2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
DRM's Government & Public Affairs Team Final Analysis
Final adjournment has brought to a close the 73rd biennial session of the Vermont General
Assembly. With the end of the session, all bills that have been introduced but not enacted will
expire, and a new legislature will begin a new biennium in 2017.
The political landscape will undergo a seismic shift, the most significant in many years.
Vermonters go to the polls in November to elect a new governor and lieutenant governor. Other
statewide officers will face reelection and all seats in the Vermont House and Senate will be
subject to election.
In January, the new legislature will elect new leaders and the leaders will appoint new
committees. House members will elect a new Speaker. The Senate will elect a new President Pro
Tempore. The new Speaker and the Senate Committee on Committees will appoint new
committees, including committee chairs and vice-chairs. Legislative proposals will be introduced
as new, beginning in each house with the number one.
Listed below are the general topics covering bills followed during this past session by the DRM
Government and Public Affairs team. Please click on the topic listing to access information
summarizing individual bills and issues.
Analysis by Topic
Commerce
Environment
Health Care
Education
Energy & Telecommunication
Insurance
Employment & Labor
General Government
Taxation
For more information about this Legislative Update, please contact Tricia Augeri
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Commerce
Incentives for Economic Development (H.868)
Among the key provisions of this year’s economic development bill, the Vermont Economic
Growth Incentive Program has been rewritten and extended for four years, the lending authority
of the Vermont Economic Development Authority will be expanded, and the Legislative Joint
Fiscal Office will conduct a comprehensive, 10-year study of how Vermont tax policies compare
with other states.
The lengthiest part of the bill attracted the least attention. The comprehensive rewrite of the
statute governing changes in business entities was taken from a model law and adapted to fit
within the state’s green statute books. The 53-page revision is the latest in a series of updates
authored by DRM Corporate Law Attorney Tom Moody for the Vermont Bar Association in an
ongoing effort to modernize the law to meet the evolving needs of businesses.
The bill also recognizes lawmakers’ concerns that a lack of affordable housing impedes efforts to
fill middle-income jobs and calls for a study of workforce housing, but a provision that was
included in an earlier draft to fund actual pilot projects aimed at workforce housing was struck
for lack of money. A popular down payment assistance program, funded with outside money,
was extended for four years.
Equipment Suppliers and Manufacturers (S.224)
Dealers in farm and homeowner outdoor equipment as well as snow machines and all-terrain
vehicles will have a leg up on product manufacturers under protective legislation passed this
session. The new statute applies to both new and existing contracts effective July 1.
The new law is modeled after statutes dealing with motor vehicle dealers and manufactures
which effectively allow dealers to engage in “dueling,” or representing more than one brand at a
single location. Many manufacturers of both automobiles and farm and yard equipment believe
that their brand integrity is best protected when a single dealer handles a single brand, but dealers
have successfully convinced legislatures in a number of states to allow dueling by law. A
challenge to a similar law in New Hampshire is currently pending before the U.S. Supreme
Court.
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Education
Special Education (H.859)
Early in the session, education consultant Lawrence Picus presented to the education committees
his legislatively ordered report on adequacy in Vermont’s education system. Picus told
lawmakers that Vermont could spend $164 million less on education, with $140 million of that
coming from special education costs. The report helped legislators focus on special education
delivery and work on determining how to continue to improve Vermont’s system.
The resulting special education bill calls for two studies. The first study will examine different
models of special education funding. The second study authorizes up to ten supervisory unions
the use of a consulting firm to examine the effectiveness of their current special education
delivery models. The consulting firm will report its recommendations to the participating
supervisory unions, the General Assembly, and the Agency of Education in the fall of 2017.
The bill also aligns special education services with special education funding. Until the
enactment of this law, special education teachers have been designated to the supervisory union
level, but funding was provided at the district level.
Post-Secondary Education and the Forty Percent Rule (H.875)
The biggest Vermont higher education change this session repeals the University of Vermont’s
“forty percent rule.” The rule, in place since the 1950’s, limits in-state tuition to forty percent of
out-of-state tuition. Opponents of the repeal believe it will result in higher tuition prices for instate students, but UVM President Thomas Sullivan claimed that the modest discretion provided
by the rule’s elimination would allow for the growth of out-of-state student attendance by
allowing for more competitive out-of-state tuition pricing. Sullivan stated that increased revenue
will help hold down in-state tuition rates, and legislators ultimately agreed.
With the exception of a brief dive into Act 46 school budgeting issues at the beginning of the
session, the Senate Education Committee spent much of the session crafting a higher education
bill, S.180. Although the introduced bill did not include Gov. Peter Shumlin’s proposed
Universal Child Savings Account or MoveUp802 program, it proposed a $3 million
appropriation for the Complete College program that improves support services and recruitment
at the University of Vermont and Vermont State Colleges for first generation and low income
students. The bill also would have locked in a General Fund increase for UVM, VSC, and the
Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, created the Vermont Higher Education Endowment
Trust Fund and designated modest funding to the Next Generation Initiative Fund.
Due to budget constraints, none of the programs proposed in S.180 were funded, although VSC
was able to secure an additional $700,000.
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Employment & Labor
Ban the Box (H.261)
Employers will be prohibited from asking job applicants on initial employment applications if
they have criminal records under a bill that was signed by Gov. Peter Shumlin on May 3. The
practice is already prohibited in state government hiring.
Under H.261, employers who are prohibited from hiring people with criminal backgrounds due
to the nature of the job – such as fuel transport operators and police officers – can continue to ask
up front. But most employers will have to wait until the prospective employee gets a job
interview, and a prospect with a record will be able to explain the circumstances of the
conviction. The law takes effect on July 1, 2017.
Independent Contractors (H.867)
The House Commerce and Economic Development Committee spent weeks hammering out the
details of a proposal that would have clearly established who may be an independent contractor
for workers’ compensation purposes. The result was a bill that received bipartisan and
unanimous support by the committee and the business community. When the bill hit the House
floor, however, organized labor voiced its strong objection, and the bill was pulled back. House
leaders desperately wanted a compromise that could pass the House, but none was to be found.
The bill was pulled from the floor, for the second time, in the final days of the session.
Paid Sick Leave (H.187)
On March 5, Gov. Peter Shumlin signed into law Vermont’s new mandatory paid sick leave bill.
The legislation requires that employees who work at least 18 hours a week accrue three days of
paid sick leave starting in 2017. That will increase to five days in the third year.
Exempted from the law are those who work only when available or work on an intermittent or
per diem basis, including employees of health care facilities. After small businesses voiced
concerns that the requirement would be too onerous to implement in such a short time,
employers with five or fewer employees were given an additional year before they are subject to
the new law.
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Energy & Telecommunication
State Hydropower Authority (H.577)
The Shumlin Administration can spend up to $250,000 on consultants to assess whether the state
could and should own the 13 hydroelectric power stations on the Connecticut and Deerfield
Rivers that are now owned by TransCanada. The dams and the land around them are on the
market, along with the rest of the New England hydroelectric assets owned by the company,
which hopes to sell them by the end of the year.
The amendment was added to a bill dealing with municipal electric utilities and enacts into
session law a working group formed by Gov. Shumlin to study the matter. When the dams were
sold to TransCanada in 2005, the state and its partner lost out on a bid to buy the assets. The
language in this bill recreates the Vermont Hydroelectric Power Authority, which would engage
in the purchase of the dams if authorized, but the legislature would first be called to a Special
Session.
Telecommunications Facilities (H.577)
In the final hours of the session, the legislature added several telecommunications provisions to
an unrelated bill dealing with municipal electric purchases. The amended bill promotes the
colocation of telecommunication facilities on existing structures, and clarifies the deference that
the Public Service Board must give to municipalities when considering proposed facilities. It
requires the Public Service Department to establish a protocol for handling complaints that
companies have not complied with the telecommunication siting requirements of Section 248a.
The telecommunications amendments also include a requirement that Vtel Wireless demonstrate
that it has complied with applicable state and federal requirements relating to its $2.6 million
grant to deploy mobile voice service over its wireless broadband network by Dec. 31, 2014. If
the DPS finds that Vtel has not complied with these requirements, Vtel is required to refund the
$2.6 million to the state.
Renewable Energy Facility Siting (S.230)
The House and Senate Natural Resources committees spent most of the session crafting a bill to
give municipalities and regional planning commissions greater say in the location of wind and
solar power facilities. The bill also imposes new planning requirements on the Department of
Public Service. The Public Service Board is charged with developing new rules regarding sound
from wind generation facilities. That provision, which initially would have applied retroactively
to newly-permitted facilities, nearly derailed the bill in the final days of the session. The
retroactive provision was stricken from the bill, and the governor’s signature is expected.
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Environment
Red Tagging Defective Oil Storage Tanks (H.531)
Heating fuel dealers will be prohibited by law from delivering oil to heating oil storage tanks that
have been designated as non-compliant with state law after the Agency of Natural Resources
adopts rules governing tank inspection and red tagging. The rules are expected to go into effect
by July 1, 2017.
Under H.531, above ground homeowner storage tanks will need to be certified as compliant
when they are first installed and inspected periodically according to a schedule adopted in the
rule. As well, a homeowner converting from heating oil to natural gas will need to remove the
heating oil tank and fill pipe at the time of the conversion.
Natural Resources Damages and Chemicals of Concern (H.595)
The Agency of Natural Resources will have state-level authority to assess financial penalties or
require equivalent mitigation for irreversible damage to natural resources from a hazardous
materials release into the environment under the provisions of H.595. The authority was
requested by ANR as a partial response to the discovery of the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid,
or PFOA, in groundwater in North Bennington and Pownal.
The provisions in the bill call for an extended stakeholder process and rulemaking that will last
nearly two years, concluding in March, 2018. The program is modeled after a federal process
established under the Superfund law. Business advocates sought changes that would lead to a
program more appropriate to Vermont. The resulting stakeholder process will allow ANR to
compare its proposal with programs imposed in other states and to further narrow the scope of
the original proposal.
Responding to concerns about unknown use of hazardous chemicals in the state, the bill calls for
a working group to study how toxic chemicals are regulated and whether the state needs to do
more. The working group is charged with making recommendations to the next legislature.
One provision added in the final days will allow more time for the Department of Health to
comply with a law passed in 2015. The law, Act 188, requires manufacturers to report to the
department regarding any products they sell in the state that contain chemicals of high concern to
children, a list of 66 specific chemicals. Once reported, the products were supposed to be listed
on a DOH web site; but the department has not yet completed work on the site. The amendment
to H.595 extends compliance until Jan. 1, 2017.
Changes to ANR Permit Process (S.123)
An interested party will have to signal its opposition to a proposed decision by the Agency of
Natural Resources in order to later file an appeal of that decision under S.123. The bill is aimed
at making the ANR permit process more predictable, transparent and fair to the applicant.
Under the terms of the bill, all permit processes, including such steps as the approval of
underground storage tank permits, would be handled under one of five standard procedures
which include posting proposed decisions to a common web site and allowing a standard period
of time for public comment.
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Environment
The procedures laid out in the bill are considered an improvement by the agency and the
regulated community, where as many as 80 different processes are currently employed. The bill
also aspires to improve a situation where an interested party can wait until a business has gone
through an extensive permit process, only to drag out the final resolution by filing a frivolous
appeal.
Pesticide-Treated Articles (H.861)
A bill to regulate pesticide use, in part to address the potential impact on bees of neonicotinoids,
was passed by the legislature. The bill authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets
to adopt best management practices, standards, and procedures for the sale, use, storage and
disposal of so-called treated articles that may have a long-term adverse effect on the
environment. Utility poles, which are treated with chemicals that would otherwise have been
subject to the bill, were exempted to the extent that they are regulated by the Public Service
Board.
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
General Government
Divestment in Coal, Oil & Gas (S.28)
In his State of the State Address in January, Gov. Peter Shumlin called on the legislature to pass
a bill requiring divestment of state employee and teacher’s retirement funds from stock in the
coal industry and the ExxonMobil company. The campaign failed, but not for lack of effort on
the governor’s part.
State Treasurer Beth Pearce, like Shumlin, a Democrat, took a firm stand against making
investment policy in a political setting. Instead, she said, managers of the $3.4 billion investment
covering 50,000 state workers should act according to the best fiduciary interests of the fund’s
beneficiaries. She pointed to a Vermont Pension Investment Committee policy regarding
environmental, social and governance initiatives, and expressed a preference for shareholder
engagement as a way to affect change in environmental policies by energy companies. She said
divestment of oil and gas stocks would cost the pension funds $10 million per year.
The Senate Government Operations Committee held at least eight high-profile hearings on the
matter and Shumlin and Pearce exchanged frequent Twitter feeds, press releases and public
statements. In the end, VPIC formed a subcommittee to study the matter. The subcommittee will
meet into the fall.
Budget Bill (H.875)
Lawmakers agreed to a state budget package that spends $5.8 billion for fiscal year 2017, a 2.4
percent increase over the 2016 budget. The legislation fully funds a new labor contract for state
workers, invests in infrastructure and economic development, and stabilizes existing state
programs such as higher education and community services programs.
The bill:
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Provides a two percent increase effective Sept. 1 to designated mental health agencies
and other community-based services;
Increases Medicaid reimbursement rates to primary care providers by $4 million through
a commensurate reduction in reimbursement rates to academic medical centers;
Increases child care assistance payments by $1 million;
Increases total funding for Medicaid caseload and utilization by $71 million;
Appropriates $1.5 million to the Office of Health Care Advocate;
Requires the secretary of administration to conduct a literature review of any savings
realized by providing universal primary care to all Vermonters;
Appropriates $2.3 million to increase ambulance provider reimbursement rates by
assessing a 3.3 percent provider tax on net patient revenues for each ambulance agency;
Provides $700,000 to Vermont State Colleges students who face social and economic
barriers;
Funds $100,000 to study expansion of the Dr. Dynasaur program to all Vermont residents
up to 26 years of age;
Requires the Drug Utilization Review Board and the Medicaid office to analyze data
from prescriptions dispensed to Medicaid beneficiaries to determine whether health care
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
General Government
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providers are following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recommended dosage
amounts;
Allocates $250,000 for an independent assessment of the functionality and sustainability
of the health insurance exchange; and
Reduces executive branch exempt positions to save $1 million.
Intermunicipal Services (H.249)
Regional Planning Commissions will have new authority to provide services to more than one
municipality under H.249. The measure is aimed at forming cooperative entities for planning,
community development, joint purchasing and infrastructure, such as forming a coordinated
storm water utility.
The new law will allow the RPCs and member towns to work together, as long as the agreements
are ratified by the legislative body of the member municipalities. The service agreements do not
create any new taxing authority or legislative powers and do not create new rights of eminent
domain.
Although existing law allows municipalities to form similar entities, those cooperative services
require approval of the legislature. H.249 bypasses further approval.
Drones and Automated License Plate Readers (S.155)
This legislation regulates the government’s use of drones and automated license plate readers.
The bill as originally introduced would have prohibited the commercial use of ALPR’s, but that
provision was stripped from the bill based on First Amendment grounds. The bill does not
regulate commercial drone use.
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Vulnerable Adult Investigations (H.112)
This legislation clarifies the ability of state investigators to gain access to the financial records of
vulnerable adults who are suspected of being victims of financial abuse.
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Health Care
Agency of Human Services Reorganization (S.107)
A bill that would have split the Agency of Human Services into two separate agencies passed
overwhelmingly in the Senate but stalled in the House in the remaining weeks of the session. The
intent of the proposal was to realign all of the state’s health care and human services functions in
the interest of better transparency, oversight and management.
Language was included in H.875, the state appropriations bill, that requires the administration to
report on how to realign the health care functions currently located in multiple state agencies to
ensure streamlined and efficient operations and integration of eligibility and enrollment functions
for health care and other benefit programs.
Regulation of Hospitals and Insurers (S.255)
Lawmakers agreed to a bill that further regulates hospitals, health insurers, and managed care
organizations. S.255 calls for a statewide comparative hospital quality report and expands the
information health insurers must report annually to the Department of Financial Regulation to
include data on claims processing, denials and grievances.
The bill requires each hospital to post on its website the membership of its governing body,
including each person’s name, town of residence, occupation or employer, and compensation for
board service, if any. It also allows the Office of Health Care Advocate to receive copies of all
materials in any hospital budget submittal to the Green Mountain Care Board and to ask
questions directly of the hospitals and the GMCB.
Finally, the legislation requires the Medicaid department to adhere to all laws and regulations on
denials for mental health and substance abuse services that govern commercial health plans,
except where specifically in conflict with federal standards.
Prescription Drug Disclosure and Transparency (S.216)
The legislature passed a bill that requires prescription drug manufacturers to disclose information
about how they set prices. The bill requires the Green Mountain Care Board and the Medicaid
office to identify up to 15 prescription drugs on which the state’s Medicaid program spends
significant dollars and whose cost has increased significantly. The list of drugs would be
provided to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office and would require the drug manufacturer to
justify the price increase. Manufacturers who fail to comply with the law may be subject to a
penalty of $10,000 per violation.
The bill also requires health insurance companies that offer plans on Vermont Health Connect to
be transparent and provide enrollees, potential enrollees and health care providers with the names
of prescription drugs covered and applicable cost-sharing amounts.
340B Drug Program (S.216)
After lengthy debate and confirmation from the Department of Vermont Health Access on its
legality, the legislature adopted a provision requiring the Medicaid office to use the same
dispensing fee in its reimbursement for 340B prescription drugs as the department uses for non340B prescription drugs for the Medicaid program. The 340B Drug Discount Program was
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Health Care
created in 1992 and requires drug manufacturers to provide outpatient drugs to eligible health
care organizations at significantly reduced prices.
S.216 also requires the Medicaid office to study others states’ Medicaid 340B program
prescription drug pricing, the benefits of using the same reimbursement formula the department
uses to pay for non-340B prescription drugs under the Medicaid program, and the financial
implications of implementing any recommended modifications.
Prescription Drug Limits (S.216)
Lawmakers approved a provision in S.216 that allows an advisory group to provide input into the
development of the 2018 Vermont Health Insurance Exchange plans with a flexible prescription
drug limit while maintaining at least two bronze-level plans with the prescription drug limit of
$1,300. For each individual enrolled in a bronze-level qualified health benefit plan who has met
the out-of-pocket prescription drug limit in 2016, the health insurer is required to notify the
individual of the insurer’s intent to automatically reenroll the individual in a plan with a cap of
$1,300. For 2019 plans, the legislature will consider recommendations from the advisory group
and make a determination about the prescription drug limit.
Group Therapy Reimbursement (H.875)
Several committees took testimony this session on an administration proposal to cut
reimbursement rates for group therapy services. A cut implemented by the Medicaid office in
July 2015 ensured compliance with federal coding regulations. A further reduction was proposed
to align reimbursement with the State Medicaid Plan.
After hearing from providers, language was included in H.875, the state appropriations bill, that
requires the Medicaid office to analyze utilization trends of individual and group psychotherapy
to determine if the current reimbursement rates are sufficient to sustain access to cost-effective
and appropriate services to Medicaid beneficiaries. Providers said that some patients who are
served by group therapy may be switched to individual therapy at greater cost and with lower
efficacy.
Hospital Affiliations (S.245)
The legislature approved a bill requiring hospitals to disclose their affiliations with physician
offices. The legislation requires the Green Mountain Care Board to amend its current policy for
reviewing new physician acquisitions and transfers as part of the board’s hospital budget review
to include a notification to each patient served by that health care provider about the acquisition
or transfer. It also requires hospitals to notify the Attorney General’s Office as soon as
practicable of an affiliation. The AG may perform an inquiry into potentially anticompetitive
practices with the information provided by the hospital.
Under the legislation, Medicaid rates to hospitals for outpatient services would not increase as a
result of a provider transfer or an acquisition. The bill requires the GMCB to consider the
impacts of a similar policy for commercial insurers.
Finally, the bill requires the GMCB to provide a copy of each health insurer’s implementation
plan for providing fair reimbursement to independent providers to the Health Reform Oversight
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Health Care
Committee and the committees of jurisdiction by July 15 and a progress report to the same
entities by Dec. 1.
Combating Opioid Abuse (S.243)
Lawmakers responded to the governor’s call in his State-of-the-State Address to limit the amount
of pills physicians can prescribe for the treatment of pain. A bill aimed at combating opiate
abuse, S.243, provides guidelines for health care providers and dispensers of controlled
substances, expands access to substance abuse treatment with buprenorphine, and develops a
pilot program for patients taking buprenorphine to receive treatment through telemedicine. It also
requires the Agency of Administration, the Department of Vermont Health Access, and Blue
Cross Blue Shield of Vermont to perform separate evaluations on the use of acupuncture as a
way to treat and manage pain.
The legislation expands the role of pharmacies and pharmacists to provide patient care within
their scope of practice and requires the Department of Health, the Board of Pharmacy and
pharmacists to consider the role of pharmacies in preventing opioid misuse, abuse, and diversion.
The bill increases a fee on pharmaceutical manufacturers and raises $1.5 million that will be
deposited into the Evidence-Based Education and Advertising Fund to support the programs and
studies detailed in the legislation, including a statewide unused prescription drug proposal
program.
Consumer Protection in Accountable Care Organizations (H.812)
Lawmakers approved a bill that adopts consumer protections for inclusion in the Green
Mountain Care Board’s all-payer model waiver agreement with the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services. The legislation requires the GMCB to adopt rules in several areas of
oversight for accountable care organizations. ACOs are groups of providers who join together to
provide coordinated care to their patients.
The rules will set standards for reporting requirements, patient protections, solvency and ability
to assume financial risk, budgets, and other matters the board deems necessary for the operation
and evaluation of ACOs. The GMCB will consider the appropriate role of multi-year budgets for
accountable care organizations. The board is also required to provide an advisory rate case
review for ACO services for Medicaid beneficiaries.
The bill requires the Joint Fiscal Office, the Department of Finance and Management, the
Agency of Human Services Central Office and the Department of Vermont Health Access to
consider the appropriate role of multi-year budgets for Medicaid and other state-funded health
care programs.
Office of Health Care Advocate Funding (H.873)
A provision in the miscellaneous tax bill includes an increase in funding for the Office of the
Health Care Advocate to replace the loss of federal grant funding. The provision allows the
Green Mountain Care Board to use its bill-back authority for expenses related to regulatory
duties to the entities it regulates –hospitals and insurance companies – to fund the office. Each of
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Health Care
the regulated entities will be assessed 24.2 percent, with the state share at 27.5 percent to fund
the HCA office budget.
The Senate Finance Committee included language which requires the HCA to provide
recommendations in its annual report on whether it should be removed from numerous advisory
groups and task forces in order to more effectively fulfill the office’s consumer advocacy
function.
Alignment of Provider Measures (H.761)
In an effort to reduce reporting requirements imposed on physicians, lawmakers passed a bill that
will require the Green Mountain Care Board to catalog and develop a plan to align health care
performance measures imposed on primary care providers.
AHS Workplace Violence and Prevention Bill (H.74)
Lawmakers approved a bill that increases protection for Agency of Human Services employees
who work directly with clients and their families. The bill requires the agency to establish and
maintain workplace violence and prevention policies. It requires that all AHS contract providers
establish these policies, which must be consistent with U.S. Occupational Safety and Health
Administration guidelines.
Prescription Drug Outside the Original Container (S.190)
Lawmakers passed a bill that allows an individual with a regulated prescription drug to maintain
up to a 14-day supply for personal use outside the original container as long as the drug was
prescribed for the individual, the individual is in possession of the original or copy of the
prescription label, intends to use the drug for legitimate medical use as prescribed, and maintains
the limited supply in a receptacle that constitutes a more transportable format.
Medical Marijuana (S.14)
With no prospect for passing a full marijuana legalization bill, lawmakers opted instead to make
modest changes to the state’s medical marijuana program. S.14 expands the permissible uses of
medical marijuana to include chronic pain and glaucoma. The bill also shortens the required
duration of physician-patient relationship before marijuana can be dispensed from six to three
months.
Dental Therapists (S.20)
Lawmakers established dental therapists as a new category of oral health providers, allowing
mid-level providers to practice in the state. Dental therapists must work under the supervision of
a dentist and pass a comprehensive competency-based clinical exam before practicing. They will
have limited prescribing authority to include non-narcotic analgesics and antibiotics.
Privacy Protection (S.155)
A privacy protection bill includes a provision to protect health care information. The bill states
that a covered entity shall not disclose protected health information unless the disclosure is
permitted under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Initially, the Senate
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Health Care
proposed to establish a private right of action for a person whose protected health care
information is improperly disclosed, but that provision was stricken from the bill.
Dense Breast Notification and Education (S.157)
Lawmakers approved a bill requiring all health care facilities that perform mammography
examinations to include in the summary of the mammography report provided to patients
information that identifies the patient’s individual breast tissue classification based on the Breast
Imagining Reporting and Data System established by the American College of Radiology. If a
facility determines that a patient has heterogeneously dense or extremely dense breasts, the
summary of the report will include a notice similar to the language in the bill.
Nutrition Procurement Standards (H.812)
A bill passed by the Senate in March that requires the Department of Health to establish and post
nutrition procurement standards on its website was never acted on by the House, but was
ultimately included by the Senate in H.812, the ACO consumer protection bill. S.196 requires all
food and beverages purchased, sold, or served by the state or on behalf of the state to meet the
minimum nutrition procurement standards. It also requires all state-owned or -operated vending
machines to display nutritional labeling.
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Insurance
Insurance Scores (H.577)
After hearing no testimony from insurers, regulators or consumers, the Senate Judiciary
Committee approved a bill banning the use of insurance scores for automobile insurance, which
most insurers use to lower the rates of drivers with good credit history. The full Senate
substituted the ban for a study by the Department of Financial Regulation. DFR is required to
review the prevalence of use of credit-based insurance scoring and related rating factors in
Vermont’s market for motor vehicle insurance, its impact on Vermont motor vehicle insurance
consumers, and how limitations on the use of such scoring would affect insurance companies
doing business in Vermont and the affordability and availability of motor vehicle insurance.
Vision Plans (S.215)
Vermont optometrists proposed legislation that would have prohibited vision care plans from
requiring optometrists in their networks to use particular labs and eyeglasses to lower consumer
costs. A House-Senate conference committee rejected the House’s relatively extreme proposal
with a more moderate bill that allows optometrists to use out-of-network facilities for labs and
services if 1) such out-of-network services benefit consumers; and 2) consumers are notified that
a referral is out-of-network. Vision care plans may still offer and inform patients about lowercost in-network options.
Small Business Waiver for Exchange (Act 67)
The governor has signed into law legislation allowing the Agency of Administration Chief of
Health Care Reform to pursue a waiver of the Affordable Care Act provision that requires the
state to create a website marketplace for small businesses. Vermont has not built the Small
Business Health Options Program technology to provide small businesses the same functionality
that Vermont Health Connect provides to the individual market. Small businesses continue to
enroll employees directly in Qualified Health Plans with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont and
MVP.
Large Group Health Insurance Market (S.214)
The legislature approved a bill that prohibits business groups with greater than 100 employees
from buying qualified health plans on the exchange starting in 2018. The Green Mountain Care
Board was charged with analyzing the projected impact on rates in the large group market if
large groups were allowed to purchase qualified health plans on Vermont Health Connect. The
report revealed that even if significant VHC enrollment gains are realized, allowing large
employers to enter VHC will produce higher premiums on average in the large group market. It
also showed that small group employees and individual policyholders would be negatively
impacted.
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Taxation
Collection Allowance Phased Out in Transportation Funding Bill (H.877)
A one percent deduction for loss of motor fuel volume due to shrinkage will be reduced to one
half percent on June 1 and eliminated altogether under a transportation funding bill valued at
$11.6 million. The bill, H.877, also raises license and registration fees, overweight permits and
other fees associated with transportation.
The phase-out was a small victory for the motor fuel industry, which argued that loss of volume
due to temperature change is a real phenomenon, and the method of payment simplifies
collection to the benefit of the state. The bill also raises the price of 164 permits and services
charged by the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles. Most of the changes approximate the
rate of inflation since they were last adjusted.
Executive Fee Bill Hits Retail Outlets and Investment Brokers (H.872)
The usually-bland executive branch fee bill became the major source of new revenue this
session, raising more than $27 million. Consumers will pay more at the grocery store and gas
pump, where lawmakers raised the price of licensing scanners, pump meters and other measuring
devices by up to 67 percent.
The bulk of the money, however, comes from raising fees charged to certain brokers. Gov.
Shumlin identified the mutual fund fee as out of line with neighboring states, and targeted new
revenue from a fee adjustment to fund college fund investment programs for newborns. The
legislature took the money and expanded it, but used it to avoid raising other taxes.
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Miscellaneous Tax Bill Changes Fuel Gross Receipts Tax (H.873)
Heating oil and propane dealers will be able to explain to customers that the two cent per gallon
surcharge on their heating bills goes to fund low income weatherization under a provision in the
miscellaneous tax bill, H.873. The bill also changes the tax to a discrete, two cent excise tax
rather than a percentage of the price. It leaves the existing tax on natural gas, coal and electricity
unchanged.
The miscellaneous tax bill will raise about $8.8 million in new revenue, but the increases in taxes
are small compared to recent years. Among its provisions are changing some formerly quarterly
remittance deadlines to monthly and seeking tax payments from the Airbnb network.
Authority to show the amount and the reason for the gross receipts tax on a customer’s bill has
been an issue for the heating oil industry since the tax was enacted more than 20 years ago. A
last-minute compromise allows them to explain it, but not until after the fall election. The tax
goes into effect on July 1.
Home Health Provider Tax (H.873)
A provision in the miscellaneous tax bill changes the provider tax methodology for home health
agencies and sets the assessment at 3.63 percent of its annual net patient revenue for years 2017
and 2018. It also creates a working group to develop a common understanding of the goals and
parameters of the assessment to ensure that it represents the most appropriate and equitable
model for the assessment.
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2016 Vermont Legislative Session: The Year In Review
Taxation
Expansion of Provider Tax
Gov. Peter Shumlin’s proposal to expand an existing health care provider tax to independent
physicians and dentists received very little support in the legislature. The proposal would have
assessed a 2.35 percent tax on independent physicians and dentists and would have brought in
$17 million in new state revenue, drawing a federal match of $20 million.
Fire Service Training Council Funding (H.873)
The legislature increased the assessment on property and casualty insurers to fund the Vermont
Fire Service Training Council. The annual assessment was raised from $950,000 to $1.2 million.
The assessment is made on a market share basis.
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