Legislative

Common Good Vermont: Governor Peter Shumlin Signs S.293, The Outcomes Bill 06/11/2014

Governor Peter Shumlin signs S.293, "The Outcomes Bill", designed to increase accountability and improve decision making throughout Vermont state government was approved by the Vermont House of Representatives on April 30, 2014. Sponsored by Senator Diane Snelling, S.293, “An Act Relating to reporting on population-level outcomes and indicators and on program level performance measures”, the bill enables the use of results based policy making in the Vermont Legislature, throughout state government and Vermont’s social sector.

Present at the signing were supporters of the bill: Senator Diane Snelling (R)/ Chittenden County, Susan Zeller, Chief Performance Officer of VT Agency of Administration, Lauren-Glenn Davitian, Executive Director of Common Good Vermont, Monica Hutt, Director of Policy and Planning and Dru Roessle of Vermont Agency of Human Services, and Hilary Boone of Benchmarks for a Better Vermont.

Read more about the bill: http://blog.commongoodvt.org/2014/05/vt-house-passes-s-293-the-results-based-accountability-bill-expect-governor-to-sign-into-law/

and at VTDigger.org: http://vtdigger.org/2014/06/11/new-state-accountability-program-signed-law/

Chittenden County Senators - Citizen Question and Answer 06/03/2014

All Chittenden County residents invited to this Citizen Question and Answer with invited Chittenden County Senators, Virginia Lyons (D), Tim Ashe (D/P), David Zuckerman (P), Diane Snelling (R), Philip Baruth (D) and Michael Sirotkin (D). (attending were: Senators Lyons, Snelling, Sirotkin and Sec. State Jim Condos)

Senator Bernie Sanders: Worker-Owned Businesses 06/02/2014

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is joined by representatives of worker-owned Vermont businesses and Dr. Joseph Blasi, an employee-ownership expert at Rutgers, to announce legislation that Sanders will introduce in the Senate.The legislation would provide assistance to workers who want to form their own businesses by creating Employee Stock Ownership Plans or worker-owned cooperatives.

Legislative Report: Hosts Reps. Dave Sharpe and Joey Donovan 05/19/2014

Hosts, Reps. Dave Sharpe (D) and Joey Donovan (D).

Congressman Peter Welch: Making Public Buildings More Energy Efficient 05/13/2014

Rep. Welch convenes a roundtable discussion on energy efficiency performance contracting for managers of state and local government buildings, hospitals, schools, universities, and shopping centers. Keynoting the discussion is Dr. Tim Unruh, Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program. Rep. Welch is the leading House advocate for the use of performance contracting to retrofit large public and commercial buildings. His bipartisan performance contracting legislation was recently approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Senator Bernie Sanders: Senator Bernie Sanders Announces Legislation to Make College More Affordable 05/12/2014

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announces legislation to help children from working families go to college. Sanders is joined by Vermonters who will share how carrying heavy student debt loads has affected their lives. Speaking on the issue: Emily Sutton, Assistant Professor, Albany College of Pharmacy; Dr. Christine Mahoney, Community Health Center of Burlington; Jazmin Spear, Junior at Castleton State College; Liz Beatty-Owens, Senior at Johnson State College.

Sanders plans to introduce legislation in the Senate early next week to help students earn college credits while still in high school. That would cut the time and the cost of earning a college diploma.

The legislation is co-sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

Under the Dome: Under the Golden Dome - May 7, 2014 05/07/2014

Interviews of government officials during the fifteenth week of the legislative session.

Vermont in Focus: Financing Plan for Green Mountain Care 05/01/2014

In this segment of Vermont in Focus, we look at the issue of a financing plan for Green Mountain Care, Vermont's ground-breaking universal health care plan slated for roll out in 2017. Who's job is it? When will we know how we'll pay for it

Under the Dome: Under the Golden Dome - April 30, 2014 04/30/2014

Interviews of government officials during the fifteenth week of the legislative session.

Senator Bernie Sanders: Primary Care in Vermont 04/24/2014

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hosts state leaders, Mary Wakefield, who heads the Health Resources and Services Administration at the Department of Health and Human Services, and Associate Administrator Jim Macrae to discuss what the senator has called a crisis in primary care in the United States.

A Sanders provision in the Affordable Care Act authorized $11 billion to build, expand, and operate Federally Qualified Health Centers. The locally-run centers offer affordable primary, dental and mental health care and low-cost prescription drugs. In Vermont, there were only two community health centers a decade ago. This year, 11 centers across the state will serve about 163,000 patients. That’s more than one in four people in the state and one of the highest participation rates in the country.

Sanders, who chairs a Senate panel on health care, has introduced legislation to attract more doctors and other health care providers to primary care. His bill would boost funding for community health centers; dramatically increase opportunities for medical school graduates to go into family medicine; raise Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care providers; and expand National Health Service Corps loan and scholarship programs for primary care providers.

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Applications Now Open for the Spring 2025 Cohort of the Neighborhood Community Media Internship Program

Town Meeting TV is excited to announce that applications are now open for the Spring 2025 cohort of the Neighborhood Community Media Internship program. Join up to 8 other youth to engage in interesting media making projects! This paid media internship opportunity is designed for youth aged 16-20 who are eager to gain professional experience in the audio-visual field and develop a deeper understanding of their local community. The group will meet under the leadership of Town Meeting TV's Travis Washington from the end of January 2025 to the beginning of June 2025, on a schedule agreed upon by the whole cohort. Click here to apply!