By Representative Heidi Scheuermann

On January 6th, Governor Peter Shumlin gave his first Inaugural Address to the Vermont General Assembly.

While the year is clearly going to be a difficult one, as we face another $150 million deficit in our General Fund, the tone of the Governor’s speech was a positive one and called for a focus on economic growth and job creation. Among other things, the Governor outlined ConnectVT, a new plan for expanding highspeed internet and cell phone service throughout Vermont by 2013. As has been evident in our real estate market, and our economy in general, ensuring connectivity as soon as possible is a must.

The Governor also outlined some significant initiatives upon which he campaigned, the most talked about of which is establishing a single-payer health care system in Vermont. As I have noted in the past, I have real concerns about Vermont moving in this direction at this time. First and foremost, the federal government has determined, and will continue to determine, the direction in which states will be allowed to go, and singlepayer is not one of them. We would need to obtain several waivers from the federal government in order to enact it, just two of which are waivers of the Affordable Care Act (though, we are unable to apply for this waiver until 2017) and the Employment Retirement Income Security Act. Instead, we should be concentrating our efforts, and extremely limited resources, on developing the health care exchanges that are part of the federal law and, most importantly, on efforts to control the actual cost of health care services. Unless we control the cost of the services, the funding of health care will never be sustainable.

One critical issue that the Governor did not raise in his Inaugural Address was education funding and property taxes. With $60 million of the $150 million deficit in the General Fund supposed to be transferred to the Education Fund, a comprehensive reform of the system is required. And it needs to be done so in conjunction with a reform of the delivery system itself in order to improve upon and expand opportunities for our children. Couple the deficit with what our communities and school districts currently face in their schools and property taxes, I was hopeful that this issue would be a priority of the new administration. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be.

I am pleased to report that I have been appointed to the Commerce and Economic Development Committee. As we continue to face real economic challenges, I plan to use my role on this committee to advance policies that encourage private sector job growth and prosperity.

I have also reorganized the House Tourism Caucus and was elected Chair of the Caucus last week. As a non-partisan group, we plan to work closely with the Department of Tourism and Marketing to first ensure the funding needed for our marketing efforts, and to promote policies that bring more and more visitors here from all over the world.

Simply put, Vermont is in the tourism business and we must do all we can to support it.

As always, I encourage you to contact me with any questions or concerns, and I will do my best to keep the people of Stowe and Lamoille County informed. I can be reached at 253-2275 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .