 I don't want to be, like, I don't want to be able to leave, maybe I'll, like, I don't want to be able to leave. Good thing I'm sure. Come on. I saw you. I'm sorry. Apologies, we're just going to wait for Senator Ash. Senator, come on in. Excellent. Thank you all for coming. I'm Johanna Miller, Energy and Climate Program Director at the Vermont Natural Resources Council. It's my pleasure to be here today joined by representatives of many of the 25 groups who have worked together to put a platform of climate action priorities together, and we are rolling that out today. These 25 groups represent the interests of Vermonters struggling to make ends meet, their young Vermonters, businesses, public health, faith leaders, their environmental groups, and more. We're pleased to roll out this consensus platform and call for action and honored to be joined by leading legislators, as well as Vermont Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ash as well. In just a few minutes we're going to hear from Senator Ash and a few other members of our coalition, but I wanted to take a brief moment and give you a quick overview of what those shared climate action priorities include. Those priorities include doubling the number of low and moderate income homes weatherized every year, creating an electric vehicle incentive program for low and moderate income Vermonters, starting first by strategically using the Volkswagen settlement dollars. They include expanding the deployment of renewable energy as we work to beneficially electrify our heating and transportation and power needs. It also includes joining other New England states in enacting a Global Warming Solutions Act, which requires making progress on our long term statutory climate goals. It also asks to review the results of the impartial economic analysis under the auspices of the Joint Fiscal Office undertaken by Resources for the Future, which looks at policies to decarbonize our economy. That study rolled out yesterday and we are asking legislators to take a look at the results and act on the policy that could serve all Vermonters well and grow jobs and protect vulnerable Vermonters. And lastly on our shared consensus platform we ask for lawmakers to stop expanding and investing in large scale fossil fuel infrastructure like pipelines. So these are a set of shared priorities of the 25 groups who have signed on to the blueprint for climate action. As one of the 20 members of Governor Phil Scott's Climate Action Commission, I also wanted to note that several of the priorities that we have outlined here are drawn directly from the recommendations of Governor Scott's Climate Action Commission. So we're here today to talk more about those priorities and stand ready to work with policymakers and the public to make them a reality. And in terms of making them reality, it's my pleasure to introduce to you President Tim Ash to outline his vision for moving forward and making progress on climate change this session. So welcome, Senator Ash. Well thank you and I am really delighted to stand here with such a broad cross section of Vermonters, especially young people, to think about our next step, our next steps on the journey of doing something about the global problem of climate change and taking local action to do something about it. I want to first begin by saying that we've already experienced, thanks to the good work of many of the people in this room, quite a transformation in Vermont. When I was working at Cathedral Square, a senior housing organization in about 2010, we put a solar system on the roof of three Cathedral Square in downtown Burlington. It was a 36 kilowatt system, which at the time was the largest system in Burlington. Today that would hardly be a blip on the radar screen. So we have come such a very long way in just about a decade thanks to the work of so many grassroots activists, legislators, partners in the business community and in government. We also know that weatherization, we've come a long way though we have much more to do. We've done a good job with multifamily housing. I'll give an example as well. Using HUD funds, we weatherized a 108 unit building, reducing the natural gas consumption of that building by 40% in one year. So year after year we're seeing less fossil fuel use and better budget for that housing facility. So we've made great strides, former Governor Schumann used to talk about how we were the fastest growing number of green jobs. But looking backwards while we can be proud, now the real question is what do we do looking forward? And that's really why this group is here today, is to say that it's time to really think about how we take our next steps forward. One of the great challenges we face as legislators is the public rightly says, how are you going to solve global warming tomorrow? What single step will you take to fix the entire problem? And we know that we're really in league with compadres throughout the world, not just here in the United States, but we have our part that we must do. And so the challenges I'm directing to our committees throughout the Senate is to determine what their respective role will be and what action steps they can take to contribute towards the next phase of our journey on fighting climate change. This will take place in a number of committees. I'll start with the transportation committee on which I now serve. The transportation sector is probably the greatest untapped potential to reduce our emissions. And we will be looking at everything from public transit, the use of VW funds, the incentivization of hybrid and electric vehicles. And when we do that, I want to be very clear that our primary emphasis in my opinion must be, I use the term democratizing our fight against climate change, including people who do not have the financial luxury to purchase expensive consumer items, expensive vehicles, the very low and moderate income people who often struggle throughout the state. And so we will be looking at a whole range of strategies with the primary emphasis of reducing emissions. Our agriculture committee has a role to play here too, not often thought about as a contributor to the fight against climate change. But everything from practices around feed and fertilizer and use of equipment, these are all opportunities for Vermont farm activities to contribute to the solution. Our economic development committee will be challenged to think as it looks at how we view the future of economic development and growth in our urban and rural communities, about how we co-locate renewable energy and make that an absolute priority. How do we locate renewable energy in communities that will actually encourage the movement of economic activity there, something that I think we've probably spent too little time focusing on. Our education committee has opportunities both in terms of the education it's providing broadly to all the students in the state, but also taking the next steps in terms of modernizing facilities. Those of you who have ever been in a Burlington public school know that we have great work ahead in terms of making sure that our large community institutions, our schools are more efficient and more reliant on renewable energy. The weatherization task ahead is great. We have an old housing stock, I don't need to bore you with all the stats, but needless to say without bolder steps moving forward, weatherization goals of 80,000 units being weatherized are just not going to happen. So we have to make major strides in tackling that particular challenge. So I guess I'll just conclude by saying that the effort in the Senate, and I know the same is true in the House, is not about any one committee. And it's not about one advocacy group of one item that they think is going to single-handedly solve it. It's really a combined effort across all sectors and all policy areas. And my own sort of spiritual guidance to the committees is to make sure that at every step of the way we're making sure that our efforts are always keeping in mind the types of households who need the economic linkage to fighting climate change. Right now we have had a pattern of people feeling that fighting climate change is something that only the people with extra money can really think about. They have the luxury of worrying about the environment. We have to divorce the concept that it's an issue only for the middle class and upper income people to think about. This is an issue that must financially benefit those who are low and moderate income in the state of Vermont. And that's why I particularly like this concept of beneficial electrification. The idea that as we fight climate change, we're actually helping the economics of households who have been struggling. So thank you, and I'm really looking forward to working with the whole team here. Thank you, Senator Ash. We really look forward to working with you, to your colleagues in this building, and appreciate what you've tasked your committees to do. And just note, these 25 groups that are standing here today represent those interests that you just articulated. We believe deeply in doing something about the challenge of climate change. We see the economic, job creation opportunity in it when we import 100% of the fossil fuels that we use. And most importantly, we believe strongly in ensuring that vulnerable Vermonters can participate in the transition and that we make them whole as we move forward in tackling this opportunity. And to speak to that really important perspective, I wanted to invite Erhard Monca, the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition, up here to give us a sense of why they are supportive of this platform and an essential partner. Thank you, Joey, and thank you, Senator Ash. Good morning, and thanks to everyone who's here to support our urgent call for action this year on climate change. I'm especially pleased to share the podium with the pro tem and to hear of your commitment to take significant action that will move our state forward on what is without doubt the most important issue of our time. It's no longer a matter for informed debate that the future of our planet, our lives, and those of our children and grandchildren are at stake. My name is Erhard Monca. I'm here representing, as Joey said, the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition and the tens of thousands of low income Vermonters that our members serve through affordable, energy efficient housing, financial assistance, and supportive services. Our coalition is made up of over 80 organizations that include the state's affordable housing developers, like Cathedral Square, which Senator mentioned, housing authorities, homeless service providers, low income advocates, and a broad array of anti-poverty agencies. We are here today to join the call to lawmakers and to the governor to support our six-point climate action plan. We ask that lawmakers enact these eminently doable, modest, pragmatic priorities before they go home in May. So why would a bunch of housing and homeless organizations support these broad based solutions to climate change? Well, because we understand that climate change is a housing issue. Climate change is a low income issue. When we look at the impacts of climate change, low income Vermonters are disproportionately impacted. We have approximately 70,000 Vermonters living in poverty in our state. They suffer the greatest consequences from our increasingly extreme weather. They live in the most risk prone locations, the most vulnerable structures, and are the slowest to recover from climate events. By way of example, I'll simply cite, ask you to remember that when Tropical Storm Irene hit us, those communities that were most disproportionately impacted were low income mobile home park communities in our state by far suffering the greatest impacts. Specifically in terms of housing, home energy costs are an unbearable burden for low income Vermonters, and the lower their income, the higher the percentage they pay to stay warm. One in five Vermonters is fuel poor, meaning they spend more than 10% of their income on fuel to heat their homes. Low income Vermonters have highest energy burdens and they often drive inefficient vehicles a long way to where they work because the only housing they can afford is far away from their jobs. Our members know that these are the realities that low income Vermonters face. We know that low income weatherization assistance programs not only lower fuel burden, but help make other health and safety improvements to their home, to Vermonters homes, connect them with needed social services, and result in proven positive health care outcomes. That's why we are engaged and committed partners in this effort today. When our members build, they build to the highest energy efficiency standards. This not only helps lower our carbon footprint, it lowers the overall cost of housing, making it more affordable for the low income Vermonters that our members serve, and more sustainable over the long term. All while creating good paying jobs that boost our economy and keep our hard earned dollars in state, instead of exporting them through the purchase of fossil fuels. Our members partner with the Vermont, with Vermont's five low income weatherization programs, and with 3E thermal. Their resources are often part and parcel of a complex mix of funding that our members need to create affordable housing in Vermont. That is why we are helping to lead the effort on one of the six points in our platform to increase weatherization production. We've done a lot in the ten years since the legislature set Vermont statutory goals to weatherize 60,000 homes by 2017 and 80,000 by 2022. Since 2007, we have weatherized 25,400 homes, over half of which were for low income residents. But clearly, in spite of our best efforts, we fell far short of the 2017 goals and are falling ever further behind on the 2022 goal. We need, number one, to reauthorize the current funding sources for low income weatherization, which expire at the end of June this year. And number two, to step up our game and double the number of low and moderate income homes that are weatherized annually, as recommended by the Governor's Climate Change Commission. In closing, I just want to say Vermont may be a small under-resourced state, but we're here to urge policymakers to make sure that Vermont plays its part in forestalling the disastrous effects of climate change. Let's make sure that we move up to our vaunted environmental reputation by backing it up with policies and resources that will have a greater impact on one of the largest contributors to our state's carbon footprint. As the last UN report warns, we only have 12 years left to make for a real difference. Hi, my name is Boreal Khaliba, and I am a senior at Harwood Union High School. And I'm part of the Vermont Youth Lobby. Earlier this year, our group decided to sign on to a climate agenda that calls for bold and comprehensive climate action in Vermont. As a young adult, I feel that it is necessary to act on the climate crisis now in order to save our future. For my generation and for the generations to come, climate change will have an incredible economic and environmental impact on all of our lives. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, human beings would have to cut down their carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and be net zero by 2050. And that it is our responsibility as Vermonters to take serious and immediate action on the climate crisis before it is too late. As a young Vermonter, the economic impacts of climate change will be prevalent for the rest of my life. A report from NextGen Climate and Demos has quantified the cost of inaction on climate change in terms of lost income and wealth. I was born in the year 2000 and because of this I will lose $222,000 in income and $349,000 in wealth. That's an incredible amount of money that no one would want to lose. In order to combat the economic and environmental impacts of climate change, Vermont needs to act. I urge Vermont lawmakers to create an electric vehicle incentive program. This program would prioritize low and middle income Vermonters and would be funded by the VW Settlement Money. Last year the Vermont Youth Lobby created an effective campaign to raise support for the use of electrification with this settlement money. Transportation is the number one emitter of carbon dioxide in Vermont and the switch towards electrification can help lower our emissions. Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen and attend the RFF and JFO presentation on carbon pricing. My big takeaway was that in order to meet our goals of being net zero in Vermont, we must put a price on carbon and implement many other non-pricing policies. Thank you lawmakers for listening to our voices. We hope to work closely with you in the future on climate related policies that must be passed to guarantee a better future for everyone on this earth. Thank you. My name is Hopa Trero. I'm a junior at Montpelier High School and I'm proud to be representing Youth Lobby. I'm here today and I'm thankful for you all having me. I am here today because I'm excited to see my representatives use their leadership to the fullest extent in pushing for bold and comprehensive series of climate action initiatives. As of 2015, only 16% of Vermont's total energy consumption was powered by renewables. We know that we need to see Vermont make serious changes if we are to achieve our goal of 90% renewable energy by 2050. In passing legislation combating climate change, we need to prioritize rural remonters, working class remonters, and remonters at or below the poverty line. We can do so especially by creating an electric vehicle incentive program and prioritizing low and middle income remonters and doing so, and using the 3.6 million in consumer protection and Volkswagen settlement dollars to do so. And we can also double the number of low and middle income homes weatherized every year and by doing so support thousands of jobs, save remonters millions of dollars each year, establish a crucial aspect of our state's comprehensive energy plan, and meet our commitment to weatherize 80,000 homes by 2022. Transportation and heating are the two leading sources of Vermont's carbon emissions. By prioritizing weatherization and electrification, we can reduce carbon emissions as well as the fuel poverty that afflicts many remonters. Advancing such a comprehensive and bold set of initiatives is not only an opportunity to further our commitment to a cleaner economy in the fight against climate change, but also to champion low income advocacy. And we as Vermont's youth are in support of fighting climate change, not just as future leaders, but as the leaders of today. And right here, right now, we're pushing for justice in Vermont. Thank you. My name is Max Sabo. I'm a senior at U32 High School, and I'm speaking today also as a member of the Vermont Youth Lobby. As young people, we are coming to the age where our warming planet poses a threat to our future as adults, our future children, grandchildren. So when I look at the numbers, I'm terrified. Currently in Vermont, 20% of the energy we consume comes from renewable sources. However, it is essential that we work toward being in 100% renewable energy state and that this happens as soon as possible. Vermont already does not participate in burning coal for energy, but it does not mean that all of our energy comes from renewable sources. If we are able to become 100% renewable, we can replace old oil heaters and incentivize electric vehicles and truly begin the process of electrification. Transportation makes up for nearly 40% of all carbon emissions in Vermont. This is an astounding number, and it's essential that we promote electrification by prioritizing 100% renewable energy. In other words, it is insufficient to push for electrification when we are still using energy from non-renewable sources. Therefore, not only does renewable energy legislation need to be bold, but it must be comprehensive. We want to see our houses have electric heaters, solar panels, our cars to be electric. But all the while, the energy needs to be pulled from renewable sources. It excites me to speak today in the presence of Senate President Tim Ash and so many others because this cause that we are here fighting for is running out of time. The effects of climate change are unfolding rapidly, and this is a time where we call upon our leaders to act now with bold and comprehensive climate legislation. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Dan Barlow. I'm the Public Policy Manager with Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, and it's a real privilege to be here with so many great legislators and elected officials and kids here from the Vermont communities focused on this issue. So, VBSR is a statewide business organization. We've been around since 1990. We have 700 members across the state, and our members know that you can't have a healthy business on a sick planet, and they're dedicated to the triple bottom line approach to business. They know that when the environment is clean and their workforce is strong, that makes them more successful businesses. So, as a state and as a country and as a world, we see two paths in front of us. The first path is the status quo. We acknowledge climate change exists, but we don't really do much to address it. So what happens to Vermont? Our total annual rainfall already at 50-year high continues to climb, causing flooding across the state. Our winters get warmer and shorter, threatening our $600 million winter recreation industry. Our maple sugaring season continues to shift and shorten, and Vermonters have to tap more trees to get the same amount of sugar from their harvest. Ticks and other illness-bearing insects thrive. Their seasons extend earlier into the spring, later into the fall, and our state parks are empty. And nationally, we face another economic crisis and the potential to lose twice what the economic wealth that was lost in the Great Recession 10 years ago. But we do have another path in front of us, and this is the path that the VBSR and our colleagues here support. We take advantage of this 12-year window that we have and address climate change and what business leaders are calling the greatest wealth creation opportunity of a generation. We create a climate economy here in Vermont, one that modernizes homes and buildings, lifts families out of cold and poverty, and focuses on investing in clean, local renewable energy. We stop sending nearly $2 billion a year out of state to fossil fuel companies. Instead, keep that money here in our communities circulating locally. This is the biggest by-local campaign in Vermont history. We position Vermont as a national and global leader on climate change, attracting new businesses, new opportunities, and a younger generation that wants to be part of the solution. And inspired by the construction of the railroads in the 1800s and the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s, Vermont leads the country in advancing electric vehicle infrastructure and a renewed investment in public and alternative forms of transportation, everything from bikes to trains. So what do we need? We need leadership. We need legislators who can rise up to the crisis of this generation. And we can decarbonize our economy, invest in green infrastructure, create jobs here in the state. This plan that came out today, the six-point plan, it's not just a plan to address climate change. This is an economic development plan for the future of the state of Vermont. We look forward to making this vision a reality. Thank you and be happy to take questions. I would say some of the proposals here have a cost and some do not. It's rather, for example, we're calling for an acting of the Voluntary Solutions Act like Massachusetts and Connecticut have done and Rhode Island are looking at. And that sets a frame for enabling entrepreneurship and leadership and policymaking to figure out the most affordable, strategic and equitable way to get to those goals that cost nothing. The weatherization that call will cost something. Right now we spend about $9 million. This is a recommendation of the Governor's Climate Action Commission. I think lots of people have creative ideas for how we actually could generate that revenue. But not all of them have a cost. And what all of them do have a cost is I think you've heard from several folks today is the cost of doing nothing, the cost of business as usual, the cost of sending about $2 billion every year out of state to pay for the energy that we all use. So I think that, you know, I can get into the nitty gritty details with you at some point, but I think that several of these do not have a cost. As I just said on the weatherization, I think that's about $9 million a year, correct me? Our low-income advocate friends, if that's inaccurate, but I believe that to be the case. On the transportation, electric vehicle incentives, we're calling for the state to use the dollars that are coming in from settlement funds strategically to mitigate the impact of how those funds were generated and to create a program for low to moderate income for owners in particular to begin to access and avail themselves of more efficient and affordable technologies. Related to a few of the other priorities, the study is a study. It's a set of facts and information upon which we can analyze which path we might choose to decarbonize our economy. That also doesn't yet come at a cost. And, you know, so several of these do not have a cost. And we are asking, yes, for the $3.6 million in consumer protection, state consumer protection, settlement dollars to go towards electrification, and that is a start. And this is why this is also a start of this conversation for 2019, why we believe that making progress on these goals is eminently possible. Again, several of them recommendations of Governor Scott's Climate Action Commission, and we very much looking forward to working with policymakers to figure out how to fund them and the most affordable strategic or how to implement them in the most affordable strategic way. I don't want to be the only one who speaks, but I guess I would say, as you know, the independent economic analysis didn't come out until yesterday. We have not had the opportunity to dig into the details of that report, so we thought it best not to come out with an answer before we had the information to base that answer on. So my bet is there is a different coalition of groups that includes businesses and low-income earners and faith leaders and others called Energy Independent Vermont that is looking at carbon pricing more specifically. And I am sure that several members of that group, including my own, are looking forward to digging into the details of that analysis and figuring out how we can actually grow jobs and protect vulnerable Vermonters and getting off of imported dirty fossil fuels. Is this designed to be an achievable, practical thing that you really think the legislature and the government can get on? You know, I think there is some new ideas in this plan and there is also some issues that the legislature and other elected officials in the building have been talking about for a few years, so there is data on there and there is history on there. So I do think that a lot of this plan is achievable this year and we need to make these changes. Our environment is threatened, our economy is threatened by climate change, so it is not a matter of what we can achieve, it is what we need to do. Thank you so much.