vermont Food Bank Farmers Family Food Box program and they're asked for the $1.5 million to continue the food box distribution for the months of January and February. Please prevent any gaps occurring in this critical federal program. As our families, our neighbors, and our children should never have to worry about where their next meal needs to come from. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Chris Kessler, and then after Chris is Peter Adelman. Chris, you are muted and your video is off, Chris, if you want to turn your video on mute. There we go. My name is Chris Kessler, I'm founder of Black Flannel Brewing Company, a 15 barrel brewery with a full service restaurant in Essex. I'm also a partner in Black Flannel distilling located in the same footprint. I started planning in 2017 built infrastructure and raised funds with a target opening of May 2020. We were delayed two months when the state shut down due to COVID, and finally able to open our doors on July 1 at a state imposed restriction of 50% capacity. We achieved revenues greater than 75% of our pre-COVID projections and quickly built a solid reputation for quality and delivering great guest experience. Through all of this, we managed to have 35 good paying jobs at an average wage of $23 per hour. We've assembled an incredible wealth of unique talent in brewing distilling in culinary yards. All signs suggest that Black Flannel Brewing and distilling companies will experience explosive growth if we are able to make it through the pandemic. In November, the state imposed further restrictions on restaurants that effectively cut our capacity to 25%. We scrambled to implement takeout programs and continue to operate above COVID safety best practices. Despite our efforts to streamline costs, we were recently forced to lay off four highly skilled and well trained employees. By the time the pandemic hit, my wife and I had invested all of our savings, raised cash with my business partner and six investors, plus we have personally guaranteed well over $2 million in loans from Vita and Vermont Federal Credit Union. Total project cost was over $3 million. We're a well managed company whose revenues have been directly impacted by state imposed 50% COVID restrictions. Should we fail this financial impact, not only will we be forced to close our doors resulting in loss of nearly 30 good paying jobs, we will forfeit all collateral including our homes and other investments we've spent a lifetime to build. Since last summer, I've worked to obtain idle PPP loans and CRF grants to the state. Black Flannel has been denied all programs because of the required proof of economic injury between 2019 and 2020. This holds true for the second round of PPP. I understand the lack of clarity around defining economic loss for businesses like mine. Rather than thinking in terms of quantifying economic loss, I urge you to consider the economic devastation that will be caused by inaction, not only to new businesses that desperately need assistance to survive imposing up imposed operating restrictions but the ripple effect this has on the personal lives of employees who need to pay rent by groceries. It also impacts local companies in our supply chain who are struggling and forced to lay off employees and carry high receivables. We cannot wait for the next round of coronavirus relief. New Vermont businesses need to be given the fighting chance. I urge you to act now and appropriate the $10 million proposed by ACCV. I read the proposed budget adjustment and have specific recommendations on the best way to distribute so that the allocated funds would be of greatest use to those who qualify. Thank you. I'm happy to share those should you decide to fund the request. I know this is difficult but you have the power to help people stay employed and help new businesses survive. You can do this, we need you. I also roll up my sleeves to work out the details with the tax department, ACCV or whoever you want. We just don't have the luxury of time. We can do this. Thank you for your time. Thank you Chris. Next up is Peter Edelman and then after Peter is Lucy Jones. Hi Peter. Hi Mary. Thank you, Mary. Thank you committee members for for taking my testimony. A little background. I own the Essex movie theater and the Essex performance center. I've been the managing partner of the Essex resort since 1993. And I also own what used to be the Essex outlet center and is now the Essex experience. I'm testifying and supported businesses that opened in 2020 and are not supported by federal PPP assistance. There's a trip that there's also a trickle up effect to this. I teamed up as landlord and business partner with Chris to start black flannel. I guarantee the required loans. And I leveraged my center to allow for bank approvals. I invested in black flannel brewing and black flannel distilling because I believed in the skills and the concept of what Chris proposed. Chris is more than proved my trust in him. I supported black flannel as I saw both concepts as an anchor to my Essex experience redevelopment. If black flannel flail, if black flannel fails, my entire project is gravely endangered. I've employed thousands of Vermonters in my 28 years of investing and believing in Vermont and the amazing people who live here. I've paid over $10 million in property taxes alone and have taken on tens of millions in debt and equity to invest in Vermont. Currently black flannel cannot pay its rent. Losing black flannel will jeopardize my lender commitments and the greater potentials of all that I'm doing in Vermont in Essex. Sorry. I've got a second investment uncommon coffee that opened in 2020 uncommon is comprised of an amazing woman led team of coffee roasting and service that also cannot allow public in at this time. The opening about uncommon was delayed from April to September. And since opening operations have suffered, which have recently led to adding additional debt from the FCU to help it survive. We're not alone. There's a lot of other deserving businesses that commenced operations in 2020 and they've invested their life savings and are cut off from operating. And who have not been able to qualify for federal help due to requirements that were hastily enacted in good faith, but with poor attention to realities of the bigger picture. Our future lies in our talented people and surviving this time to allow for a successful reopening that'll cause others to invest and bring more good paying jobs to Vermont. 20 seconds Peter, attracting and keeping our talent. Therefore, I would call on you to recognize this and act now delay jeopardizes our future and inaction and action will help to ensure it. Thank you. Thank you, Peter. Next up is Lucy Jones and then after Lucy is Eric Hofstra. Hi Lucy, please go ahead. Hi, thank you very much for your time and your service I truly appreciate it. My name is Lucy Jones. I'm 100% woman owned small business owner of yoga six, offering health and wellness community support in South Burlington, whilst also working full time. I'm here to appeal for relief eligibility for new businesses impacted by COVID. I was supposed to open my business at the beginning of April 2020. I began the hiring in December 2019, and we were tracking per forecast and plan for pre sales until COVID hit in March, when leads and pre sales and all activities plummeted. I took a lot of calculated risk starting a business pre COVID. So I'm now currently settled settled with all of the startup costs, including high construction costs. However, I was obviously not able to open as planned, and all pre pre sales activities came to a screeching halt right as pre opening business was beginning to ramp up. As part of the health and fitness industry as you know we were the last wave approved to open in June, and only at 25% capacity. I appreciate all of the relief efforts and support for small businesses, and have been closely monitoring all relief options. However, as you've heard from the others. I consistently discovered that as a new business, I've been ineligible for all relief, other than PPP round one, although I am now struggling to be eligible for round two so the challenge continues for new businesses. For PPP round one, unfortunately only one of my seven employees was on board, as of the cut off date of February 15. I missed the cut off date for the other employees by two days. So although again very grateful, I got the minimum amount possible. I've been operating in the red unable to cover payroll let alone monthly expenses for the seven months since opening, all due to COVID and the associated restrictions. I'm draining my personal savings and have loans gathering interest that I'm unable to pay down without some short term relief. I therefore really appeal to you now to help those of us who are not able to even open our business due to COVID and aren't eligible for the relief due to due to the status as being a new business. I'm struggling and have nowhere to turn under in more challenging position than businesses that were open at the 2019 cut off date, because unlike those businesses we have all the startup costs and expenses that was supposed to have been paid off within months of opening, based on the thorough business model forecast and planned opening date. I was able to garner to my studio before COVID have now either canceled or frozen their memberships, because they are obviously not comfortable gathering indoors. And while we did outdoor classes for as long as we could, Vermont winters have stopped that option unfortunately. Thank you. In addition to startup costs I had all of the operating expenses given construction, etc. And I've no existing business or customer base pre COVID to help sustain me through the tough times. Financial assistance outside of government relief is non existent. And I also share the hardships of businesses that were open pre COVID with the additional expenses for cleaning air filtration and sanitization. My classes are spread out significantly. And the class sizes are still just at 25% capacity. So anything that you can do to open up relief eligibility to help branch new businesses like mine to keep the business afloat my team employed and continue to service our community through these very challenging times would be really very appreciated. Thank you very much. Thank you Lucy. Next up is Eric Hoekstra and then after Eric is Linda Wicklack. Thank you. Thank you for joining us Eric you can go. Eric Hooper and thank you all for allowing me some time today. I'm here to talk about COVID relief funds for new businesses. The business that I'm talking about specifically is called Finney Hotel LLC. Finney Hotel owns and operates the home two suites at Finney Crossing in Williston it's a 100 room hotel. This hotel started in 2016. We started construction in the fall of 2018. We hired a general manager a director of sales and other employees in 2019 to begin preparing for hotel opening. Upwards of $15 million has been invested in this business. It's a Vermont based ownership group with a Vermont based group of investors. It's a development project in a designated growth center in the first new hotel in Williston in 20 years. Our grand opening was scheduled for April 1 obviously COVID had different plans. We had hired a full staff for opening. We had the full crew working at the property to get ready for opening prior to the original stay at home order. We delayed our opening and opened in June instead. And our revenues are down 30% from our projections. We have 14 staff at this time. And we have not been eligible for most relief. We got a small PPP round one loan, because we did have some 2019 staff. We are ineligible for the second round and we've been denied all Vermont COVID relief without any revenue to show in 2019. Hotel revenues are well known by the state. The state collects rooms and meals, tax data and they can look at comparable properties. It's not hard to estimate what our revenues would have been in normal times. The government has invested its challenging for us to keep pouring money into the property to keep our doors open. Depending on how things go this winter and whether any relief funds are available. We may be forced to furlough our workers and close our doors for some period of time where it becomes cheaper to be closed than to stay open. We'd rather keep everyone employed and keep the hotel going. I think it makes sense for Vermont to have some kind of a requirement that if new businesses are funded, that it's clear that the business was in the planning stages prior to March 2020. I think it's very different if somebody woke up in April with COVID well at hand and well known and decided to open a business in 2020. That's a different story, but many of us planned for years in advance to open businesses in 2020 and we just had the dumb misfortune of opening at the wrong time. I know there's concern with thinking there's concern with this committee about providing relief to new businesses when many businesses fail early on in the best of times. But I think other businesses that are established they have a huge leg up over new businesses where they've had time to ramp up they've had time to develop some funds for rainy days to get through this and they've been provided with relief funds. By not providing any new businesses with any sort of relief. We're essentially signing death sentence for new businesses. I hope you'll consider finding some funding to help businesses like ours. Thank you. Thank you, Eric. Next up is with Linda with clack, my hope will correct my pronunciation of her name, and then after Linda is Lee Madden. Thank you so much. My name is Linda which like you are very close. Thank you. I'm the director of Bennington project independence and the president of the Vermont association of adult day services adult day programs offer community based non residential supports in a safe and supportive environment where people receive a wide range of professional health social therapeutic and services. The programs also provide respite support and education to family members and caregivers. These services allow for significant savings to the state, enabling for monitors to age at home instead of a placement in nursing homes or assisted living programs. All of the programs for the most part have been closed since March 2020. Three programs out of 13 prior to the pandemic have closed permanently Barry Rutland and new Barry. While programs have been creative in the virtual programming adult day without walls concept, we need far greater financial assistance than we are able to bring in with our very limited service billing to meet our continued fixed costs. For example, Bennington project independence I'm able to bring in only 1% of revenue through this source of funding. We've also discovered that claims can be denied if another service provider has been billing using the same revenue code on the same day. There is no current reimbursement for the extensive online services caregiver support and health care monitoring that we have been providing as adult day services funding is fee for service based has been very challenging to remain closed. During the last corner of 2020 some programs were able to remain viable while closed with retainer payments through DVHA, PPP loans and EIDL loans. Then thanks to members of this committee your colleagues in the House and Senate last session, adult day programs were able to receive funding through the CRF for the first two quarters of FY 2021. 2.45 million in quarter one and 2 million in quarter two. Those funds help to ensure that most programs were able to remain viable, all of the almost all of those funds have been expended. For months adult day programs are committed to resuming in person services, we continue to receive referrals from our community for our services. Financial support will be critical for continuing to be a viable community resource. Without more financial help, we anticipate more programs will be permanently closing within the next month to several months, depending on their ability to use any potential reserves. We have calculated that in order to remain viable adult day programs will need 1.9 million for the third quarter of FY 2021, as well as another 1.9 million for the last quarter, whether it is through s 36 or budget adjustment we ask that you please support funding for adult day services through the most timely avenue possible. Thank you for your consideration and your service for the state. Thank you, Linda. Appreciate your testimony. Next up is Lee Madden, and then after Lee is Steven Crowley. Hi, please begin. Oh, sorry. My name is Lee Madden. I am the business manager for garden path elder living. We are a nonprofit in Brattleboro and we operate to senior residential care homes. Holton home and Bradley house, which were established in 1892 and 1964 respectively. We are in a critical financial situation now because we've been under occupied for the past eight to 10 months, and have not been able to refill our rooms during the COVID pandemic. We've also had significantly increased costs due to the pandemic. We did qualify for the first PPP loan and that has kept us afloat. However, we do not qualify for the new PPP and we didn't qualify for the health care provider stabilization grant or the economic recovery grant, because we only show our revenue being down 20% this year over the same period last year. We must show 25% drop or higher to qualify for those grants. Our problem is that we were also losing money heavily during most of 2019 due to just having completed major renovations and being under occupied during that process. It was only at the very end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 that we were properly reoccupied. Then the pandemic hit and we lost residents. As we lost residents, we couldn't bring new ones in. The fact that we're only 20% less than 2019 does not reflect the true crisis we are in for revenue. We need some funding to keep us functional until we're able to bring residents in and their families are willing to have their loved ones come in and we can be occupied as we were in the months immediately proceeding the pandemic. So we hope that you can support the provision to fund the agency of commerce and community development program to support those who are ineligible for federal funding. And thank you for your time. Thank you for your timely. Next up is Steven Crowley and then after Steven is at Earhart mom cup. There is no sign of Steven. Okay. Should be in here. Earhart and then after Earhart is Richard Williams. I thought he was here. Oh, there he is. Just a minute for him to get in here I guess. Earhart. Are you. Hi. Hi. Yeah, there was a momentary kerfuffle. Sorry about. No worries. Yeah. How's the sound? Can you hear me? Okay. Yes, we've got you. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Thanks for the time. Good afternoon. Welcome to the new members of the committee. And of course, congratulations to you, chair Hooper. And, and thanks for the awesome work that you guys did during the special session last year that. Help, um, homeless, Vermonters and those without housing, uh, to stay safe during COVID, the 84 plus million dollars that you allocated in care exact funding has just been amazing. And has created remarkable results, as I think, you know, with here in Vermont. I'm here to speak about the housing funding and be a it was a little bit hard to follow last Friday where you ended up with S 36 and be a but my understanding is that you did include. Um, the key, uh, housing provisions in section 3 and 3 a of S 36 in, um, in the BAA, or at least I hope that you've done something like that to me. Um, most important thing is to make sure a that the 2.8 million dollars that the state housing authority has requested to, um, to satisfy the backlog of December. Um, assistance and applications that they received that money gets out just as soon as as possible. And also that you give them a down payment and fast track. Um, some of the new money that has come from the federal government. Um, the 2.8 million is absolutely vital to make sure that those renters don't keep accumulating rental arrearages. And of course, also that the landlords get to pay their bills. We do have an eviction moratorium that lasts for 30 days longer than the governor's emergency order. But the last thing we want is for a wave of evictions to happen when that due to non payment of rent when that moratorium is lifted 30 days when after whenever the governor ends the emergency order. So absolutely critical. Please get that money out as fast as possible, whether it's through BAA or through, um, as 36 as a stand as a standalone bill. Um, secondly, I'm here also to say appreciate that you are looking to put at least $10 million of the new COVID relief funds out either through BAA or as 36 as well. Richard Williams will be testifying right after me. You're going to hear from him that he really needs $50 million to stand up this program. As I think you heard last week, there are some major restrictions, new restrictions in this. He cannot simply replicate the rental housing stabilization program that he carried on before. And will really significantly need the ramp up. This is going to be a major lift due to the new restrictions. So if you can give him more than $10 million, I know that's hard to do because you want to know what all the program, how the program is going to be run and what all the requirements are going to be. But, you know, they stood up an incredibly successful program with the CARES Act funding, the CRF $1 that you gave them. And I think we can trust them to stand up a great program going forward. I would ask you to at least put in $25 million, which would be amount that you gave them in the first round of the CRF funding. So thank you again. And I see my time is up. So I'll see you. Thanks. Thank you, Earhart. So Richard Williams, you are next up. And then after Richard is Ryan Christensen. Welcome Richard. Good afternoon committee. Good afternoon, Chairman Hopper. And congratulations to new folks to this committee. And, and thanks for all your support in the past. I really did not hire Earhart to go before me and make my testimony. So maybe my, I can keep this a little bit shorter. So in the H996, which the legislature passed last year, we were allocated $25 million to stand up a rental housing stabilization program. We, that program was initiated two weeks after Governor Scott signed the bill. So July 13th we went live. As part of that, the funding, you recall that there was reporting requirements and also requirements to return any unused monies in late October. Working with the administration at that time, we thought we were not going to be able to use the full appropriation of $25 million. So we returned $3 million to the agency of commerce and development. As our numbers at that time appeared that it would not, we were not be able to use all that money in the last six weeks of the program before we closed the program down on December 11th. Applications skyrocketed, therefore leaving 1500 applications on the table right now at a cost of about $2.8 million that are unfunded. This means that our rent is due and tenants, renters don't have the money to make their payments to the landlords and now we're already into late January. So we've requested the money back from the administration and understand that some of that CARES Act money may still be available. Therefore, we're asking for the 2.8 back, basically what we gave them so we can close out this program and move forward with a new program. The new program as I already mentioned is part of a $25 billion program throughout the United States. Vermont State Housing Authority is anticipating to be receiving a portion of that fund. Vermont will receive $200 million, which I understand has already been deposited into the Vermont bank accounts. Therefore, we want to get this program up and running. We're asking for a pre-commitment. I testified before the Senate appropriation. I was asked to testify before Senate appropriations on January 14th at that time. I was asked for the $2.8 million. In addition, I asked for a placeholder of $50 million to get the program and up and running. I thought that was a fair amount. We spent 25, basically $25 million over six months and felt that we could do the same over spend 50 over a year. So we're asking 30 seconds, Richard, please. So we're asking to pass those provisions in whatever way you think is the fastest route. And we will be certainly available to work with your committee at your request. Thank you. Thank you, Richard. Next up is Ryan Christensen. And then after Ryan is Edward Metcalf. Welcome, Ryan. Good afternoon. Thanks for letting me testify. And thank you all for being here. My name is Ryan Christensen. I am the president and head bestiller at Caledonia spirits. We are the makers of Barhoe Gin in Montreal, Vermont. We share a voice of support for the economic development grant program, as well as provide an example of how the PPP program is not perfect. And this is some real great opportunities to stay in Vermont. Our business does not need to criteria for the second round of PPP. Meanwhile, our business, our business has incurred substantial costs and take its substantial risks related to our effort to fight this pandemic and keep our team together safe and environmentally. During the initial onset of the pandemic, our facility pivoted to the production of hand sanitizer. That meant stopping our vodka production using our equipment to distill high strength ethanol for hand sanitizer. We made this high strength spirit using kombucha from Middlebury, as well as beer from all around the state that would have otherwise spoiled through the closure of Vermont restaurants. We packaged the sanitizer at Runamuck Maple, producing up to 30,000 to 40,000 bottles a day. It was an incredible process to put all these Vermont companies together to solve the problem and support the state. It was a true Vermont pivot and on our part to be a part of the demand was so overwhelming that before we knew it, we were providing hand sanitizer to all state hospitals, first responders from on state office buildings, and receiving urgent orders from larger distributors all around the country. There were literally tears on the phone saying we need this hand sanitizer right now while our team was working around the clock to produce as much as we could. It was a lot of production, and it was a lot of sales, but this product was not priced to support our business like our core products. Meanwhile, we were skipping production of our core products because it was so important. The revenue, of course, works directly against our eligibility to meet the criteria for the PPP. That eligibility criteria was not established at the time when we made the decision to make the hand sanitizer. Now that a man for hand sanitizer has abruptly slowed down, we're left with significant inventory, and we have very few avenues to sell it. Secondly, our team has come up with really great ways to build resilience into our operation to keep our team and community safe. Currently our tasting room and bar is closed to the public. We're serving outside curbside cocktails and bottle sales and our team is working in the cold as our guests. In the spirit of building resilience and keeping our customers safe, our team has found a way to use reclaimed waste heat from our distillery to keep an outdoor patio space, which would allow us to reopen and keep our team engaged. The Economic Development Grant Program is a great way to support investments and resilience in our Vermont businesses. It's crucial that we keep our teams together and serve our community. So thank you for recognizing the importance of the Economic Development Grant Program. Thanks for being here. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you for your testimony. Next up is Edward Metcalf and after Edward is Judy Harvey. Welcome, Edward. Good afternoon. Thank you all for taking the time to to meeting all of us. I'm here. I'm wearing two very different hats. But what I'm speaking to today is as the Executive Director of the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum. We're a small nonprofit for the one seat free that supplies educational programs from the mass border to the Canadian border, mostly to schools and libraries throughout the state. Our educational programs. If any of you are familiar with them, a lot of them are live raptor programs that we do we bring hawks owls we have bald eagles. All birds that we have at the museum. Chief source of income. You know, in the, in the past three years has been from these programs that we do with schools and libraries. And when COVID hit that was source of income was largely turned off. We were able to get a PPP loan. It was small. And we were able to get some grants from a couple of foundations. And because we got those grants. We were ineligible for the Vermont economic recovery grant. And that was fine because in 2020, we were able to survive those grant opportunities are not going to be available to us in 2021. And so we're running into a problem here of basically staying in, you know, taking the museum going we've been here for over 20 years. And supplying these programs throughout the state. We're looking for a very small amount of money in the scheme of things. I'm going to hear about all the millions people are looking for. I don't know how it would be channeled to us. But if we could you get somehow get $25,000 it would allow us to survive for another year. Hopefully until COVID is over and we can continue doing our programs throughout the state. I guess I would ask, do you have any questions for me. Thank you, Mr. Metcalfe. We're here to listen to you. We, if we have questions we could contact you outside of this but we'd like to hear your testimony which is basically the main thing I want to say is that the grants we got last year are not going to be available to us this year. I want to replace some of that income. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you for your time. Next up is Judy Harvey, and then after Judy is Jessica Radford. Hi, welcome, Judy. Hi, thank you so much. My name is Judy Harvey and I've been the director of the childcare at the Lund Family Center for the past 15 years. I just want to thank all of you for your service to Vermont and for your flexibility to help make this time today possible. It's kind of amazing that we can still do this. So I very much appreciate it. And I also want to thank Drake Turner and Claire Kendall who already testified earlier regarding the use of a surplus of funds in the childcare subsidy line in the Department of Children and Families budget. I want to speak to that as well today. In addition to their testimony I would like to just reiterate that maintaining financially stable childcare programs that are also affordable for families has been problematic for a long time. Certainly it's not new to the pandemic. The programs have been struggling for many years to remain financially solvent and families have struggled to meet tuition payments. And then when you add the new stressors and strains caused by the pandemic we're now facing a worse childcare crisis than ever before. I understand that there is over $4 million of a surplus in the Department for Children and Families subsidy line this year caused by an underutilization. I'm advocating that these funds should absolutely be reinvested in Vermont's childcare and specifically to the childcare financial assistance program that serves our most vulnerable families and the programs that also serve those most vulnerable families. Coming from an attendance-based funding structure to one that is based on enrollment will protect children and families in the event of extended absences caused by COVID, such as the need to quarantine for symptoms, exposure or illness. And we do, you know, we're facing that already, you know, children were being very diligent and we're sending children home, teachers home, when there's any suspicion of COVID to prevent the spread, and we want to make sure that those families are protected. The enrollment-based funding system would also protect programs such as ours as we face unprecedented challenges in balancing COVID-specific regulations with our bottom line. For example, in the event that a program must temporarily close all or part of its program due to exposure to COVID by a family member, teacher or child, programs will be better protected financially in an enrollment-based system. For these reasons, keeping the $4.8 million in the CCFAP program will help ensure the wellness of our childcare system as our state works to recover from the pandemic. And many thanks for your time and consideration. Thank you for your testimony, Judy. Up next is Jessica Radboard and then after Jessica is Tom Flanagan. Hi, Jessica. We can, there we go. Yes, we can. Okay, great. Thanks. Good afternoon. My name is Jessica Radboard. I'm an attorney at Vermont Legal Aid and I represent families on ReachUp in cases related to their benefits. But mostly I represent them when they are getting evicted or while they are experiencing homelessness, inevitable results of such low ReachUp grant amounts. I'm here today on behalf of the ReachUp Coalition to urge you to keep unspent ReachUp funds in the ReachUp program. Statutory purpose is, quote, to improve the well-being of children by providing for their immediate basic needs, including food, housing and clothing. The program does not do that. It does not meet its statutory purpose. Take a look at the grant amount for a family of three. The maximum benefit, if the family has no other income, is $745 a month. That's the sum of a basic needs allowance based on 2008 costs, plus a maximum housing allowance of $490, nowhere near the real housing costs in Vermont, and then dividing that number in half, half. How does that play out for Vermont families? Let me tell you the story of Jennifer, whose name I've changed for today's testimony. She lives with her husband. She's had cancer and been unable to work since 2015 and her daughter. With ReachUp benefits of that maximum $745 a month, she ran to the cheapest place she could find, way below market rate, at $750 a month. What sort of apartment do you get for $750 a month so far below market rate? She's done with a lot of code violations, including in that case, a really serious mold problem. And you know what? Now Jennifer has been diagnosed with something called rhinocerebral mucormycosis. That is a life-threatening sinus and brain infection caused by, you guessed it, mold. She's had three surgeries and spent 15 days in the hospital, all paid for by Medicaid. And she's been missing appointments with her specialist in Burlington because she doesn't have enough money to buy gas to get there. The ReachUp monthly grant is so low that there's simply not enough money to live. In Jennifer's case, she could end up dying. You know, I asked another ReachUp mom what her child has to go without because her benefit is $625 a month, the maximum for a family of two. And she said, you know, it's everything. Sometimes she can't afford to buy shampoo until her kid goes to school with kind of dirty hair. And she said sometimes she can't afford to buy laundry detergent and so they have to re-wear their clothes and she worries that her kid smells. There's no money for new clothes. There's no money for extracurriculars. There's no money for hobbies. The level of deprivation for kids on ReachUp is profound. We have unspent funds anticipated in the ReachUp budget because of a reduced caseload, but also because we fail to meet these families basic needs to a degree that is contrary to the statute's purpose and in my opinion, completely unconscionable. The ReachUp Coalition is encouraging you to keep as much money as possible in the ReachUp budget for distribution to families, at least on a one-shot basis. And the Coalition would be happy to work with legislators and the department on the most equitable and expedient way to distribute those funds. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Jessica. After Jessica, the last person I have listed is Tom Flanagan. Tom, thank you for joining us. Thank you very much for having me. Yeah, I'm Tom Flanagan. I'm the new superintendent in Burlington. Don't feel that new. I've been here about five months and a lot that's going on in Burlington, but a lot of good stuff happening too. Today, I'm here to speak about the $3.5 million recommended by the governor for Burlington High School in the budget adjustment. Thank you to the House Appropriations Committee for having me. I appreciate it. Burlington High School closed in person in September due to the level of PCBs in the air, and students have now gone nearly a year with being out last spring due to the pandemic without significant in-person instruction. We are now in a crisis for our high school students. I am extremely grateful to the governor and his team for recognizing our need and working with us to find a solution. I'm aware that the committee has heard testimony on this issue and understands the background. Passing this money as part of the budget adjustment will allow us to immediately pay the cost of renovating the former Macy's space into a temporary high school, and timing is critical for this to happen. If the $3.5 million is not a part of the budget adjustment, it will cost taxpayers and the Education Fund hundreds of thousands of dollars more due to the need to borrow to cover the renovation costs. Furthermore, waiting to approve this item will put town meeting day voters in the difficult position of needing to vote on a budget when a major cost driver is unknown. In summary, please include the full $3.5 million as a part of the budget adjustment bill to support our diverse and vibrant high school community in Burlington. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Tom. And with this, that concludes folks who have signed up to testify. We deeply appreciate members of the public taking time to visit with us and to help us understand the issues that they are facing. I appreciate hearing the stories and understanding what your communities are going through. Committee, we will in a moment go off live and we need to give our staff some time to rest, take a break and organize themselves for the rest of our meeting today. Committee, if we can reconvene at quarter of two, so at 145, I'm sure we will see a link from our assistant shortly, and so we'll see you up in the committee room then.