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Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont House Floor - Vermont Access Network (VAN) Recognition 04/25/2024

Vermont Access Network (VAN) Recognition on the House Floor.

On Friday, VAN set up a display and maintained a presence in the Card Room at the State House for engaging with legislators about its work, its budget ask, and S.181. Rep. Headrick gave a brief speech about local access television on the House Floor, and the House as a body recognized the Vermont Access Network.

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont House Committee on Appropriations - Budget Changes 04/24/2024

Review of VAN FY25 Request at the House Committee on Appropriations.

On Thursday, the base appropriation for VAN briefly came up in House Appropriations during JFO’s presentation of the Senate’s changes to the budget.

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont Senate Committee on Finance - Testimony of H.657 Modernize Vermont’s Communications Taxes and Fees 04/23/2024

Testimony of H.657 a bill meant to modernize Vermont's communications taxes and fees at the Senate Committee on Finance.

On Tuesday, Senate Finance discussed and took testimony on H.657, the Telecommunications Modernization bill. First they walked through a new version of the bill with Legislative Counsel Maria Royle. Senate Finance has amended the bill so that it essentially now does not include fees on communications property or on the use of the State’s right-of-ways, but instead, commissions studies and inventories on those issues. Rob White from the Agency of Transportation testified and noted his appreciation for this move, as an inventory of the poles in the right of way is a significant undertaking. Following all of this discussion, David Healy, a retired GIS consultant who works with the CUDs, and in his past was instrumental in establishing the State’s GIS agency office, testified that the State already had access to most if not all of this data. The Cmte then decided to ask the State’s GIS office to come in to testify about this.

H.657 draft 2.1 (as amended by Senate Finance in draft) :
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/Senate%20Finance/Bills/H.657/Drafts,%20Amendments,%20Other%20Legal%20Documents/H.657~Maria%20Royle~%20Draft%201.2,%204-23-2024~4-23-2024.pdf

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont Senate Committee on Finance - Testimony of H.657 Modernize Vermont’s Communications Taxes and Fees 04/19/2024

Testimony of H.657 a bill meant to modernize Vermont's communications taxes and fees at the Senate Committee on Finance.

On Friday, the Cmte heard from the Department of Taxes, who discussed the challenges inherent in conducting an inventory of the various properties and items in H.657 that would be assessed for fees. This includes the telephone property tax, the Universal Service Charge, and the Right of Way fees. The Cmte asked Leg Counsel to strip out all of these items from the bill, and instead ask VTRANS to conduct a study on what it would take to complete their inventory of poles and wires in the state right of way, and what the cost-benefit analysis would be for completing that inventory, administering fees, and the revenue that would be generated.

H.657: As Passed by the House:
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/Senate%20Finance/Bills/H.657/Drafts,%20Amendments,%20Other%20Legal%20Documents/H.657~Maria%20Royle~As%20Passed%20by%20the%20House~4-10-2024.pdf

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont House Republican Caucus - Discussion of S.55 Update to Open Meeting Law 04/19/2024

Discussion of S.55 Update to Open Meeting Law at the House Republican Caucus.

On Tuesday, Representative Higley gave a brief update on S.55 in the House Republican Caucus - the bill is currently in the House Government Operations and Military Affairs committee. Representative Higley said CUDs have concerns about having a physical location with the bill due to the large areas of land they can represent. Representative Parsons brought up that his town (Newbury) has one phone line and limited access to the internet which could complicate implementation of S.55 requirements. The committee does not plan to vote on the bill this week.

S.55: As Passed by the Senate:
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/BILLS/S-0055/S-0055%20As%20Passed%20by%20the%20Senate%20Unofficial.pdf

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont Senate Committee on Appropriations - Discussion of VAN FY25 Request 04/19/2024

Discussion of VAN FY25 Request at the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

On Friday, the committee finally revealed the language that will go along with your appropriation, which is great - it directs the Secretary of State to recommend the level of funding for VAN for future years as part of its budget presentation next year. This language might change a bit.

Both the base appropriation and this language will be items to be discussed in the Conference Committee on the Budget because, as you recall, the House only included $1m in base funding for VAN. That process should start up in about 2 weeks.

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont Senate Committee on Finance - Testimony of H.657 Modernize Vermont’s Communications Taxes and Fees 04/18/2024

Testimony of H.657 a bill meant to modernize Vermont's communications taxes and fees at the Senate Committee on Finance.

On Thursday, the Cmte heard from the Controller of the Franklin Telephone and Independent Telephone Companies, one of two small telecommunications providers exempted from certain fees in the bill. They also heard a proposed 18-page amendment to H.657 offered by Sens. Wrenner and MacDonald, that would postpone the right-of-way fees in the bill until such time as an inventory of poles and wires in the state can be completed. And, that the inventory should be completed using specific GIS technologies. Steven Whitaker provided input on this amendment, and also testified along with Sen. Wrenner.

H.657: As Passed by the House:
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/Senate%20Finance/Bills/H.657/Drafts,%20Amendments,%20Other%20Legal%20Documents/H.657~Maria%20Royle~As%20Passed%20by%20the%20House~4-10-2024.pdf

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont Senate Committee on Appropriations - Discussion of VAN FY25 Request 04/18/2024

Discussion of VAN FY25 Request at the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

Throughout the week, the committee continued to work on the budget, finishing it up on Friday. VAN’s allocation of $1m in base funding continued to appear on various documents that were reviewed by the committee, and they repeatedly confirmed that they were supporting this allocation. Also on Thursday, the committee briefly discussed the streaming tax (S.181) and Senator Sears once again expressed opposition to the bill, saying it is a “double tax.” Senator Kitchel pretty quickly shut down this conversation.

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont Senate Committee on Finance - Testimony of H.657 Modernize Vermont’s Communications Taxes and Fees 04/17/2024

Testimony of H.657 a bill meant to modernize Vermont's communications taxes and fees at the Senate Committee on Finance.

On Wednesday, the Cmte heard testimony from the Department of Taxes about how to inventory and track the assets (wires, poles, etc.) on which the right-of-way fee would be charged, and heard there should be no problem with this.

H.657: As Passed by the House:
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/Senate%20Finance/Bills/H.657/Drafts,%20Amendments,%20Other%20Legal%20Documents/H.657~Maria%20Royle~As%20Passed%20by%20the%20House~4-10-2024.pdf

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont House Committee on Government Operations - Discussion of S.310 Government Response to Natural Disasters 04/17/2024

Discussion of S.310 Government Response to Natural Disasters at the House Committee on Government Operations.

On Wednesday, while taking testimony on S.310, a bill which concerns government response to natural disasters, Alison Segar from the Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, and DeafBlind Services gave testimony. She mentioned receiving a $300k grant for language access work and that the Vermont Language Justice Project connected with CCTV, a cable access TV station in Burlington to do so. CCTV was again mentioned later, in a positive light and only briefly.

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