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Leonine Public Affairs Vermont officials said this week that the COVID-19 infection rate has been lower than originally projected and lower than our neighboring states. This news comes as the Scott Administration continues to cautiously remove work and social restrictions and the legislature begins to work on legislation aiding the long process of economic recovery.
On Wednesday Governor Phil Scott announced that he was loosening the stay at home order to allow outdoor recreation activity and some inter-household socializing. Groups of up to 10 people can now gather outdoors as long as they recognize social distancing and safety protocols. Families can meet with other families and children can play together so long as they follow social distancing and safety protocols. The administration issued new safety guidance for these interactions and allowed businesses, nonprofits and government agencies to open outdoor recreation areas. These include parks, golf courses, trail networks and big game check stations. Campgrounds, marinas and beaches remained closed and anyone entering the state is still required to quarantine for 14 days.
On Friday Governor Scott announced that child care providers and summer day programs can reopen on June 1, which would help support families who are returning to work. There will be $6 million in grants available to these providers. Governor Scott and members of his team said that in the coming weeks they hope to issue guidance to allow overnight summer camps to open.
However, at Friday’s press conference Education Secretary Daniel French said graduation ceremonies for 2020 graduates will either need to be conducted in small groups or virtually. Secretary French did say he is optimistic schools can resume in-person instruction in the fall but there will still need to be a heavy focus on continuing to improve remote learning capabilities.
Administration officials offered the Legislature a proposal for an unprecedented second adjustment to the FY2020 budget. The proposal calls for closing most of the $195 million gap in the FY2020 budget with $138 million in reserve funds and nearly $47 million in excess Medicaid dollars. The Medicaid monies are available due to a decline in the utilization of non-emergency health care services as a result of the restrictions imposed by the governor’s “stay safe/stay home” order and an increase in federal Medicaid matching dollars. In addition, perhaps due to the crisis, the Department of Liquor Control revenues are up $4.6 million and that revenue will also be used to close the gap. The administration is hopeful the reserve funds will be refilled when taxes that were due on April 15 are paid on the new July 15 due date. The rest of the shortfall would be made up with smaller scale adjustments to current funding levels. Legislative leaders in both the House and Senate have indicated they are supportive of the administration’s proposal.
The budget discussions and discussions around how the $1.25 billion in federal stimulus funding will be appropriated will continue to heat up through the month of May. Fortunately health indicators continue to improve, but state officials have a long road to recovery ahead of them.
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May 10, 2020 at 03:32AM
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Leonine: Trying to close the money gap - Vermont Biz
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