 Good evening folks. This is the second public hearing that the House and Senate appropriations committee committees are conducting on February 8 on the governor's proposed fiscal year 22 budget. Thank you very much for joining us. And because I will forget at the end of the night, I wanted to say a deep thank you to our staff, who has been working for hours to make this work as seamlessly as it does so. Thank you all for enabling us to speak with the public about such important matters. Well, I'll let, I'll ask Senator Kitchell to introduce her, her members and then I'll introduce mine and then we'll turn it over to the public. Thank you. Good evening everyone and thanks for coming. The appropriations has all its members here tonight, Senator Baruth will be a little bit late but Senator nitka, Senator star Senator balance. Senator Westman Senator Sears and myself the chair of Senator appropriations Jane Kitchell. Thank you and we look forward to hearing testimony we have I think 40 witnesses schedule so we are obviously collecting a lot of information and different thoughts on the budget. So Mary, yeah. Thank you, Senator Kitchell, and joining us from the House Appropriations Committee are representatives Peter Fagan, made a Townsend Tristan Tolino, Marty Feltas, David Yacoboni, Jim Harrison, Rob Robin shy, Trevor squirrel and Kimberly Jessup sadly representative Bob Helm could not join us this evening but I'm sure he will review the material on the information we're receiving. The way we are scheduling the evening is, I will call the name of the first participant and then say the name of the second person who will be joining us so that you'll be ready to come on deck with us. Because we have so many people who would like to testify we're limiting testimony to two minutes, you see a timer and which will time down and you'll see a yellow and red and then representative Fagan will also hold up the sign that he just showed you. And you'll hear this. Yeah, please can please conclude your comments. So when you hear that, please wrap it up. We have so many people that we need to give everybody an opportunity to speak with us. So with that, I believe we're ready to begin. And the first person scheduled is Molly Dugan and following her is Charlie Baker. Miss Dugan, you there. Yes, can you hear me. Yes, wonderful. Thank you so much. Good evening, members. My name is Molly Dugan and I'm the director of policy and strategic initiatives for Cathedral Square, and one of the co chairs of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Coalition VHCC. I respectfully request your support for the governor's 34.8 million budget recommend for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board for fiscal year 22. This proposed increase is appropriate given the scale of the need before us and the proven record of accomplishment of VH of accomplishments of VHCC members to deliver solutions to the urgent community needs brought on by COVID. My fellow co chair Phil Huffman from the Nature Conservancy testified earlier today focusing on conservation side of VHCC's mission. So I'm going to focus on the housing side. We've seen a rapid rise in the real estate market due to COVID and this has had a direct impact on the availability of land and high quality affordable housing for low and moderate income from honors. We've shown our members to use the proposed budget increase effectively, equitably and efficiently. We've shown through the years and most recently with funds provided through the housing revenue bond, as well as the coronavirus relief funds that by partnering with state agencies, local community providers and most importantly the people we serve. We can create and repair high quality housing that also revitalizes communities. Your investment at this level will facilitate diverse projects across the state. We have an existing pipeline of projects ready to go. The investment will facilitate job growth and economic recovery, new and revitalized housing as you know creates jobs. Finally, the investment will facilitate health equity, the positive impact of high quality and affordable housing on health is well documented, and our members are committed to creating housing communities that increase residents access to social services, health care and wellness programs. In fact, our members have invested to improve access to broadband, making telehealth and social connections more viable in all corners of the state. Honestly, the needed investments are varied across the state, and we urge you to encourage flexibility for VHCB to direct funds as needed to respond to those individual needs, whether they're for housing or for conservation. The budget language directs the one time funds for housing only. We value VHCB staff. Thank you. You need to wrap it up. Please. Thank you very much and please support VHCB at the recommended. Thank you. Charlie Baker and following him, Morgan Krosna. Hi, good evening, hoping you can hear me okay. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for your time and dedication to the state of Vermont I'm speaking to you tonight on behalf of the regional planning commissions that cover the entire state. There's really more of a general comment. There's a lot of initiatives in the state house that I know you're all considering this year. Just to run down a quick list, brownfields recreational infrastructure weatherization, better places, housing broadband, electric vehicles, community clean energy downtown transportation, energy transformation and climate change. The RPCs get asked to help a lot with these types of projects. And so I'm just really planting a seed with you. There's not been an increase in the regional and municipal planning grant program since 2014. And of course, our staff costs go up every year, whether we want them to or not between healthcare and and cost of living raises. And so we asked for some consideration, whether it be at a programmatic level or the general level for an increase in the funding going to regional planning commissions and to the municipal planning grant program. So, thank you. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Morgan Crossman and following him as Dennis whole. Good evening. My name is Dr. Morgan Crossman and I'm the Executive Director of Building Bright Futures or BBF. BBF is mandated by Vermont's Act 104 and the Federal Head Start Act to be Vermont's early childhood state advisory council. We're hoping to increase our legislative allocation by $261,000 annually to continue to meet our state and federal mandates. We're confident that you all on this call care deeply about Vermont's youngest children and families and the BBF network is the systemic mechanism that improves outcomes for all children prenatal to AJ and their families in Vermont. We accomplish this by building and sustaining an integrated high quality equitable system of services. We bring together a network of over 450 early childhood stakeholders across sectors to monitor Vermont's early childhood system and outcomes for kids and families. BBF consistently uses evidence and data to inform policy builds the capacity of state agencies and ensures integration in our system so that families have access to what they need. BBF also quickly and efficiently gather gathers data and reports and stories from all corners of the state for testimony as a resource to the legislature. So within the last month within 24 hours BBF captured 69 responses from all 12 regions of the state across 32 sectors with 60% identifying as a parent. And one of those parents stated this is the one place I feel that my voice is heard and it matters. So increasing the base allocation is critical for BBF to continue to respond to the request request from the legislature, our state and community partners, and to adapt to the needs of our system. Our existing allocation of $244,000 does not come close to supporting the work required in statute and doesn't represent parody and other advisory bodies in the state. Our future is requesting an additional $261,000, which is a total of $505,000 for our work through the DCF child development division budget. We're here to fulfill that mandate and ensure that each and every child has the best opportunity to thrive, and we need your increased support to be able to do that. Thank you for your time. Next up is Dennis Hul and following him is Ken Gagnum. Good evening. Thank you for this opportunity. And thank you for all your time in your work for the state of Vermont. I'm a 30 year career healthcare worker currently the chief financial officer of Northeast Kingdom Human Services with offices in Newport Derby in St. Johnsbury. We are members of the Vermont Care Partners Network. We serve individuals with mental health needs, substance addiction issues and intellectual developmental needs living in Caledonia, Essex and Orleans counties. Plan sustainable state support in the form of a rate increase is necessary. Please find a way to support the designated agencies and specialized service agencies that provide exceptional care to the most vulnerable. We contract with the state of Vermont to support some of the most complex and economically challenged individuals. By mandate, we have a no refusal policy, meaning we serve any and all people to the best of our staffing ability. Best practice guidance has proven that local community care supports individuals the best. Most services are intended to keep people out of the limelight while helping these clients achieve employment, remain enrolled in their education and be positive contributors to the local community and the economy. Our current funding does not adequately support the infrastructure and staffing levels needed. The DA SSA network is often a training ground as people work to obtain licensure and then find other new and higher paying jobs. The DA SSA network is 90 to 98% funded by Medicaid. Our agency turnover rate is 25%. Our sister agencies report slightly higher rates at 27%. Our current staffing vacancy rate is eight and three quarter percent, which indicates the challenge of recruiting skilled licensed clinically trained individuals needed to staff our organization. Over the past three months, we have seen six individuals declined positions due to low pay. Another area that requires support is crisis beds within the developmental services system of care. Currently, there are only two resources statewide and they are often full. Service equity is a challenge. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm sorry, I muted myself. Thank you folks. Mr. pool. Next up is Ken Gagnan and following him, David Kerry. Hello, my name is Ken Ganya. I'm a fourth generation sawmill operator actually fourth generation farming sawmill operator here in Pittsburgh. And I'm here to lend my support to the added the working lands grant program that's part of. Been a part of our industries in the last few years. Obviously, I'm this is this whole process is a little new to me. I wanted to share with you folks that one of the, this program has definitely helped us continue with our business going for the future. We have been operating a mill for almost 60 years and have been running it with diesel. And we applied for a grant back in 2019 to bring three phase and 1.6 miles and it's came through and it's made the difference for us going forward. We're we we operate a lumber mill that saw is pretty close to 2 million board feet we employ about 10 people and directly at the mill and then we reach out to at least 50 to 100 landowners and loggers and other wood industry people within the this central part of the state of Vermont. And we also supply heating chips for Mount Anthony Union High School. We've also supplied them to Middlebury College and Green Mountain College. What I wanted to definitely encourage you folks to consider supporting the, the working lands grant programs going into the future. One of the challenges I see for the working lands that we're part of and have been part of for 140 years is who's going to carry the mantle into the next generations. There's there's there's young folks that need to get a chance to get their ideas on the ground and running and to get into this industry or to be able to carry on like dairy farming is very intensive. And I would definitely encourage you folks to consider continuing that support for the for this upcoming year. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Next up is David Kerry and following him is Ruby Baker. Ladies and gentlemen, I speak for you this evening to ask for your continued support of the initiative put forward by the Vermont food bank called Vermonters feeding Vermonters. As the title suggests this food program encourages Vermont farmers to sell their products locally. And in today's situation the Vermont food bank continues to demonstrate daily the capacity to get fresh nutritious food to those most in need. In time through the Vermonters feeding Vermonters program, large numbers of our local farmers have been able to set their sell their produce directly to the food shelves in all corners of the state and thus provide fresh locally grown food to those who might otherwise suffer from hunger. Speaking personally, my wife and I volunteer every Thursday at Chester and over family center. We assist in the food shelf area, and it's wonderful to see so many people being helped on a monthly basis with a full box of food. They're all profoundly grateful for the help they receive, especially during these trying times of course, and quite simply if it were not for the Vermont food bank, we would have families in the area going to bed hungry. I'm telling you about a special program at our family center. It's a weekly event that we call Fresh Friday. Locals who need additional fresh veggies can visit the food shelf every Friday and pick up a new supply of fresh locally grown food. I'm quite certain that everyone here this evening would agree that the more nutritious a gift of food is, the better for everyone. And what could be better than picking up bags of fresh food from our local farmers on Fridays. The food bank is an integral member of our team and without its regular support the Chester Chester and over family center and many other food shelves across the state would likely be in dire straits. I urge you to continue to support to continue to fund the Vermont food bank. Thank you very much for your attention. And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thank you again. Thank you. Next up is Ruby Baker, followed by Jenna Claire. Is Baker. I'm nudging. I think she might have hit the wrong button. Okay, why don't I want to go to the next person. Yes, let's let's go to Jenna Claire Clark. And let me know if Ruby Baker comes back in if she doesn't the next person up will be Kelly Osborne. I'm back. She is. Okay, sorry. Terrible timing for my internet to drop out. We know the problem. Hi, please. Hi. Thank you for having me here tonight. My name is Ruby Baker and the executive director of community of Vermont elders. We are a nonprofit that has operated here in Vermont for almost 40 years. Our mission is to promote and protect quality of life for Vermonters as we age through dialogue, education, advocacy and empowerment. We are here in the E state house to be a voice for all older Vermonters. In the last year we have seen three adult base close and most providers of housing health care and caregiving services are to vulnerable older adults are struggling. We ask that you consider a 2% increase to the Medicaid reimbursement rate for home and community based services to support those providers who in turn support older adults across Vermont. Since there was no increase in last year's budget and no proposed increase in this budget, we feel called upon your request that you revisit the idea of an annual rate setting process for home and community based services. Hospitals and nursing homes already have a process by which their costs and needs are established and resources allocated home and community based services should have a process as well. We have committed to the policy of aging have yet to commit to the real cost of having a robust continuum of supports and services that allows people to choose where they age. 8253 will build that process and provide parity for those providers. It also seeks to learn what the cost is of providing the phenomenal care that we give within each of our communities. Please consider this as a way to make an annual and ongoing commitment to aging in place. Both supports the governor's recommend that maintains the LIHEAP program and we urge the committee to monitor the status of the three squares and meals on wheels programs to ensure that no one goes hungry. As a result of inadequate funding or issues relating to access. Please feel free to contact me or anyone else at Cove if you have questions about these or other programs relating to older. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Jana Clark Claire and Kelly Osborn after her. Thank you. Thank you joint fiscal committee members. I'm Jana Claire and the director at Montpelier senior activity center division of the city of Montpelier. I'm the co-chair of the Vermont association for senior centers and meal providers and I served on the older Vermonters act work group over recent years. I'm here to reinforce the legislative priority of Vermont association of area agencies on aging or V for a that seeks an additional a million dollars per year for the next three years for senior meal programs. I'm Kathy Pockett and Janet Hunt testifying on the same item earlier today. Your investment at this level, at least will allow older Vermonters to receive more high quality meals, more wellness checks and more social connections. COVID has underscored the importance of all of this and the challenges to pay for it which were already significant and underfunded. Without adequate funding, most recipients are often only getting five meals per week. And for many those are their only real meals. Additionally, meal site expenses are severely underfunded, leaving sites to be burdened disproportionately with fundraising. In some cases with few or no paid staff, despite the fact that meals on wheels are one of the most frequently prescribed healthcare items upon hospital discharge for for vulnerable adults. A few words about my meal site in Montpelier. We serve about 16,000 meals per year to thirds of which are meals on wheels home deliveries. Before the pandemic we had about 75 volunteers serving per week in various ways to make those meals happen. The program also provided job training for many people and including youth and socialization. Since the pandemic, we've pivoted along with other sites to be COVID safe and we've never missed the meal. And in fact, we're serving more meals than before, like most sites around the state. We furloughed volunteers, recruited younger drivers, have very little help in the kitchen. We're delivering bulk frozen meals instead of hot daily meals, so that there's less contact. We're following health protocols, and we're doing new types of wellness calls and other creative strategies to increase social connection for those most vulnerable and homebound. In a recent cost analysis done by the state. Am I out of time already. I'm sorry to fund it and also to look at other needs of senior centers will be happy to talk more with many members in the weeks to come. Thank you for your time. Great. Thank you for your time. Kelly Osborne and following her, Andrew Nuss. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Kelly Osborne. I am a fourth year teacher in Bristol. I want to thank Governor Scott for his plan to fund the teachers pension for the next year and for his promises to address long term funding issues. The fact remains that the state treasurer's proposal regarding the future of the Vermont teachers pension program seeks to slash benefits hike costs and eliminate the cost of living adjustments. The shoulder the burden of a problem that we did not create cannot be justified by stating that times are tough. This issue cannot be simplified to individual teachers wanting the pensions that they have been promised. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the fact that all systems have common roots, one nationwide realization being that the education system is very much essential to the functioning of our economy. Let me ask you a question. How can it be that the education is vital to the economy and yet educators continue to have to fight and organize and testify in order to prove that we are deserving of benefits from the economy that we serve? What does it say of our collective values when we continue to teachers majority women deemed essential make additional sacrifices and yet teachers do not currently have a place in the vaccination line. Education profession is often cast as a labor of love which while true does not exclude this labor from deserving the promised economic benefits which many educators depend on as they plan their futures. We cannot keep saying that we value education, a key social safety net of our society and continue to treat the profession and the professionals there in as the go to bail out especially when alternatives are available. Please consider these alternative routes such as ensuring that the wealthiest in our state pay their fair share before asking more of our state educators. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next up is Andrew Nuss and following him Dorothy Manin. And thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony this evening on the governor's proposed budget. My name is Andrew Nuss. I'm a clinician and supervisor at the Claire Martin Center, the designated agency for the Orange County area. I often think that designated agencies are a sort of invisible safety net that provided invaluable and essential service, but what you do so in communities that know little of how they are served by them. It's people helping people. What this looks like is that people children families working and non working adults with a wide range of issues and challenges mental health substance abuse or both come to us when they're in need of help. It could be in a crisis in the middle of the night that leads to a call to our emergency service and emerging mental health illness in a young adult, a woman in an unsafe relationship, someone grappling with a substance abuse issue, where we're adjusting to the innumerable unexpected crises that can emerge in a life illness, the death of a loved one a job loss or as we currently see a pandemic that's having a profound impact on people's abilities to maintain stability. I am proud to say that we've continued to deliver all these services effectively through this pandemic with more people reaching out for help. I go forward with the pandemic and its numerable innumerable repercussions impacting our community. Our system will continue to be stressed and people will continue reaching out to us for help. Adequate funding from the state is necessary to enable us to deliver our services. And I hope the legislature will bear this in mind as the budget for FY 2022 is prepared. Global funding often the state's response to funding community mental health during difficult times will not be sufficient. Prior to the pandemic finding retaining qualified staff was difficult with high turnover being an ongoing challenge. This is partially due to lower salaries and inferior benefits to those employed in comparable roles with the state private agencies or hospitals. This is a negative impact on clients and staff. Therefore, urge the legislature to provide funding that are not only allows us to continue to operate, but to thrive. Will we continue to serve our communities. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Dorothy man and and following her is Jessica Hoskins. Okay. Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to share my perspective. I'm speaking tonight to oppose in the strongest possible terms, the proposed expansion of state sponsored gambling in Vermont to include keynote. It is well documented that when gambling opportunities are expanded gambling addiction rises gambling addiction destroys families and incurs both tangible and intangible costs to the community. The other was a gambling addict bill started out on a great path out of college she went to work as a meteorologist married had three children, and he went to highlight for some recreation. He went again and again soon as passion became blackjack and he was driving to Atlantic City. He was gone for days and lied about where he was. He stole money from his wife and children. He borrowed on the house lied to his siblings to borrow money took out payday loans had his life threatened by loan sharks. His marriage collapsed they lost the house he lost his job. He moved in with our mother and after a few years she moved away because she was afraid he would kill her for money. Oh yes he went to gamblers anonymous that's where he met his second wife, and they gambled on together leaving the baby in the car while they gambled for which he got arrested. This is the first taste of what went on for more than 20 years. Even now seven years since he passed away the impact is still rippling outward as that baby who spent high school in foster care and is now a young man grapples with feelings of responsibility for his homeless mother as well as depression. This is the reality of gambling addiction that I want you to know. I want to remind families by subsidizing childcare is a laudable goal that I wholeheartedly support, but doing so via a mechanism that we know will destroy some number of families in the bargain is not the way to do it. There has to be another way. What about an asset tax on people with assets over say $10 million. Please consider a revenue source that will not stimulate addiction and destroy families to meet this goal. Thank you. Jessica Hoskins is not with us so we'll go on to Sandra noise and after her Susan you on. Oh, am I on there. Yes, you are. Okay. All right. My name is Sandy noise I'm an office manager in northern Vermont University Johnson. This is my 28th year on campus and I'm pretty proud of that. Um, I just wanted to say that when I feel when students come to college. A lot of times they meet their future spouse. They stay in Vermont. They keep going to college. They have babies who raise more families and this is a way to keep the generations going in Vermont, which is something that we need to do. The faculty staff and students of the different communities support these communities by buying their gasoline and groceries and getting their hair done and stuff like that. So we're keeping the money in the communities and we put millions of dollars into the coffers for the state. There are a lot of volunteers for the network at the colleges and that our students to whether they're on the basketball court with your kids or out in the field or in the libraries are at the hospital and so they're at we're everywhere. My husband and I are volunteers that are at the Hyde Park BFW where we work on the community projects there and we support the veterans veterans are also parts of our colleges and we need to work for them like they've worked for us. But one thing I'd like to do in parting is just ask one question. We've been told that Vermont cannot afford the state colleges. I would like to know, can the state afford not to. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up is Susan you on and following her Natalie Cowden. Susan one. Are you available. She might be on a phone. I can't. There we go. See the name. You're muted. Miss you on my video. There we go. All right. Can you see me I can't see myself but that's all right. We can see you. Thank you. Yes. Thank you very much for this opportunity. It may be a little hard for me to read my material today because I had cataract surgery this morning. I am here as a representative from the Vermont coalition for disability rights, but primarily as the mother of a son who will turn 48 years old this week, who has developmental disabilities. I live in Jericho and I serve on the state standing committee for developmental services and the upper valley services board. I want to thank the governor's budget for having case new caseload money and for developmental services that's so important. But I also want to talk about an unmet need. The people who provide the actual direct care. People who are developmental home providers and direct support providers are, haven't had even a cost of living raise ever. He's a direct support provider. His shared living provider has been with him for 15 years, and there are people at upper valley services who've been with people for twice as much time 30 years without ever getting a raise. And I wonder how many people would keep working and consider that fair. It's very important for our developmental service system to have stability in the system, but it's unfair to expect stability, especially as some of us get older, and we want to be sure that our sons and daughters will continue to have homes. So I think that's to be a look of cost of living increase. We try to give bonuses when we can, but that never goes into the base. So I urge you to think about the direct support force, and to fund it. Thank you. Next up is Natalie Cowden and following her is Susan old divide. Sorry for mispronouncing your names. Hi, my name is Natalie Cowden. I'm a first grade teacher and I've been teaching for eight years in the state of Vermont. Thanks for the opportunity to speak and thank you my fellow teachers who are here to support the opposition of treasure pierces proposal for the underfunding of the teacher pension plan. And from my disappointment of the treasurer's recommendation to address the underfunding of the plan and the failure of the state to take responsibility for the reason it's been underfunded. Teachers have paid every penny that they have agreed to pay and have been asked to pay and yet this proposal asked teachers to pay more and receive less. Despite the fact that the government has not provided their fair and agreed upon contribution to the pension fund. I asked that the government seek and research other ways to fund this pension that doesn't solely fall in the hands of teachers and burden them during their time of retirement. And now, thank you. Thank you. Susan Olga life. Sorry for. Yeah, Elizabeth storm afterwards. I'm not seeing Susan. And so, okay, so on to Elizabeth storm and following her Sarah Kessler. People have abbreviated names here. Okay, here we go. Miss storm you can go ahead. Thank you I'm trying to get this unmuted. Yeah. Hey, good evening and thank you very much for your time. My name is Elizabeth storm and I live in Hartford, Vermont. First I want to say thank you for your past support of parent child centers as a mother of two boys and someone who has received services from the family place a parent child center located in Norwich Vermont. I'm here today to ask you to please fully fund the parent child centers essential work with families with young children. I believe that eight core services should be $10 million. For fiscal year 22, please work toward getting us toward our goal of 10 million. But at the very least, please ensure that our parent child centers receive a base funding of $7 and a half million. Parent child centers offered an integrated hub of support for families. I have seen the benefit of this support in my community and among my friends, especially as we navigate parenthood of young children during a pandemic. I'm lucky that the family place offers children's integrated services early intervention program in conjunction with the services offered as a parent child center. While receiving speech therapy services as part of early intervention for my toddler. We have been provided with connections to an information about the extensive programming and resources offered by the family place, which has been a great help to me personally. In summary, the work that parent child centers do helps families to cope successfully with both the timeless challenges of all families with young children and the new challenges of the 21st century. Raising a child is hard for everyone. Every parent wants to do a good job. Parent child centers helped to make it possible to be successful in raising strong, a strong and healthy family by helping families to identify and use their strengths to get their children off to a good start in life. When children have strong families, our communities are stronger and more resilient. Again, I'm asking you to please fully fund the parent child centers essential work for with families with young children. Thank you again for your past support and your time tonight. Thank you. Next up is Sarah Kessler and following her is Aaron Cousin Cousin. Hi, my name is Sarah Kessler and I live in Colchester with my two daughters who are 10 and almost 13. I work for a UVM health network but today I'm here as a mom. I'm here today to ask you to please support the governor's proposed investment in childcare. My daughters no longer need childcare we have years of experience behind us. For the first couple of years of my daughter's lives they went to an in-home daycare, but I really wanted them in an early education center where I knew there was more structure, a focus on development and life skills and more social interactions. I was very happy when I got the call from Wise Time which was Fletcher Allen's healthcare center or childcare center in 2012 that there were two spots open for my daughters. After being on the wait list for five years I was thrilled. It was even more disappointing though that I had to pull them from that center in 2013 when I went through a divorce and the judge learned that I was paying about $1,900 per month for the two of them. That was just about the same as my mortgage payment. The judge found that outrageous and since I made too much for subsidy but not enough to be able to afford both, she advised me to move them elsewhere. Many of my friends just started having children over the last few years. I was one of the first and I hear from them now that cost and access remain barriers. I'm talking about having to choose which spouse will work which will stay home because costs are so high and they can't afford both. I think about all of the untapped resources in our communities because of this. I also think about people who are passionate about working in early education but cannot afford to live on that salary. Please support the early education workforce with scholarships and loan repayments, and please support funding of the childcare assistance. Thank you so much for your time. So, the next person isn't available. So up next is Lisa Coffey and following her is Robert Hildebrand. Good evening and thank you for your time tonight. I'm Lisa Chaffee. I have been a 33 year educator in first and second grade, and I'm here tonight to request that you go with the governor's recommendation to totally fund the teacher's pension. As you know, over the last year, teachers have been asked to revamp and reevaluate how we teach and reach our students. The last several years, many educators have stayed in positions, even though the pay was lower than a different position they could take because of what they love to do for kids, but also that they would get the return later in life when they retire. Our school buildings are not the essential part of education. What is, what is essential is the teachers, the people who reach those students every single day, who bring in snacks, move them forward and help them become productive people in society. With many schools facing staffing issues, making the pension, decreasing the pension possibilities would definitely weaken our schools and take away from our children. So, I hope that you will consider going with the governor's recommendation. And I also hope that we can work together to figure out how to fund us in the future. Thank you and have a good evening. Thank you. Up next is Robert Hildebrand and following him is Perry Lessing. Great. Good evening. Just before I start, I want to say how wonderful it is to see a lot of faces since I'm also involved in the State House cafeteria. We miss you very much and can't wait to start making chocolate chip cookies for you again soon. Today I'm wearing a different hat. So thank you very much for the opportunity to appear for this committee to discuss the proposed legislation to provide universal school meals in Vermont age 32. I'm a school food service director who has had the opportunity to work in a number of schools, including one that's offered universal meals for several years now under existing USDA programs. The first hand, the transformative effect feeding all the kids is had on a school community over a period of time. In addition to better learning and behavioral outcomes, a universal meal program allows all children to be at the same level to bond over a shared meal and to avoid the societal stratification about who can afford what, instead of becoming another chance to divide and divide poverty meals become a way of sharing community. Given our experience since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when the USDA expanded universal meal programs to all schools nationally. I am even more convinced that Vermont must continue to make access to nutritious meals and integral part of the educational experience. All schools have a policy to feed all children a meal regardless of their account balance and already experienced high and ever increasing levels of unpaid school meal debt this expense gets rolled over into the property tax bill. It's not allowed to be covered even by surplus that a fund meal might that a program might generate. Then there's the additional expense and resource waste and stress on families and school staff trying to collect meal date meal debt it's high time we fund this honestly. An important step in this process is to fund a position at the Vermont AOE to facilitate the transition of the school meal program to a universal meal model. The dedicated staff of child nutrition must be given the resources to support this effort. I also believe that a Vermont Vermont pursues. This should contain strong incentives to support our local agricultural economy to increase purchases of local foods in our school meal programs. And thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Next up is Perry lessing and following him Heather Wilson. I'm Perry lessing I recently retired from teaching math in Middlebury. And until last spring I was on the visitors board. I'd like to touch on two topics, the normal cost of retirement system and the proposal to eliminate the cost of living adjustment. I know there are two reasons the state sends money to the pension system. One is to cover pensions for teachers who are working now and will retire in the future. This is the normal cost of the system, simply the amount needed each year if the fund is up to date. The other is to partially pay down unfunded liability created in past years, when the state did not make its full The normal cost for teacher pensions last year was about $42 million of that teachers paid $35 million, leaving about one sixth $7 million for the state. That breakdown is typical teachers pay roughly $5 into the system for every $1 contributed by the state. Teachers' proposals will mean that teacher contributions will exceed the normal cost, making it so today's teachers will not only be paying the full cost of their pensions, they will also be taking on part of the state's unmet responsibilities. In effect that would create a special tax on current school teachers, a tax no one else is asked to pay. Cost of living adjustments are currently throttled to one half the inflation rate and the proposal is to end them entirely. These reductions cannot save the system much, but they certainly hurt a few vulnerable retirees. Since the cost of pensions is constantly updated as teachers newly retire, having or eliminating the cost of living adjustment doesn't amount to much for the first year as a person is retired. Only once those reductions have compounded do they begin to add up. The people most affected are those who have been retired the longest. These people typically have low pensions already since their pension was calculated long ago, and having been retired for many years they have presumably used much of their savings. They are least able to afford an eroded pension. We just leave place great value in our defined benefit retirement system. The current proposals newly defined the value of that benefit to be ever diminishing. Please respect Governor Scott's recommendation and fully fund the annual contribution to the pension system. Thank you. Next up is Heather Wilson and following her is Jennifer Sieverite. Hi, my name is Heather Wilson. I live in St. Albans town and work for the parent child center of Northwestern counseling and support services and CSS. And I'm here to speak about an important system of early childhood services in Vermont. Children's integrated services or CIS. CIS has been underfunded for years and we need an additional $2.4 million to close the gap. We do need to determine if this should come from the general fund or if Medicaid matching funds could be used. CIS teams across each region ensure that families have access to services to not just solve the problems they face but to thrive in every sense of the word. We have expertise in child development, parenting, mental health, nursing and early care and education. We are in homes, childcare programs, classrooms, brown phones and across computer screens. Vermont conducted its own study a little over a year ago and the actual cost of providing CIS was determined to be $634 per client per month. But the state only offers us $502. And the need for CIS has only increased in the past year, despite the pandemic. In Franklin and Grand Isle counties, my PCC staff moved all their work to telehealth for a few months while also remotely schooling their own children. They returned to home visiting working in homes across the community in June. The work in CIS has always involved the challenges of poverty, child abuse and neglect, substance use and unmet mental health needs. And we continue to see these types of needs becoming more severe and each member of my team is serving more families than ever before. We see depression and anxiety rates are going up. We continue to help parents navigate the challenges of substance use. We try to help the children who are being expelled from childcare because they have difficulties with coping. And we're answering calls and texts from families when they can't buy groceries or diapers or winter boots for their children. CIS is vital to addressing the growing needs of our pregnant, postpartum parents and our very young children. And we need your support to close our funding. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Carrie Stahler and following her is Mary Beth Pinar. There we go. Hi, my name is Carrie Stahler. Thank you for allowing me to be here to share my perspective with you tonight. I am a resident of Linden, Vermont. And I work for Green Mountain United Way, but I'm here tonight as a parent. Carrie, you're to support the new agency of education position. Sorry, can you hear me? My internet is terrible. It is unstable. Why don't you turn your, your video off and maybe that. Yeah. All right, we'll try that. Okay, thanks. I'm here to ask that you support the new agency of education position within the child nutrition program so that schools who want to transition to universal school meals have the support they need. When we moved to this district in 2019, several schools in the area lost their universal school meals standing and families who had been receiving universal school meals for free had to go to a payment model. That was a really difficult challenge for many of the families in our district. And as new folks to this district, we sort of were able to understand and see the difference for children who were able to receive those meals and those who were not. As was mentioned a little bit earlier, schools always ensure that kids don't go without meals, but we as taxpayers end up paying for that through the education fund. And that if you're able to support this position, that schools will be able to get the help that they need to continue this program if they choose to. And that they'll be able to make sure that we're able to maximize the federal funding that Vermont draws down for these meals, not only helping schools, but helping the children they serve. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Mary Beth Pinard and then following her is Marie Fohlen. Good evening my name is Mary Beth Pinard and I'm the executive director of Vermont Catholic Charities. Vermont Catholic Charities is a statewide social service agency, serving all Vermarners regardless of faith and we've been doing that since 1929. One of the main reasons is that we operate for level three residential care homes, which are located in Derby line, Rutland and in Burlington, and over 80% of the 160 residents we serve are on Medicaid. And one of the facility the facility in Derby line is one of the few residential care homes in the Northeast Kingdom. As your committees consider adding an increase in the budget to the Medicaid reimbursement rate, specifically the assistive community care services or the ACCS program. A rate increase is currently not in the governor's budget, and is necessary in order for residential care homes operated by Vermont care, Vermont Catholic Charities and others to continue to provide the extraordinary care and services to residents, and to hire and retrain high quality staff to care for residents. Our direct cost of care is 87% of our expenses, and the current reimbursement rate covers less than 50% of that cost of care. The health continue to rise with the increase in minimum wage and health care insurance premiums going up this past year the minimum wage increased by 9% and next year that increase will go to 7%. And our health insurance premiums have gone up by 11.4%. Increases without increase the reimbursement rate will continue to increase this financial gap, and in an already tight labor market it's difficult to find and retain staffing and compete with the marketplace wages. And we care for some of the most vulnerable in our communities, because we accept Medicaid Medicaid on day one. So thank you for your consideration. Marie Fohlen and following her is Cara Fitzpochum. Great. Thank you so much for this opportunity to speak. My name is Maura Fohlen. I'm the program manager at Green Mountain Farm to School in Newport. For fiscal year 22 I'm asking you to please fully fund the Farm to School and Early Childhood Grants program at the $500,000 goal to support our children getting great nutrition and our farmers getting direct support through purchasing for school meals. The grant program provides schools with funding, expertise, support and dedicated time to develop and grow Farm to School programming. And as a grantee coach through the program I can definitely share this is a winning formula for success. The Newport Head Start Center of current grantee is planning to build a sensory and snacking garden space with grant funds this spring after an inspirational curriculum workshop with Shelburne Farms. And they're also working with NOFA Vermont to think through implications for their meal program, namely how to utilize more whole foods from their garden and from a new partnership with a local food hub Farm Direct. So as this example illustrates the grant program affects all aspects of the school and community for better nutrition for students, vital food and agriculture education and business for our farming community. No other program provides the same kind of outcomes. The demand for Farm to School continues to grow each year and we've been making some really great progress in this area to expand to more schools throughout the state but in order to continue we must increase our investment until we reach our $500,000 a year goal. Thank you for your time and consideration of this request. Appreciate it. Thank you. Next up is Kara Fitzpochamp. And following her is Tracy Schell. And thanks for having me. My name is Kara Fitzpochamp and I run evening song farm with my husband and six employees. We've been participating in the NOFA farm share program for 10 years which provides CSA shares to low income families. And though we provide charitable fresh produce donations to the food bank and Black River good neighbor throughout the year we love participating in this NOFA farm share program because it allows us to support low income families while also being paid for production. As a small business balancing the priority of providing living wages for our staff and ourselves this program is uniquely effective, and that it supports small farms and food insecure families at the same time. This past year we serve three times as many low income households thanks to the CARES Act funds made available to NOFA through the Vermont food bank. And I hope to be able to continue to serve these new families for the foreseeable future. I'm here to encourage the consideration of appropriating 75,000 towards the vital food security program, which will allow NOFA to serve over 1400 Vermont homes. We see how access this weekly year round fresh food is an enormous support and often life changing opportunity to the families who participate. One mother who participated in the program for the first three years shared with me how participating the program allowed her and her girls to change how they cooked and ate food and ultimately improve their health. She's now full paying CSA member and tells me how she wouldn't have been able to do it without this program. So thanks for your consideration. Thank you. Next up is Tracy Shau and following that is Jessica Radford. Good evening my name is Tracy Shau and I'm Vice President for Conservation at Vermont Land Trust. I'm here tonight as a co-chair of the Forest Partnership, a coalition that recognizes that Vermont's forests are critical investment in our future. They provide valuable forest projects, products and related jobs and are a key component of Vermont's outdoor recreation and tourism sector upon which many of our rural communities depend. Our state's forests are also critical natural solutions to other pressing problems like climate change and clean water. We've reviewed the governor's appropriation recommendations with an eye towards those investments that support our state recovery from COVID-19 crisis, while also helping to protect forests and we urge you to support the following recommendations. With its conservation and housing partners across the state, BHCB provides critical support for Vermont's working in natural landscape while growing Vermont's historic downtown and supporting our economy and quality of life. We support the governor's recommendation to allocate $20 million of one time funds to the BHCB, as well as a full allocation from the property transfer tax. However, we do strongly recommend ensuring BHCB retains the discretion on how to allocate its funds and providing housing and conservation to best meet community needs. The agency and natural resources must have the necessary resources and revenue to protect our forests and administer programs to support our working lands and outdoor rec economy. So we support the governor's recommendation to authorize the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department to build applicants for staff participation in Act 250. During this period of really intense financial and structural challenges to both farm and forest businesses, we must provide resources to grow and strengthen those sectors. So we support the recommendation of $3.5 million to dollars to the Working Lands Enterprise Initiative. And investing in outdoor recreation both directly supports the related businesses and organizations, as well as attracting high quality employers and a sustainable workforce across all economic sectors. We also support the recommendation of $5 million for vorac and $5 million for state recreational infrastructure and access and the Vermont Trail Network. In summary, as a coalition we believe that our decisions about how we protect and manage our forests are deeply tied to the recovery of our state's prosperity. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up is Jessica Radboard and following her is Kate Dewar. My name is Jessica Radboard and I'm an attorney at Vermont Legal Aid. I'm here today to encourage you to reject the Department for Children and Families Emergency Housing Initiative proposal. The General Assistance Emergency Housing Program, GM Motels, functions as a program of last resort for Vermont who's experiencing homelessness. And over the course of the pandemic, it's become clearer than ever that housing is essential for health, ideally as permanent housing, but a safe and stable shelter and the alternative. In addition to the general assistance motel program, the program that DCS initiative would repeal functions essentially as a right to shelter to all eligible individuals and families, and rights matter. The GA program has clear rules about who's eligible participants have basic due process rights advocates can challenge a rule in court if we believe it's unlawful. Program rules and benefits are the same for all Vermonters regardless of what county they live in, and that framework of rights is so fundamental that equitable access is so fundamental. And this initiative removes that basic right that basic equity that we find in the GA program. Now the department school of better addressing the needs of people experiencing homelessness is laudable, but eliminating the GM hotel program will not do that. Instead, it's likely to make more people be literally homeless, intense or cars or on the street rather than in shelter and on a path to housing. Now DCF has stated that by shifting the burden of shelter overflow to community providers, the community can offer people experiencing homelessness access to motels without all the restrictive eligibility rules and time limits of the GM hotel program. But there just isn't enough funding in the initiative for the community based providers to do that in an adequate way. So DCF proposal is setting us up setting the community based agencies up for disaster and a crisis of literal homelessness. The roadmap to end homelessness didn't tell us to eliminate the state's provision of shelter as a way to end homelessness it advises to provide more affordable housing and services. So for a month legal aid or just you to reject the administration's emergency housing initiative, and it's elimination of the general assistance motel program. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Kate doer and following her is Barbara Colette. Hi there. You're hearing me. My name is Kate and I'm living in the town of Lincoln and I'm a licensed midwife and lactation consultant but tonight I'm speaking on behalf of a group of community members concerned about proposed school closures. First I would like to begin by commending Governor Scott on his response to COVID-19 mitigation is clear that having consistent science based information available and accessible to the public works really well. It has not been easy living and this health crisis has affected us all in many ways. One of the more positive aspects is COVID-19 acting as a homing beacon to Vermonters who left to seek opportunities elsewhere, newly remote workers choosing to set up shop closer to recreational activities, those moving to be closer to family and many other reasons and are shifting priorities this global pandemic has provided. Some of these new arrivals have young children are planned to have a family in the near future and they will be pleased to learn that Vermont school system is strong. However, there are some concerning trends which is the reason I am speaking tonight. My family moved to the town of Lincoln in 2019 which is part of the Mount Abraham unified school district. We chose Vermont because the town of Miami had hoped to move back to where we have family history and close knit community of friends close its elementary school several years ago. So it was heartbreaking. When the superintendent recently proposed a repurpose or close three of the schools in our district, including Lincoln Community School LCS. This proposal prompted a public outcry and much community organizing. I had to add my voice to the few. I had to add my voice knowing what the future of our town could look like based on experience. The Addison Independent recently ran an article entitled Lincoln School is seen as a big draw for families. Current residents and LCS alums site LCS is the reason they recently moved here are planning on returning. LCS school is the heart of the town. And this is not the only school that this is happening to I would like to make a list of the other schools, New Haven, Starksboro, Ripton Waybridge Westminster Cornwall Athens, Grafton Bradford, Newberry health facts and Reedsboro are other towns in the similar circumstance. And I would like you to keep town schools a priority as you move forward with your fiscal decisions. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next up is Barbara Colette and following her is Paul. Cherry, I'm sorry, charier Barbara. Hello, I'm Barbara Peabody Colette. I'm a licensed special education teacher. I've worked in Addison Central Supervisory District for 11 years. And thank you for your time tonight. I urge you to fully fund our teacher's pension and reject the drastic increase in teacher contribution and reduction in benefits proposed by the treasurer. I am a single parent and Vermont schools were a factor in my decision to return to work and raise my children here in Vermont where I grew up. I'm doing as a second career for me, and I'm still paying my student loans from my teaching degree at UVM, even as I helped my sons through college. It's been a challenge but I have no regrets, and I love my work. Given all of that, I do need to plan really intentionally for my own retirement. I have always regarded the retirement statement I received from the state as a promise. I read it carefully, and it's part of my overall long term financial plan. Soon after I began teaching my contribution was increased from 5% to 6% in order to shore up the fund. It's my understanding that this sacrifice would keep my own pension viable and was necessary to keep the promise made to teachers already in retirement. I have paid every penny asked of me, and I am still planning that the state will honor its commitment as stated in those little green statements that I get. I pour over them and I plan for them. Please fully fund the annual contribution to the teacher's pension as Governor Scott provided for in his budget. And please work to find alternative sustainable solutions for meeting the state's commitment to its teachers. Thank you. I'll ask Paul to say his last name since I'm sharing Paul share here. Thank you. Following Paul is. Sorry, Donna Bailey. Go ahead Paul cherry. Okay, I won't take as long because Barbara stole some of my thunder but I teach at Middlebury Union Middle School been teaching there for 23 years. It's a part of Madison Central School District, and I am also here to speak in opposition to Treasurer Pierce's proposals to change the Vermont State Teachers Retirement System. There's many reasons, some of which have already been spoken I won't repeat them. And I'm going to give you the rest of them throughout the next coming weeks because we're still going to be talking about this. I would. So I just want to reiterate one though that Barbie said, we have paid every penny. We have sacrificed already and made a compromise in 2010, and that required us to pay more into the system and to work longer to achieve our benefits. So we've already made a compromise. We haven't complained. We continue to come to work every day. The teachers on my team have not missed a day since September. We've been in the building every day. There isn't one unintended consequence of the cuts that I think people don't realize people at the end of their career like myself are going to flee the system. And that's a problem not only because you're going to lose expertise and experience in education. You're also going to it's financially going to hurt the system because me paying into the system, 5% of my salary is a lot better than 5% at somebody at the middle level. And teachers, the probably the more concerning thing to me is the younger teachers in my building that are now talking about getting out of education. Or even worse, I think for the state is to get out of education. I mean to me get out of get out of Vermont. And I think that would be bad for the state. Please continue to fully fund the pension. Let's stay the course. Keep the promise. Have a good night. Thank you so much. Next up is Donna Bailey and following her as Rebecca Bell. Good evening. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Donna Bailey and I'm the director of the Addison County parent child center and the co director of the parent child center network. I want to thank you all for your work. It's critically important. So thank you. I'm here to ask that you fully fund the essential work that parent child centers do with families and young children. So I want us to reach our goal of $10 million by fiscal year base for our base funding and fiscal year 2022. And you can do that by ensuring that the parent child centers receive a base funding of 7.5 million this year. Why parent child centers. We are the hub of early childhood and parenting services in Vermont. We are represented in every town and in every region of Vermont for direct services. We work with at least two generations at one time with parents and children and often with grandparents and also foster parents. We are able to offer before during and after COVID. We're able to offer supports to all parents play groups, etc. are part of our eight core services. While we offer the most intensive services to Vermonters in great need through learning together. We provide parent education job training and and parenting classes. We also provide basic needs to families. Many of us provide the CIS services and the early childhood supports needed for families in our districts. Please fund the parent child centers and ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Rebecca Bell and following her is Sandy Solaro. Hi, thank you for your time. My name is Dr. Becca Bell. I'm a pediatric ICU doctor and the president of the Vermont chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. And I'm here on behalf of that chapter to ask the committees to consider the appropriation requests in the Youth Council bill. We find in our work as pediatricians that it's really important to have the youth voice and everything we do. And we feel like their voice is going to be really important as we move forward in our recovery in Vermont. We also generally ask that you can continue investing in after school programming and when we talk about after school program programming we mean not just the third space after school but also summer programming, expanded learning programming, teen centers, summer school, summer camps, and so much more. And we know that this period of time during the day and then also periods of time during the year, where it's really crucial to keep young people engaged so that they stay physically safe. They make healthy choices. They stay connected to the community. And this also allows parents to work, especially those who work in person. We know that young people in Vermont and their families really like the programming in Vermont, but unfortunately we have one of the lowest rates of access to after school programming in the country. And I just have to say that pediatricians are really worried about children and adolescents and as an ICU doctor I'm worried about the actual virus of SARS-CoV-2 but I'm actually more worried about youth mental health connectedness and engagement. So going forward, you know, the professionals who work in this field are important and will be integral to the recovery of Vermont going forward and having a youth voice as part of that youth council will be really important in framing and guiding this work. Thank you very much. I do not envy your job. It's very challenging and difficult. So thank you. Thank you. And it appears that Kelly Mills is our last person to testify. So over to you Ms. Mills. Good evening committee members. Thank you for your service to Vermonters and for allowing me to speak today. I'm speaking tonight to encourage you to support Governor Scott's recommendations to continue to fully fund the Vermont teachers retirement system as it stands. So I'm Kelly Mills and I teach agriculture at the Patricia Hanna for Career Center in Middlebury, and I've worked there in different capacities as an educator for 26 years. When I began my teaching career, I explored retirement benefits through the teacher system and through investments. Although at the time Vermont was ranked the bottom five states for teacher retirement benefits, I knew I wanted to remain here. I pushed my pencil and gathered information on investing so I could manage to comfortably retire at the end of my career. Now just five years from retirement, I'm facing a horrifying reality of intangible cuts affecting the plan. My colleagues who have provided and continue to implement career and technical skills and broader academic services to generations of Vermonters feel strongly concerned by this move. This is likely to cause families of younger, highly qualified educators to move from Vermont seeking more financially lucrative positions elsewhere. Those on the cusp of fulfilling their service will feel compelled to leave the profession early to avoid risking the financial pinch generated by these proposed cuts. Combine this initiative will leave chasms in our rural schools which are already feeling the pinch of fewer highly qualified teachers who acquit our children with the skills they need to ensure the future of a healthy, vibrant Vermont. In conclusion, please consider how a plan to radically slash retirement packages will create a negative ripple effect throughout our state. Teachers provide the soil for growing the health of Vermont's vibrant future. In adequately funding retirement provisions will surely continue the broad sweeping detrimental economic outcome to educators and our impact on residents. I urge you to please consider alternative options to recouping the budget deficit. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And with that concludes the testimony that we're scheduled to receive. I'd like to say thank you to the more than 70 Vermonters who took the time to address us today. Other folks who have sent in written testimony, we will certainly read it and pay careful attention to it as we develop the budget for fiscal year 22. This sort of engagement with with the community of Vermont is terribly important to us in developing a budget that supports Vermonters and Vermont. On behalf of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee, thank you and thank you again to the staff who makes this possible to run so smoothly. Senator Kitchell, if you'd like to add a concluding remark. I think it's been a long day for everyone and we've had a lot of good testimony and the response to the hearing has been extremely strong so yes be assured that all the requests are. We track everyone and all will be fully considered as we develop the budget so thanks to the committee members and thanks to the people who took time to testify. Thank you and.