Douglas: Take Vermont forward

By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian

Posted January 4, 2007

MONTPELIER — Gov. Jim Douglas kicked off his third term in office Thursday, calling on lawmakers to embrace his four-point plan to make environmental engineering the state’s new job growth industry and make Vermont the first “e-state” in the nation.

Outlining what he calls the “Vermont Way Forward,” Douglas called on the Legislature to put in place his four-point strategy of environmental leadership, job creation, technological advancement, and innovative education.

There were little major spending proposals outlined in his speech, despite the creation of new state authority to expand broadband and cellular coverage, and a series of new schools focused on providing math and science coursework. Douglas will deliver his budget address later this month to the Legislature, which is when more detailed spending plans are revealed.

“The Vermont Way Forward advances our traditional industries through pioneering approaches to rural development. It protects our forest and fields for time-honored uses and applies scientific innovation to speed the clean up of our lakes and streams. And, it strengthens Vermont’s agrarian roots,” said Douglas in his half-hour speech that was puncuated several times with strong applause. “Our approach embraces our cherished natural environment beyond its bountiful material resources and focuses our industry on one of the greatest engineering challenges of this century — finding practical environmental solutions that balance growth and resources around the world.”

Douglas’ call for a greater focus on environmental innovations is similar to Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie’s own Green Valley Initiative, launched several years ago, and is focused on fostering a growth in clean technology and engineering companies.

As part of his environmental component, Douglas called on the Legislature to cut, by a percentage point, the sales tax on hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles, as well as those people and businesses that use biodiesels for transportation. He also wants to provide tax incentives to make biofuels as affordable as regular home heating oil.

A spokesman for one of the state's largest environmental group, the Vermont Natural Resources Council, called Douglas’ environmental proposals “symbolic” but not very substantive.

“I’m surprised that with all the talk about the environment that there wasn’t one word in the speech about wind, or hydro. I think he mentioned renewables once, but there was nothing specific on our energy future, and that is troubling. We have some big decisions to make in that arena very soon,” said Jake Brown, a VNRC spokesman. “I don’t think a one percent cut in the tax is going to give many people an incentive to buy a hybrid car. It’s symbolic, but that’s about it.”

Brown said the state is facing major energy choices in the coming years with Vermont Yankee’s license to produce nuclear power set to expire in 2012, followed shortly thereafter with the expiration of the series of contracts with Hydro Quebec.

“What we heard was long on rhetoric and very short on specifics,” Brown added.

Sen. Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, and the leader of the Senate, has put the issue of confronting global warming front and center on his legislative agenda.

Shumlin said he was surprised Douglas even mentioned climate change, or ways that Vermont could lead on the issue, given the governor’s lukewarm approach to the issue in recent weeks.

“This has not come up in our discussions in recent weeks,” said Shumlin. ““If he’s come that far in just three weeks, just think what can happen in two years.”

However, Shumlin added, “the skunk at the garden party is property taxes. We don’t have enough taxing capacity to meet the needs of the education spending as its going right now, so it means finding ways to curb spending.”

Shumlin said he’s not ready to criticize the governor’s proposal to cap property taxes, saying all ideas should be on the table to find ways to reduce the amount Vermont spends on education.

“That said, I think the governor is going to have to spend some political capital, as we all are, to come up with some thoughtful ways to approach this, and on that particular issue I thought his speech was short on specifics,” said Shumlin.

Douglas’ mention of capping property taxes drew one of the larger responses in his speech from lawmakers, many of them Republicans.

“We must work together to ease the weight of property taxes on working Vermonters — without shifting it to another tax,” said Douglas to applause. “To do that, we must cap property taxes.”

There are proposals that would shift some of the burden of financing schools away from the property tax and onto Vermont’s progressive income tax.

In regards to job creation, Douglas said the state needs to attract environmental engineering firms to the state as a way to make Vermont a global leader on those working to find solutions to such problems as air pollution, storm and wastewater management, hazardous materials, and water supply contamination.

Emerging economies around the world, such as China and India, are looking for ways to deal with the environmental impacts of growth.

He is proposing to have his administration work with academic and private sector partners to recruit more engineering firms to Vermont, and help those here expand.

“If we are to have a truly meaningful impact on global environmental issues, we must lead the world in developing environmental solutions, and market those solutions to companies, states, and counties who can only covet Vermont’s deeply imbued environmental ethic,” Douglas said.

In addition, Douglas is proposing the creation of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority to help expand broadband and cellular coverage in Vermont. The state will back $40 million of bonding by the authority, likely through tax-exempt bonds backed by the "moral authority" of the state, which he anticipates will leverage more than $200 million in private investment.

The authority will “complement — not replace — the role of service providers and infrastructure developers,” Douglas said. By 2010, the governor would like to see Vermont become the nation’s first state to provide universal cellular and broadband coverage throughout all communities.

To expedite the plan, Douglas said he will propose a series of “responsible modifications to Vermont’s permitting laws that will balance our environmental values and the need to move more rapidly.”

Those measures will include using state-owned structures and rights-of-way, he said.

Douglas also called for the creation of regional schools for math, science, and technology — named for the late Sen. Robert T. Stafford — to “go beyond the scope of today’s technical education and emphasize the skills needed for the next wave of scientific advancement.”

These centers would be public schools that operate within the existing education system, but will have coursework focused related to math, science, and technology.

Douglas called his new plan an extension of this previous two — the Plan for Prosperity and the Affordability Agenda — though it lacks the alliterative flair.

At the start of last year’s session, Douglas laid out his "affordability agenda,” a theme the transferred seamlessly into his reelection campaign message, calling for increased scholarships for Vermont students who decide to be educated, and then work, in Vermont, among other measures.

Despite the poetics in today's speech, there was one area the governor didn’t touch on, much to the chagrin of several lawmakers.

“There was nary a mention of our agricultural crisis,” said Rep. Dave Zuckerman, P-Burlington, and chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. “While he may be leading us forward in e-commerce and the environment, I’m concerned that he’ll be leaving farmers behind.”

Zuckerman said the state needs to focus on the ongoing problems facing farmers, especially the loss of slaughterhouses, quality, and quantity, of feed, and fluctuating federal subsidies.

The inaugural speech was preceded by the swearing in of the state’s constitutional officers and the attorney general. Reelected were Treasurer Jeb Spaulding, Secretary of State Deb Markowitz, and Attorney General William Sorrell. Newly-elected Auditor of Accounts Thomas M. Salmon, who defeated Randy Brock in a narrow election recount, was the only new face. Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie was sworn in earlier in the day.

When Douglas first took office, Democrats had solid control of the Senate, but it was the GOP that controlled the House. This made it easier for his administration to move its agenda through one body without too much fear of it being watered down.

In his second term, he faced a Legislature that was far more Democratic, with both chambers under Democratic control.

This year, he faces a much different legislative body. One that has a veto-proof majojrity in the House and in the Senate.

Shumlin noted that Douglas’ agenda is much closer to that of Democrats than in year’s past.