 Hello, all. Thank you for coming out today to show support for S311 Vermont's Green New Deal. My name is Gail Polskamp. I'm a co-director of 350 Vermont. I'd like to take a moment to applaud the Vermont House for voting to pass the Global Warming Solutions Act. The passage of this bill is a step in the right direction. However, there is still much more that needs to be done. We are here today to call on members of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy to schedule public hearing and take up S311, the Vermont Green New Deal Fund. This is the most ambitious and important climate legislation introduced to date. 350 Vermont and our allies support this legislation because it creates a funding source that can support immediate solutions to address the climate crisis. The Vermont Green New Deal Fund proposes to raise $30 million a year from a very minimal increase on the income tax of the wealthiest 5% of Vermonters, about 16,400 taxpayers, with incomes over $200,000, who are receiving big tax cuts due to the 2017 Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The wealthiest 5% of Vermonters are in fact saving $237 million a year in federal taxes because of these cuts. Through S311, the revenue could be used immediately to finance efforts to address climate change by funding weatherization, renewable heating systems, electric vehicles, and public transportation. What we see here in this bill is the way. What we need now is the will, the will of our elected officials to be courageous and to do what is necessary to immediately address the climate crisis at the level that is required by passing S311. This past week, Renewable Energy Vermont reported that solar jobs are down 33% statewide. S311 will help fund new solar projects and bring back those jobs. Another example as to why we need to pass this bill. There are other important climate bills that need to pass this year to complement the Vermont Green New Deal Fund, such as S267, which will ensure we increase in-state renewable energy projects. And H175, which will end the use of imminent domain for fossil fuel infrastructure. The passage of these bills will demonstrate to Vermonters and to the nation that Vermont is willing to stand up and fight for the future of our children, for our farmers, for other species, and for the health of our planet. So we stand here today and urge our legislators to hold a public hearing and to do what is right. Take up S311. There is no more time to waste. We need to act now to reduce our emissions, transition off of fossil fuels and build resilience in our communities. Thank you. I'd now like to welcome Carmen Richardson Skinder, a student among Piliar High School and a member of the Youth Lobby. Thank you all for coming. Governor Scott has said time and again that we have a demographic crisis. He's right. Young people continue to leave Vermont. And there are many reasons for this, but right now we have an opportunity to give them a reason to stay. Climate change is the greatest threat to global health this century. I don't want to live in a state where the governor's suggestion to fight the climate crisis is electric mustangs. As young people, we want to live in a state that recognizes their responsibility to ensure us a levelable future that dates decisive action based on the latest science and not outdated political agreements. Not just because I want to feel like we are meeting scientific mandates, but because I like the vast majority of my peers do not want to contribute to the destruction of our planet. Thank you. However, we can't use only public transit if there is none in rural areas. We can't reduce emissions during the winter without widespread weatherization. Can't install renewable heating or electric vehicles without governmental support. Young people's biggest priority is fighting the climate crisis. So why would we live in a state that doesn't have the infrastructure to do it? The Vermont Green New Deal is crucial to meeting Vermont's emissions goals. The use of the money is decided by a board of legislators, professionals in housing, construction and transportation efficiency, and members of the Youth Climate Congress. We need to give young people the power to make decisions about our own futures. At this point, there is no reason for Vermont not to pass every piece of climate legislation that comes their way. We saw last week the House was able to do it irregardless of the government's support. They can do it again. I became a climate activist when I realized my government was unwilling to ensure a livable future for my generation. This year, Vermont has the opportunity to change that, but we need the funding to do it. The Vermont Green New Deal is a concrete path forward for Vermont that gives young people and citizens the direct power to make decisions concerning our futures. Again, we urge Senator Chris Bray, along with the rest of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, to take up the Green New Deal and work to get it passed this session. I'd now like to welcome up Danielle Bombardier, Secretary- It's Dennis. Secretary and Treasurer for the VTAFL-CIO. Good afternoon. My name is Danielle Bombardier. I am the Secretary-Treasurer of the Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 300. It's my pleasure to stand here, alongside allied organizations, to voice the Vermont State Labor Council's support for Senator Polina's Green New Deal Bill S311. The Vermont State Labor Council and the IBEW recognize this bill as a significant step in the right direction. Already, the IBEW represents the largest solar contractor in the Northeast and several Vermont utilities that receive national recognition in their energy conservation programs and efforts. S311 is a start to far reaching Green New Deal legislation that must emerge in coming years. The bill is progressively funded, seeks to address basic environmental concerns and results in job creation. It's good for the economy and good for the environment. We also know that we need to do much more. Organized labor needs a seat on the Vermont Green New Deal Board, advocating on behalf of the working people of Vermont. We need a massive program to harden and rebuild our existing infrastructure in the face of looming, extreme climate events. We need to set aggressive goals for 100% in-state renewable and carbon-free energy. We need to build public programs which aim at 100% employment. We need research and exploration into technology and programs that result in energy conservation in existing industries. And we need to not only prioritize, but ensure that jobs created as a result of the Green New Deal are sustainable union jobs and provide safe working conditions. We need any infrastructure built with public money to remain publicly owned and any work required to maintain or service the facility once it is operational to be performed by union labor. We need conversations with our members employed in extractive industries and commitments from our legislature and our allies that no worker will be left behind in a green energy transition. The Vermont State Labor Council supports a Green New Deal that is progressively funded, provides union jobs with sustainable wages, strives for 100% renewable and carbon-free energy, gives labor a voice at the table and guarantees that the working class live a secure and dignified life. S311 is a step in this direction. The Vermont State Labor Council supports this bill and a Green New Deal which goes far beyond. We look forward to being strong advocates for this vision and we encourage the legislature to begin this process here today. I'd now like to welcome up Maddie Kempner, Policy Director of NOFA Vermont. Good afternoon everyone. The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont is a nearly 50-year-old organization working in service to our vision of an agricultural system that benefits everyone through ecologically sound, economically viable and socially-adjust farming practices. Yesterday we were here in the State House with a group of farmers speaking directly with their representatives about the important role of agriculture in responding to the climate crisis. Those producers are stewards of the land whose livelihoods depend on ingenuity, a deep understanding of ecological systems and a level of commitment to their life's work that many of us will never know. That knowledge, skill and dedication has no doubt gotten every farmer in Vermont through many challenges caused by erratic weather, fickle markets and every evolving pest and disease pressures. Today we are staring down an unprecedented scale of those same challenges that Vermont's farmers and food producers are uniquely well positioned to help solve. S3-11, the Vermont Green New Deal, presents an exciting opportunity to recognize ecologically sound farming practices as a critical part of the solution to the climate crisis. Agricultural systems grounded in ecological principles have the potential to stabilize our climate, revitalize our rural communities and provide meaningful, financially viable livelihoods to current and future generations of Vermonters. By passing a Green New Deal that gives agriculture a seat at the table and directly supports these goals, Vermont can ensure a more secure and vibrant future for all of its citizens. The farmers and foresters who are already serving such a critical role in undergirding our food security, our ecological systems and the very core of our state's culture are the ones we must support to do their best work during this time of massive transition in Vermont. We see an opportunity in the Vermont Green New Deal and S3-11 to make that dream a reality. Now Vermont is proud to be here today with 350 Vermont and our allies in the labor community to call on our legislative leaders to bring the Vermont Green New Deal forward and give the public a chance to be heard. Thank you. I'd now like to introduce Washington Senator, Washington County Senator Anthony Polina, sponsor of S3-11. Thank you all for being here. I think we all realize that we're here because climate change represents a serious threat to our environment, to our economy, to our way of life, to our culture, to our agriculture, to our recreational industry and whatnot. But we're also here because we recognize that we're running out of time when it comes to climate change. We're running out of time on a planetary level. We're running out of time on a legislative level as well. We have a choice right now. We can either continue to plan as to what we're going to do or we can actually start doing what we need to do in order to get the job done. While there are other good bills moving through the legislative process trying to address climate change, S3-11 is the only bill that provides the funding necessary to actually see that we take on the climate actions that we need to achieve. And it doesn't immediately. We don't have to wait three years while processes develop, while rules are made and then find out that we can't reach our goals because we don't have the money to make the investments. How many homes can we weatherize without the money being there? How many electric vehicles can we incentivize without the money being there? There's been a lot of talk and a lot of planning. It's time to actually start the doing and S3-11 has the bills to do that. There's a certain kind of a new sort of denial that's going on around here, I think. It's not a denial of climate change. People recognize climate change as a problem. It's a denial of the fact that we need to make the investments in order to combat climate change. It's not enough to say it exists and that we're not going to do anything about it. So we've got to get past this denial that we need to raise the money to make it happen. And realize that in a recent VPR poll, 60% of Vermonters said they would support taxing wealthy individuals in order to pay for climate change actions. That's exactly what this bill would do. It doesn't put a burden on the large majority of Vermonters. We're basically talking about putting a small surcharge on the income of about 16,000 tax filers. We're saving, as was mentioned before, up to $237 million a year in federal tax savings because of the Trump tax cuts. We're asking those people to contribute a bit more back to the state of Vermont so we can get our climate action in process. We also know that the longer we wait, the more it's going to cost and the longer we wait, the more destruction we're going to have to deal with. So I'm pleased that everybody's here and I obviously would join with you in your call for the legislature. Hold some hearings, allow Vermonters to be heard on the Green New Deal. And realize that while there are other bills moving through the legislature, this is the one bill that will actually get us where we need to go. So thank you very much for being here. I'd now like to invite Lieutenant David Zuckerman. Lieutenant Zuckerman. Thank you, Giles. I want to speak specifically first to Carmen's comments. I heard at the farmer's market back in January, a 17-year-old with her parents came to me and said, I'm and my friends are likely not going to have children. Think about that for a minute. There is no species in the history of this planet that has consciously decided to not procreate. Every single person in this room recognizes biology. And that reproduction is about one of the most fundamental things that we do. Not everybody, different love relationships partners, I want to recognize that. But fundamentally, when a 17-year-old says, a lot of people my age are thinking, we are not going to have children because of the world that those children have to live in. That's profound. And that to me, if that's not the clarion call to say we need to do something about it, I don't know what is. I'm extremely pleased that Senator Plina introduced this legislation. It's a topic that a number of us have been talking about for a little while with respect to the Trump tax cuts and the wealthiest folks who generally are doing okay. The idea of a marginal tax on them to retrieve some of that tax cut to invest in our future is frankly a no-brainer. When I look at the coalition here, I think back to one of the first meetings I had in the Lieutenant Governor's Office, a blue-green coalition bringing labor and environmentalists together, sometimes who had had battles in the past and said, we all are in solidarity on so many things. We need to be talking more frequently about the ways to work together. And so when I see this coalition of agriculture, labor, environmentally interested folks, young folks, you realize that the climate affects everybody and we have the opportunity to make the investments in our state from weatherization to renewable energy to affordable housing to the numerous ways that we can actually put Vermont on the map as a leader in this country for our people and for our planet. And as Carmen stated, you want to talk about young people, guess what? This kind of legislation is exactly what will attract young people to our state. This is the cornerstone of rebuilding our rural areas, of supporting agriculture in its ability to sequester carbon in the soil, in renewable energy, in housing, weatherization that's going to help working class people afford to live here. All of that is encompassed in this bill. The only shortcoming I see with the bill is that it's actually not big enough. To me, you know, if the wealthiest 5% are going to save $240 million under the Trump tax cuts each year, is it too much to say, how about go ahead and put half of that towards Wall Street, but let's put the other half of that into the Vermont infrastructure for our future, for our economy, and our planet, our children. Thank you, Jail, and all the other organizers who have brought this together. I do hope that the legislature will really explore this possibility and move forward with this opportunity to make a difference that is real and not thin as the governor's proposals in his budget with, as was stated, a few electric mustangs. Thank you. I would now like to open it up for questions. I got it through the Joint Fiscal Office. And I called them twice because I got the information. I called them back. I said, is this really $237 million? I said, yes. And I said, every year. And I said, yes, every year. As long as the Trump tax cuts last, which is about five years, the surcharge would sunset when the tax cuts sunset. Who do we need to talk to? Talk to Senator Chris Bray. I would just add, talk to every senator you have and every legislator you have. The way things work in this building is as more legislators talk to their colleagues that they're hearing from their constituents about an issue, the more likely that issue is to surface to the top. So it is not a top-down process here. It can be and should be a bottom-up process, which is why when I look at the coalition of organizations here, and if the members and affiliated individuals call all of their reps and senators, that will be the word that gets back to Senator Bray and others about the importance of passing this legislation. Good legislation throughout history has come from the bottom up. Keep in mind too that there were 14 sponsors on the bill. I'm the key sponsor, but there are 13 others who signed out to it. So you have 14 senators who signed out to the bill. You need 15 to pass it, obviously. But 14 senators signed out, they had the courage to sign on to the bill. Now the question is whether they have the courage to take the next step, which is actually to bring it up and let people be heard on it. You wish sometimes that people wouldn't just sign on to a bill unless they really mean it. So we have the majority almost signed on to the bill already. So talk to all your senators and tell them to take the next step, which is having hearings and sorting in support of the bill. And I just want to make one thing clear, because you mentioned you need 15 votes to pass it. If it's a tie, I would cast that deciding vote. That's why I said 15 and said 16. One of the demands that we're making right now is to hold a public hearing. Senator Bright has intimated that he's interested in that idea. So if you want a simple message, contact all the senators, everybody that David just mentioned and Anthony just mentioned, and say, hold the public hearing. Let the people be heard. Some of them are in the room today, but a lot more of them are out there working and would like to be heard. I would say he would do it in the evening so that people could get to it. So that's the demand right now. Yeah, infrastructure is one of the things that was stressed. And I noticed mostly legislators, I think, having to let their cars out. But your biggest problem is the interstates. And that's where you need the infrastructure with fast charge on probably where on the way stations which are, to say the least, underutilized. You could have fast charge stations on the interstates and would get rid of the range of anxiety when white people don't buy electric cars. Once they have a place on the interstates that they can pull into, get a quick charge and keep going. You will find people buying electric cars and not just electricity. And of course electric cars are wonderful, but electric shared vehicles are the ultimate. So how we as a car journey, more we learn how to do transit, how to have someone in our car, how to do ride share, how to do the hitching service, how do you want to make a transit, how to do public transportation, how to do rail. These are the new challenges that we need to put infrastructure on the interstates. Thank you. Any other questions? I was going to say for Senator Polina, I guess in your conversation with constituents and also other lawmakers, what's the biggest misconception about this bill? That people get wrong or that you need to clear up? Well, I think, I don't know if it's a misconception. The key thing I hear is that if we pass this, the governor is just going to veto it, which is not a reason not to pass good legislation. And also I think if the governor is willing to talk about affordability and doing what's right for the majority of monitors, this is the bill that would allow him to do it. So there have not been a lot of misgivings. I think there's a misconception that sometimes when you talk about raising taxes on the wealthy, you hear from lower income people who say, I don't want to be taxed and I keep reassuring them that if you're on, unless you're one of the 16,000 Vermont tax filers that pay $200,000 a year, this bill is going to have no negative impact on you at all. What it's going to do is allow you to weatherize your home. It's going to save you money and it's going to possibly put you to work because it'll create jobs while doing these other efforts as well. Some people might ask a question if we're going to respond to that. Well, there's absolutely no evidence that tax rates cause people to leave the state. I mean, we've had this argument in here in this building for years. I've done the research. I've debated it on the Senate floor, debated it out in communities. There's absolutely no evidence that raising taxes on the wealthy causes them to leave. People who are wealthy love living in Vermont. It's a beautiful place to be. But this bill, in the meantime, doesn't move forward this quickly. Can you talk a little bit more about why you see that as a potentially dangerous situation? Well, if I heard you right, if I got the question right, I think the problem is we may pass things like the Global Warming Solutions Act, which I'm not saying is a bad bill. I will support that. But nothing will happen for three or four years under the Global Warming Solutions Act. And then they set goals and then they'll come back four years later and say we couldn't reach our goals. Why? Because we didn't have the investment money to make the goals come real. Because they'll set goals, say we're going to reduce our emissions, so we're going to weatherize homes, we're going to invest in electric vehicles, we're going to invest more in renewables. But it'd be pretty easy for the administration to come back and say, we tried, but we simply didn't have the financial resources to make it happen. So I think that's the problem is we get the feeling that if we pass the Global Warming Solutions Act, we've solved the problem. When, in fact, what we've done is started a planning process. If you took some of the efforts, some of the, what's in the guts of the Global Warming Solutions Act and combined it with the Green New Deal Act, then you'd have the ability to have the money to actually do the things that Global Warming Solutions Act wants to do. I want to add to that that the Global Warming Solutions Act is a very good piece of legislation and it should go through. What that does is it creates more foundational benchmarks that the state can be held accountable by its citizens. What we now have is the opportunity to make it so that citizens don't have to do that. If we were to pass the Green New Deal, we would be executing the measures necessary to meet those goals, so we wouldn't be placing the burden on everyday folks who would be working or with their families, or doing other productive things for society rather than needing to be here banging on the doors of those of us who represent them. So the two really work in concert to say, we've heard from the people, we are passing legislation, putting in concrete steps so that we can be held accountable if we don't meet those goals, but we would also be passing legislation to put our money where our mouth is and where our words are to actually execute. And the drawback of not passing the Green New Deal is that we would not be addressing the urgency of the situation with the measures necessary today. There is not time to wait two and three and four years to address the climate crisis, the affordable housing crisis, the rural transportation crisis, all of which are really hurting Vermont. And this bill addresses many of those things combined. It's actually an incredible vision and opportunity to have a vision and a Vermont for the future. Are there any more questions? Thank you all for coming.