Governor Phil Scott Friday, Jan. 19 named Ed McNamara as chair of the Public Utility Commission (PUC).
McNamara most recently served as general counsel for the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), where he worked on a range of legal issues reflecting the significant regulatory diversity covered by the Agency.
Prior to his work at ANR, McNamara worked on energy issues for 20 years, first at the Public Service Department where he performed numerous roles, including as planning director, assisting with emergency response activities, and representing Vermont’s interests before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. McNamara started his legal career as a hearing officer and staff attorney for the PUC.
McNamara replaces Anthony Roisman, who was appointed by the Governor in 2017. He will begin serving in the role effective Monday, January 29.
Senate passes bill abating municipal tax abatements for flooded homes – The Senate Friday passed legislation aimed at helping individuals and towns impacted by July flooding. S.160 will authorize the Commissioner of Taxes to reimburse municipalities for property tax abatements granted due to disruption to tax collections resulting from this summer’s flooding in Vermont’s federally-declared disaster areas.
Under current law, town boards of abatements may abate local and State property taxes, but will still owe the State education tax for the abated properties. These bills provide a process to reimburse towns for those State property taxes owed. Abatements and properties must meet certain eligibility criteria before the State will reimburse the town. Towns apply to the Vermont Department of Taxes, which will determine if the properties and abatements meet the criteria to be eligible for reimbursement.
The legislation will require House approval before being considered by the governor.
No recession expected – “There’s no recession in the forecast,” state economist Tom Kavet told the governor and legislative leaders at a State House meeting yesterday, Friday’s Lake Champlain Chamber newsletter reports.
The Chamber also reports that total revenues for the three major state government revenue funds forecast closed the first half of FY24 slightly above July projections by 1.7% and $25.2M.
The General Fund was above targets by about 3%, driven by robust personal income tax despite lagging corporate tax. The Education Fund is at about 1% above, driven by robust consumer spending and better-than-expected cannabis sales, and the Transportation Fund is about 6% below expectations, attributed mostly to a slowdown of vehicle purchases and sky-high prices coming back down to earth post-pandemic.
Mount Washington to stay Mount Washington – the U.S. Board on Geographical Names has rejected a proposal to rename Mount Washington, Friday’s Journal-Opinion reports.
The Easton, NH-based activist who sought to change the name to Agiocochook has also filed a request to change the name of the Baker River to Asquamchumauke. The BGN has not yet voted on the Baker River proposal.
UVM wants to know what you think about EVs – VDC received the following note from a reader: “I saw on Front Porch Forum that UVM is doing a study of attitudes toward Electronic Vehicles. I think it would be a good thing if they heard from folks with diverse opinions, not just folks on FPF who are likely to express positive attitudes toward EVs. It takes less than 5 minutes. And if they select your survey to be a person who does an interview with them, then you will get paid $25. Here’s the link.”