 Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon. This is the afternoon of January 10th and a meeting of the house appropriations committee. We are convened here to hear from to conduct a public hearing so that we can hear from Vermonters and their represent and folks who bring their interests to us of the needs of Vermont today. Let me just remind people that we are looking at the FY 22 budget adjustment is what is under consideration right now. This is the mid-year adjustment of the state's budget and normally is designed to just be kind of a mechanical tinkering to attend to the needs to make the system work. We're also considering any urgent pandemic associated needs as part of the budget adjustment and so we look forward to hearing our guests in their observation of what the needs of Vermonters are. Before I begin let me just ask people to introduce themselves around the table so you know who you're speaking with and we are pretending we're sitting at our table and so I'll go to the gentleman on my left. Thank you. Good afternoon. Peter Fagan, Rutland City. Welcome to everyone. Made of Townsend, South Burlington. Good afternoon. Tristan Trellino, Bredeboro. Good afternoon. This is Marty Theltis from London. Good afternoon. I'm Dave Yacoboni. I represent Elmore, Morristown, Woodbury and Worcester. Hello. Jim Harrison from Chittenden, Bridgewater, Killington and Menden District. Thank you. Hello. Robinshye from Middlebury. Good afternoon. Trevor Squirrel, representing Underhill and Jericho. I've known it's representative Bob Helm, representing Fairhaven, Castleton, Westhaven and Hoverton. And I'm Mary Hooper and I represent Montpelier. Not with us is representative Kimberly Jessup of East Montpelier and Middlesex and she is attending the second all-day meeting of the Judicial Nominating Committee and I am sure she will watch this Zoom recording when she is able. So with that, we have a number of folks who are scheduled to speak with us. We have a two-minute limitation on presentations. At about 30 seconds, Representative Fagan will give a reminder of the time and at two minutes we ask people if they have not completed their thoughts to complete them to bring it to an end. We have received quite a bit of written testimony and we always welcome your written testimony. I assure you that we read every piece of testimony that we receive. So with that, I'll invite Carol Schultz-Perkins to be up and on deck is Grace Keller. So and that's how I'll call it. I'll try to ask for the first person and then give the second person a heads up that they're on. So Miss Schultz-Perkins, please go ahead when you're able. Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hi. Hi, I'm Carol Schultz-Perkins from Berlin and the Executive Director of Central Vermont Adult Basic Education. We serve Washington, Orange and Lamoille counties and are one of the four statewide nonprofit organizations in the Adult Education and Literacy Network. I'm here to ask you to support our network's request for an additional appropriation of $350,000 for fiscal year 2022 to address the budget deficits we are facing because of COVID. Our network serves Vermont's most vulnerable adults and teens who need help with basic skills and obtaining a high school credential in order to be ready to access other education and career opportunities. Despite our requests, our network has not received any additional funding from the state during the pandemic. When those we serve increase their skills in reading, speaking, writing, math and computer literacy. Greater opportunities are opened up, including acquisition of employment skills, obtaining a job, gaining career advancement, accessing further education and better quality of life. Martha, one of our students enrolled in our program as a single mother from Honduras with a sixth grade education. While enrolled, she learned to speak English, improved her literacy, attained citizenship and at age 39 obtained a high school diploma and the career specific skills she needed to accomplish her dream of owning her own hair salon. Martha has a successful business in Central Vermont. There are thousands of Vermonters who need our services every year in order to improve their lives. Please provide an additional 350,000 for fiscal year 22 to stabilize our programs and ensure that all Vermonters have access to the education services needed to live more successful lives and to thrive in our communities. And I thank you very much for your time this afternoon. Thank you for yours. Grace Keller and then following Grace Keller, we have Lauren Glenn Davidian. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Grace Keller. I'm the program coordinator at Howard Center Safe Recovery. I'm here today as the head of Vermont's oldest and largest and only full-time Syringe Service program. We have over 5,000 members and we have members that come from every county in the state. So we're really a statewide agency. Sometimes as high as 30% of our clients come from outside of Chittenden County, we're based in Burlington. And recently we also acquired some funding to do mobile syringe exchange and we'll be looking at Franklin and Grand Isle counties also. And we are also Vermont's first and largest Narcan and Naloxone distribution site, which is the Overdose Rescue medication. We've distributed over 32,000 doses, which represents about 67% of the state's Narcan total distribution. And we've had 1,700 people come back to say that they've used it to save a life. We've been working very hard on the front lines of the opioid epidemic, but through COVID we've seen large spikes in overdoses. We have about a 54% spike in between May of 2020 and May of 2021, which is the highest in the country. So we've also trained about 2,000 providers in overdose prevention from all over the state, libraries, schools, colleges, drug treatment centers. And most recently we opened one of the first in the country low barrier buprenorphine access treatment access at a syringe service program. So we offer treatment on demand to people so they can have treatment the same day they request it. And we find this is really important because anytime somebody takes buprenorphine is a day that they are protected from overdose. So we are really on the front lines of the overdose epidemic and have access to the most vulnerable people in the state. Thank you so much for having me today. I appreciate it. Thank you. Next up is Lauren Glendividian and following her is Carrie Stoller. Good afternoon and thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee. My name is Lauren Glendividian and I'm the executive director of CCTV Center for Media and Democracy based in Burlington. And today I'm representing Vermont Access Network, my 23 fellow community media centers in a request for $300,000 for the Budget Adjustment Act for FY22. You've heard from our other colleagues and members of the public at last week's meeting about the value and importance of community media and the legislature has acknowledged the work we do as an essential service. We have anticipated the decline of cable revenue for many years which is our primary source of support by augmenting it with other kinds of revenue including municipal subscriptions and fees for service. But the fact is is that the decline of cable revenue is happening so quickly and so swiftly not only in Vermont but across the country that there is no amount of revenue augmenting that we can do to maintain continuity of operations. Looking ahead we see that the revenue is going to drop at least by 2% and the expenses for the work we do are going to increase by at least 3% not including inflation and other effects. And our request predates COVID in 2019 the legislature acknowledged the work that we're doing with the PEG study committee and the following year with some CRF funds and the funding of a PEG study which shows that long-term change of telecommunications revenue policy needs to happen in order for PEG and community media to have a firm footing. We know that that will not happen this session which is why we've created a bridge request for the next three to five years and this would be the first year of that request for $300,000. So thank you very much for your consideration and we have more detail in our written testimony. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next up is Carrie Stahler and following her is Anor Horton. There we go. Here we go. Sorry that took a second. Good afternoon. My name is Carrie Stahler. I live in Linden and I'm the government and public affairs officer at the Vermont food bank. I'm here today to ask you to support the work of the food bank and our 300 statewide partners with a $6 million one-time fund adjustment from the fiscal year 22 budget adjustment to address ongoing increased food insecurity due to the pandemic. Last session we requested $8 million and received $1 million which was used to purchase food so thank you for that. The pandemic continues to disrupt the lives of our neighbors across the state. It has had a direct impact on people's ability to access enough food for themselves and their families. The contrast between the pre-pandemic rate of food insecurity of 9.6% and the current rate of 27% is stark. This increase is reflected in our own data. In 2021 we distributed 17.6 million pounds of food compared to roughly 11 million pounds pre-pandemic. We've seen a 46% increase in households visiting our veggie van go event since 2019. Several events had record attendance in November and December. A clear sign that food insecurity is not improving. While recovery has begun many people were set back financially by the pandemic. A majority of people using food assistance are working for monitors. Even with steady work many of our neighbors cannot afford increased housing heat and food costs driven up by inflation that is quickly outpacing wages. While pandemic relief programs made a huge difference many of them have ended. Without them people are again struggling to put food on the table. Please support the work of the food bank with an appropriation of $6 million to ensure that the basic need of providing food to our neighbors is fulfilled while this pandemic continues to challenge our communities. This request does meet the requirements for ARPA funds by both responding to the public health crisis and addressing the negative economic impacts of the pandemic. Thank you all so much for your time and your consideration. Thank you Ms. Stoller and next up is Anor Horton and following is Sarah Kinney. We just lost her. No okay so see if you can bring her back in and we'll move on to here she comes again she is yeah there hi please go ahead thank you all so much good afternoon my name is Anor Horton I live in Williston and I am the executive director at Hunger Free Vermont. Hunger Free Vermont asks you to support the work of the Vermont food bank and their 300 network partners and to support their $6 million request for one-time funds from the FY22 budget adjustment. This funding is critically needed to address the ongoing increased food insecurity and hunger that Vermonters are experiencing right now. Many of the special federal COVID-19 pandemic support programs have ended including expanded unemployment, extra food distributions and the expanded child tax credit to name just three that very directly have been affecting the ability of Vermont families and individuals to both afford enough food and also to access and acquire enough food during the pandemic. Hunger and food insecurity are tragically very quickly on the rise again across our state and I think that's directly tied to the ending of these programs and therefore additional funding for hunger relief is sadly urgently needed right now. While Three Squares Vermont, WIC expanded meals on wheels are all still available for Vermonters and thankfully school meal programs are still operating universally under temporary federal waivers. The extended crisis of this pandemic is revealing just how many people in Vermont are not eligible for these federal nutrition programs but are still experiencing hunger. This hunger crisis is much too great and long lasting for charitable organizations and private philanthropy to solve without government assistance. Only government can solve this problem and it is necessary for you to shoulder this obligation so please support the work of the Vermont Food Bank and their request for $6 million in FY22 budget adjustment. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Next up is Sarah Kenny and following her is David Martins. Hi, thank you all. I'm Sarah Kenny from Let's Grow Kids. Excuse me. I'm not going to belabor the crisis that the state faces in child care. It's dire and I know you all have heard about that. The resources that you and the administration have directed toward child care during the pandemic have made a difference and yet things are worse now than they've ever been. We have a desperately acute staffing shortage in child care in Vermont. We are losing people to go to work in virtually any other sector where they can find higher pay and benefits but families cannot afford to pay higher tuition in order to raise compensation for early educators. We need a systemic solution and we urgently need an immediate lifeline to the field. We know the governor appreciates the importance of investing in child care but his BAA proposal doesn't direct any additional ARPA funds to support these essential workers. In fact, the proposal before you from the administration includes an underspend of over $800,000 in child care financial assistance because the expansions that you and the administration approved last year have still not been implemented. Instead of reverting funding from child care, we strongly encourage your committee to do the opposite. There is a critical need for supports for people working in child care programs and additional ARPA funds must be leveraged for this now. Programs and families cannot wait until July when programs may have already closed. This emergency is clearly related to the pandemic which has created very difficult working conditions in child care programs. You have the opportunity to fund immediate supports for these skilled undervalued professionals. $6 million in the BAA could fund one initial round of workforce stabilization bonuses of $1,000 each to all staff working with young children in regulated child care programs. In addition, in last year's child care bill, you created a financing study that now needs to be funded so please support the JFO's request for funding so they can get rolling to hire a consultant who will help us define a long term systemic system problem. And specific dollar amounts and more detail about all of this are in our written testimony and I thank you so much. Thank you. So next up is David Martins and following him is Jordan Giaconia. I think David might have stepped away from his computer. He's not accepted. Come in. Okay. So if he comes back, we can put him, move him to the bottom and bring him up then. So Jordan Giaconia. Here's Jordan. Yeah. Howdy all. Apologies I may have missed. I came in and out. Your audio cut off as I joined in as a panelist. But pleasure to be here and appreciate the opportunity to offer comments. So ready to go whenever you are. Please do. Go ahead. Thank you all again. It's lovely to see you all. Welcome back to the 2022 session and appreciate the opportunity to offer comments on behalf of Vermont businesses for social responsibilities. I'm Jordan Giaconia, public policy manager, quick refresher, VBSR. We're a statewide nonprofit of roughly 700 member businesses really looking to leverage the power of businesses for positive social and environmental impact. For the purposes of today's discussion, really want to draw folks' attention to two key areas that have been major challenges for Vermont's employers, namely lack of access to childcare and lack of access to affordable housing. So it's not a secret as many others have discussed that Vermont's in a difficult moment in our history. We're certainly feeling that both families but as business owners as well. And in our most recent membership survey, availability of affordable housing ranked as the top barrier to success for VBSR businesses followed closely by cost of health care. And then also accessible and affordable high quality childcare. So firstly, I want to echo my colleague Sarah Kennedy's remarks from Let's Grow Kids that relates to investments in our early childhood education workforce. We really want to see us enact H171 but also offer additional workforce stabilization grants to ensure our childcare providers are feel valued and are looking for a more long-term work situation. Also, looking at the housing components, want to draw your attention to three proposals which we're supportive of in this particular space. One, of course, I think is a key concern of ours is the missing middle home ownership development pilot program, the $5 million request, which would allow for the construction of new homes for the quickly growing missing middle of Vermonters. This has been one of the key upfront issues again for us. However, as you all know, VBSR employers are really strong advocates for what we call livable jobs, which means providing livable benefits, high competitive wages. And even so, many of our employees have not been able to close that housing gap. So really want to take this opportunity. I know that this program is in sort of its early phases, but want to encourage this committee to support that investment and invest in stronger middle income housing stock. So let the rest be a writing and appreciate the opportunity as always. All right. Thank you. And I believe is David Martin's back with us now? Looks, yes. Okay. Mr. Martins, why don't you go ahead then, please? Good afternoon. My name is David Martin, and I'm the director of the Montefuertable Housing Coalition. We are a partnership of 90 organizations committed to every Vermont are having access to safe, affordable, decent, perpetually affordable housing. Thank you for giving me the time today to offer a word. Obviously, VAHC is particularly attentive to the allocation of funds in the area of housing. And we always look at those investments in terms of free legged stool of capital investments, housing related financial assistance and supportive services. So we really want to encourage you to support that increase of $50 million in funding for Vermont Housing Conservation Board. It's essential work of developing more affordable housing in Vermont is additional dollars bolster and support the pipeline of projects in development will include an important priority for folks transitioning from homelessness, increases, increasing shelter capacity, developing supportive housing, additional $20 million in funding for Vermont Housing Improvement Program will allow hundreds of units online, providing safe, decent, affordable housing for Monters who need it most. Finally, we're very excited at VAHC about conversation around developing and supporting a pilot program designed to make home ownership more accessible for the missing middle. The housing problem here in Vermont is complicated and intersectional. It impacts everyone. So we have to chip away at the ice from as many different angles as possible. When it comes to housing, any solution to have to be permanently affordable, sustainable, safe. We have to think outside the box. Thank you so much for your time and for your support. Thank you. I'm afraid I didn't give a heads up to Patricia Tedesco, but thank you. I see that you're coming and following Ms. Tedesco. I believe we do not have my own a Cornell so it'll be Susan Sumner. Ms. Tedesco, please go ahead. Okay. Now, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much. My name is Patricia Tedesco. Clicking yes to all the different boxes that are popping up on the laptop. Patricia Tedesco. Program Services Manager at the Vermont Center for Independent Living, which most of you know is a statewide nonprofit organization to help folks with disabilities. The Home Access Program is primarily funded through the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board allocations. So we are here to thank you for your past support of the program and continued support of both VHCB and also the Home Access Program at VCIL. I've supplied written testimony somewhere through Theresa, and that has some specific stories and photos of projects that we have accomplished this past fiscal year. Really, I wanted to also share with you that we've experienced delays because of supply lines. It's taking now about three months to order a shower. We've experienced delays with contractors not being available. So we have continued applicants coming in. We get about 12 applications a month, and we're working as hard as we can with other partners and other funding sources. But this program is so valuable to the folks we serve. We do about 50 projects a year, and it's life-changing for them, and we are trying to help everybody age in place. So I'm available if you have any follow-up questions later on, or if you have questions throughout the year, you need help with anything to do with accessibility. We are the folks to help out. Thank you for your time this afternoon. Terrific. Thank you very much. And as I said, it's my understanding that my only Cornell is not here, and so the next person up is Susan Sumner, and following her is Patrick Flood. Please go ahead. Thank you. Hello, everybody. My name is Susan Summer. I'm the Executive Director with Bennington County Habitat for Humanity. I'm here today representing all of our Vermont Habitat for Humanity affiliates. There are seven affiliates and three chapters in the state of Vermont. We want to make sure that you support the full funding and additional funding for the Vermont Housing Conservation Board. We want to make sure you support that in relation to home ownership. What we do as Habitat affiliates is we build houses and we repair houses. We don't do apartments, and a lot of the VHCB funding goes to apartments. I understand the reason for that, but home ownership is critical. We're kidding ourselves if we think that it's the pandemic that caused a missing middle group of us in Vermont who can't afford to be homeowners. And I do not distinguish between anybody who's hardworking in our state and needs that opportunity to become a homeowner or to stay in their home safely through a home repair program. So those of us earning between 30 and 80% of the area median income, which are the folks that are helped through Habitat for Humanity, need home ownership opportunities just like any of the rest of us who might be earning between 80 and 125% of the area median income. This is a crisis and it has been before the pandemic. We gratefully appreciate everything you've done to support the VHCB. We request that you continue to do that for the Vermont Housing Conservation Board and that you encourage them to put their funding toward home ownership. Thank you very much for the opportunity to share with you today. Thank you. And next up is Patrick Flood and following him is Margaret Dominsky. There we go. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. And we can see part of your face. Sorry about that, Mike. Can you see more of my face now? Yes, it's fine. Thank you. All right, thank you. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and committee members, and thank you for the opportunity to testify. In my two minutes today, I want to register an objection and I want to make a suggestion. I don't know how familiar all the members of the committee are, but one care of Vermont, our ACO under the all-payer agreement, is scheduled to get $15 million in budget adjustment. It's section B307 of the bill. And my objection is that I don't think they should get that money. They did nothing to earn that money. There was overspending in 2020, but the reason there was overspending was because both providers and patients postponed care. They postponed care because of the pandemic. But according to the way the contract is written, there was underspending and therefore the difference goes to the ACO. And I say, as I sat here listening and waiting for my turn to speak and listened to the needs that we have in this state for housing, for childcare, for the food bank, it just seems unconscionable to me that we're going to give that kind of money to the ACO when they did nothing to earn it. So my suggestion is because you may feel that you have no recourse, but to appropriate that money, I think you should look forward to the next year's budget. And when they come in for their budget for next year, you should simply not fund the $15 million in their administration and swap it out because it's a huge windfall for the ACO, as I said, that they didn't earn. And I think that they don't need that money in the coming year. And you can use that money for a lot of other things, as you all too well know, better than I do. So that's my objection and my suggestion. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up is Margaret Dubinsky. And following her is Michelle Bolesky. Hello, hello, officers and representatives. Thank you for the opportunity. Hi, my name is Margaret Dubinsky. I'm a citizen of Vermont. I have lived here almost my entire life. I bought and sold a home before the pandemic. I've seen the home prices triple. I'm also a small business owner. I found out about this through VBSR email and I would like to speak up in support of the three housing improvement programs, the Housing Conservation Board, the Housing Improvement Program, and especially the Housing Finance Agency to support the funding of new homes. And I see this as being so important as I also am anticipating an influx of people to continue in Vermont due to things like the climate crisis and expanding, you know, the workforce changing directions to remote and alternative systems. So I really believe the housing crisis is not going to get smaller. It's going to get bigger. And I work as my small business is I'm a healer and a guide. And I pay attention to whatever mantras are going through and most of them have issues related to the housing costs increasing and feeling like they may have to leave the state because of housing. So I just hope that these initiatives will be funded. I'd like to support them and add that. I believe there are a lot of opportunities for very alternative methods of housing that could be researched and developed. And some of those funds could possibly go through that things such as building geodesic dome homes, building the ADU units. I think that's so incredibly valuable, but there are just so many opportunities for creative housing that I think could also be researched and the problem is not going to get smaller. It's going to get bigger. So thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. It's my understanding that Michelle Bolesky is not with us. And so we now have Mickey Wiles and correct me if I'm mispronouncing your name please. That's correct. Thank you. My name is Mickey Wiles. I'm the CEO and founder of Working Fields. I'm also a VBSR board member. Working Fields is a mission driven staffing agency. We work with employers throughout the state. We work to place and support individuals with barriers to employment who are generally in early recovery or have past convictions. The main barriers they face are employment, housing, and transportation. Along with the big three, there are other challenges such as basic needs, childcare, mental health, dental, and more. Housing rises to the top. People cannot find housing. When they do, it's not affordable. If by chance they can afford it, many times their credit or background gets in the way and they get turned down for the lease. And the question I ask is how does one hold the job without a place to live? Additionally, sober living is difficult to find. There's not enough of it. We've made some progress in the state, but there is just a lack for people who are starting their lives over again and they need a place to live. Community living in a supportive environment is an ideal solution for those in transition. Also, there are many people who are in transition who have families and traditional sober living does not provide for that. We need more family living situations. 28 seconds, Mr. Wiles. I'm sorry? 28 seconds, sir. Okay. Therefore, I am here to support the additional provisions for the housing in this bill predominantly, the housing that's provide more funding to provide the temporary housing. I appreciate your time today and thank you for your service. Thanks. Thank you. Committee or members of the public, we have no one else signed up to testify. And so with that, I will conclude the public hearing on the FY 23, 22 budget adjustment committee. If you would take 15 minutes, so it's two, let's call it 240 right now. If you would join us back in committee, I think using the link the same link. So use the same new link from our noontime meeting. Join us back in committee at five of three and we will take up our work there. So with that, please take us off live.