S-101 an Act Relating to the Conduct of Forestry Operations

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE April 13, 2018

Issue 14

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6147 VT RTE 116, Starksboro, VT 05487

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WEEK 14

I want to thank everyone who attended the Annual 2+2 celebration at the statehouse on Tuesday. It was a great turn out to celebrate the new students heading into the program and those current and alumni who have benefited from this outstanding opportunity to spend two years at VTC and then two years at UVM and Miner Institute. I also want to thank the legislature for their financial support of this program for the last 21 years.

FORESTRY

S-101 An act relating to the conduct of forestry operations

This bill proposes to provide that certain forestry operations would not be subject to liability as a public or private nuisance.

This bill passed the House today on a strong voice vote. The bill has now passed both the House and Senate. The House version eliminated section (c) under 5757 FORESTRY OPERATIONS: PROTECTION FROM NUISANCE LAWSUITS of the Senate bill and because of that the bill will likely end up in a committee of conference. The language that was removed from the bill was the following:

Upon motion of a complaining party, there shall be no presumption under subsection (a) of this section that conventional forestry practice does not constitute a nuisance, if a court determines that the conventional forestry practice has a substantial adverse effect on health, safety, or welfare, or has a noxious and significant interference with the use and enjoyment of the property that the complaining party owns or controls.

If and when S-101 goes to a committee of conference I will let you know.

WATER QUALITY

S-260An act relating to funding the cleanup of State waters

The House Natural Resource’s committee took testimony and then made changes to S-260. The committee voted the bill out this afternoon the bill will now go to House Ways and Means and then to House Appropriations.

The following sections have been removed from the bill

• Allows Citizen Right of Action
• Requires a pilot project for Lake Carmi and agricultural practices
• Revision of RAP’s
• Legislative Clean Water Planning, funding and Implementation committee

S-260includes the following:

• Clean Water Working Group

Create long term funding that is equitable and effective-report by January 15, 2019

• Water Quality Occupancy Surcharge

$2.00 per room per night for Clean Water Fund(this would go into effect in 2020 if a no other sources of funding were found)

oCoordinated Water Quality Grants

oLake in Crisis

This is the language from H-730

oReport on Farming Practices in Vermont

There is still a long way to go before S-260 becomes legislation. I will keep you posted as to where this bill ends up.

MISCELLANEOUS AGRICULTURE

H-904An act relating to miscellaneous agricultural subjects

Senate Natural took testimony from the Natural Resources Board, VNRC and Commissioner Snyder on H-904 Thursday morning. The committee will continue to take testimony next week on H-904.

The following is included in H-904:

• Farm and Forest Viability Program
• Vermont Trails System; Act 250
• Forest Product Industry; Act 250
• Public Buildings; Wood Energy; Vermont Suppliers Report
• Forestland; Use Value Appraisal
• Energy Efficiency; Efficiency Charge
• Sales and Use Tax; Advanced Wood Boilers

EDUCATION

H-911 Taxation; personal income tax; statewide education tax; municipal taxes

This bill proposes to make numerous changes to Vermont’s personal income tax and its system of education financing.

Senate Finance continues to take testimony on H-911. The bill still contains the following:

The income tax changes in the bill:

• Lower all income tax rates by 0.2% and collapses top two income tax brackets
• Create a standard deduction and a personal exemption
• Expand the earned income tax credit
• Creates a tax credit for charitable contributions;
• Exempts portions of taxable social security benefits from the Vermont income tax.

The education changes in the bill:

• Creates an income tax surcharge,estimated to raise $59 million
• Income-sensitivity would remain in the bill passed
• Non-resident property taxes would remain the same

H-922 An act relating to making numerous revenue changes

This bill proposes to make numerous substantive and administrative changes to Vermont’s tax laws. The bill permits the creation of merged property assessment districts to match merged school districts. The bill moves the collection and administration of the fire safety insurance tax, the direct placement insurance tax, and the surplus lines tax from the Department of Financial Regulation to the Department of Taxes. The bill makes numerous other changes, including changes to the current use lien system, the definitions of household income and homestead, tobacco taxes, higher education investment plans, the downtown and village center tax credit, the affordable housing tax credit, and the meals and rooms tax. This bill further proposes to revise the formula under which the Green Mountain Care Board assesses regulated health care industries for certain costs associated with their regulation and to revise municipal stormwater fees.

The Senate Finance committee heard from Joint Fiscal Office that the cost of the changes in H-922 were a loss of $203,000 to the General Fund. The cost of expanding the VHFA first time homebuyer program was an increase of $125,000 each year for the five years.

TOXICS BILL

S-197 An act relating to liability for toxic substance exposures or releases

This bill proposes to hold any person who releases a toxic substance strictly, jointly, and severally liable for any harm resulting from the release. The bill also proposes to establish a private right of action for medical monitoring damages incurred due to exposure to a toxic substance.

The House Judiciary committee took up S-197 this week. Several of those testifying spoke to the uncertainty of the bill and the fact that this legislation could significantly increase the costs and risks for employers to operate in Vermont by potentially making them liable for personal injury, property damage, and medical monitoring even if an alleged exposure is within background exposure levels or not considered likely to result in disease actually developing.

If you are interested in testifying on this bill please let me know.

FROM BOB GRAY:

Northern New York Dairy Farmers Hit With I-9 Audits

These requirements also apply in Vermont

About 15 large dairy operations in Northern New York have been served with Notice of Inspections bythe U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with I-9 audits to document information on their

employees. These audits are extensive and can take six months to complete (Ugh!).

Information required by ICE includes:

1. A list of all current employees

2. A list of employees that were employed but were terminated after January 1, 2017. The list must include the full name of the employee and the hire and termination dates for each.

3. A list referencing the SPECIFIC work/office location(s) for each employee and the dates that each employee worked at each location (if applicable).

4. I-9’s for each of the employees listed in item #1 and #2.

5. Employer Identification Number (EIN).

6. Payroll reports for the years 2017 and 2018, to include the NYS-45, Quarterly CombinedWithholding, Wage Reporting, and Unemployment Insurance Returns for each period.

7. Form DS-2019 – Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor J-1 Status for each J-1 employee.

8. If applicable, Social Security Administration (SSA) “Employer Correction Requests” and “Request for Employee Information” letters received.

9. Information relating to the business entity, such as

a. Articles of Incorporation;

b. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN);

c. Owner’s Social Security Number (SSN);

d. Owner’s address information; telephone numbers, email addresses;

e. A statement as to whether enrolled in E-Verify, with verification confirmation numbers.

f. Copies of business licenses, and any other pertinent information.

Below is the link to the Vermont Legislative website

Legislature.vermont.gov

Please join us for

VERMONT FARM BUREAU

PRESS CONFERENCE

CELEBRATING

AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY

Wednesday April 18, 2018

10:00 Cedar Creek Room

Speakers include

Secretary Anson Tebbetts

Senator Bobby Starr

Representative Carolyn Partridge

Farm Bureau President Joe Tisbert

Commissioner Mike Snyder (invited)

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- Henry Ford

ejc Consulting

6147 VT RTE 116, Starksboro, VT 05487

802 233 9563