Last Friday, the Governor announced the following:

Also included were changes in the restrictions on outdoor businesses and construction operations but only 2 employees Outdoor businesses/construction operations include:

* civil engineering

* site work

* exterior construction

* skilled trades

* public works

* energy and utility work

* mining

* forestry

* environmental monitoring

* landscaping

* painting

* tree work

* parks maintenance

* delivery work

The Governor has been truly clear with his messaging, “we will open the economy a quarter turn at a time.”

The legislative activity was rather light last week. With the House still working out the process of remote voting and the unknown on when and how the Federal money is coming, some committees are at a loss with “what next”. House Ways and Means and House Education have been struggling with education funding and property tax. Senate and House Economic Development committees have tried to understand and resolve the challenge with unemployment payments. While Senate Government Operations is dealing with closure to Town Offices and the need for information.

REMOTE VOTING

HOUSE AND SENATE AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEES

STATE COLLEGES

UPDATE FROM BOB GRAY

SBA PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM

UI/Unemployment

RESOURCES

The House is working through the process of utilizing remote voting. The challenge, as you can imagine, is there are 150 members of the House, that do not all have access to high speed internet. The House is hoping to have a procedure setup soon to allow them to vote on the new bills that have come over from the Senate regarding COVID-19.

The House and Senate Ag committees continue to meet. Last week both the House and Senate committee’s discussions focused around Farmer’s Markets, dairy crisis, sludge/septage, and Fairs and Field Days.

* Farmer’s markets

On Friday, the Governor announced that farmer’s markets would be allowed to open May 1. The Agency of Ag is working on rules and guidelines that the markets will have to follow to open. There is still the ability for farms to have curbside pickup or delivery or use the CSA model.

* Dairy Crisis

Senate Ag heard for Catherine DeRhonde of Agri-Mark, Leon Berthiaume of DFA and Diane Bothfeld last Thursday. The discussion centered around price and supply of milk. The message was it is going to be very painful for the foreseeable future.

* Sludge/Septage

Chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges System (VSCS) Jeb Spaulding today announced profound changes to the system that includes closing the Johnson and Lyndon campuses of Northern Vermont University and the original Randolph Center campus of Vermont Technical College. The downsizing will happen quickly and occur by the fall term this year. It also will cost 500 jobs. Castleton University will be the only residential college in the system, and existing and incoming students will be transferred there. The Williston VTC campus will expand. CCV will remain largely unscathed. The Board of Trustees were supposed to vote on Chancellor Spaulding’s recommendation April 20, the vote has now been delayed.

Ag Commissioners and Secretaries Letter To Secretary Perdue

The six New England state Agriculture Secretaries and Commissioners also sent a letter to Secretary Perdue urging him to take action on dairy assistance. It was also signed by Maryland’s Secretary of Agriculture. The New York State Ag Commissioner and the Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary sent their own. Enclosed are the key asks in the letter: “We ask that you give every consideration to the dairy farm families of the United States as you work to distribute the $9.5 billion and the additional $14 billion at the Commodity Credit Corporation within the CARES Act. Some possible methods of assistance include:

The PPP ran out of money last Wednesday. There is hope that Congress will appropriate another round of money, but there is disagreement from the two parties on how much and what else would be covered in the next round. If you applied and did not get through the process, I would encourage you to continue to talk with your lender about this program and others that are available. The Vermont Bankers Association reported to the House and Senate that between $853.7 million in CARES Act funding was awarded to between 5,000 and 7,000 businesses in Vermont.

The Administration and the Department of Labor have been struggling with the outdated and overextended unemployment system. Between the backlog and shear number of applications many hundreds of applicants have not been able to get through or have not received assistance. At the Governor’s Friday press conference “Governor Scott announced that he has authorized the Treasury to issue $1,200 checks Sunday to those Vermonters who have unresolved claims.” There were over 80,000 claims received by the Dept of Labor in the first weeks.

The Agency has created a COVID-19 resource page for access to the latest industry guidance and resources for agricultural related service providers, businesses and interested parties. This page can be found on the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets website.

The Agency of Ag is also requesting information related to influences on the ag and food industry so that they can help leadership form a tactical response to the impacts of the virus. Please share this form broadly, and encourage your contacts to share their impacts here. This information will be shared with other state and federal partners.