Legislative Updates
Legislative Update #1
’m thrilled to be one of your Representatives in the Vermont Statehouse. It’s been an exciting blur of a start to the legislative session.
I’m on the Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry Committee. While I come to this with experience from my work at the Champlain Islands Food Shelf as a volunteer and Board member, I am learning a great deal about ag and forestry from committee presentations. Currently, my committee doesn’t have any bills (this should change soon), but we’ve shared issues of concerns that we’re going to be working on. One of them is supporting farmers who might be transitioning away from the farming they’ve been doing. Last week I met with a constituent who is using four acres of his family dairy farm to grow hemp as a way to supplement their dairy farm income.
If you’re a farmer, I’d love to talk with you about any issues you might be facing and how my committee can be of assistance.
Other things my committee is focusing on is sustainable farming and forestry, and within that soil replenishment and carbon sequestration. As another committee member put it, “How can I, as a farmer, leave my land in better shape than when I began farming.”
I’m also a member of the Rural Caucus. This caucus looks at all the bills that are being offered to ensure the voices of rural Vermonters are heard. This is a truly non-partisan caucus and a real highlight of my week. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and questions.
I had the fun of performing stand up at the first legislative cabaret show. It was a lovely way to get to know my fellow legislators outside of the Capitol.
Please feel free to reach out to me whenever you’ve got an issue that you need help with. My email is jleavitt@leg.state.vt.us and it is the best to get in touch with me. Here’s a link to my Facebook legislative page: https://www.facebook.com/josieforstaterep
Update #2
This past week was very busy as my committee really dug into the issues that face Vermont food producers of all kinds as well as the complexity of Universal School Meals. NOFA-VT (Northeast Organic Farmers of Vermont) and the Vermont Farm Bureau came to the committee. The main take-away was our farmers are in trouble and as one farmer put it, “We’re not okay.” She elaborated that dairy farmers are facing the same struggles as other industries: Housing costs, healthcare, and childcare. If you’re a farmer and have particular issues you’d like me to know about, please reach out. I’d love to hear from you.
Some of the issues farmers have addressed have been taken up by the Rural Caucus’ two bills:
Workforce Housing bill. To address the housing shortage, this bill proposes to 1) break down regulations barriers, 2) provide strategic investments, 3) add capacity at the local and regional level for planning and zoning.
Right to Repair Equipment. The bill would reform existing laws so farmers and independent repair businesses can access the same repair documentation, diagnostics, tools, parts, firmware, etc. that authorized dealers have.
My committee also took testimony from Hunger Free Vermont to explain more about the success of Universal School Meals and to start the discussion about making it permanent. To put this in perspective, Alburgh’s Community Education Center has just over 80% of their students qualifying for these meals, and just under half of the students in Grand Isle School qualify. We will hear much more about Universal School Meals this week as well.
I forgot to mention that last week we had a community gathering at the Milton Library where folks could meet all the Legislators and Senators who represent Milton. This was a truly non-partisan event as we’re all striving to keep party politics out of things and focus instead on what people actually need. I was so happy to see over 25 people in attendance. Everyone asked great questions and I was so impressed, not only with the turn out, but the interest and commitment of the audience. Be on the lookout for similar events in Grand Isle County.
Staff at the County Courthouse in North Hero reached out to me to see if I could help with their understaffing situation. This week I met with Teri Corsones, the Vermont State Court Administrator, and she said plans were in the works to help alleviate some of the problem.
As always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, concerns, ideas, etc. My email is jleavitt@leg.state.vt.us
Update #3
This week my committee (Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry) spent much of the week focusing on learning more about Universal School Meals and the crisis facing organic dairy farmers throughout the state.
We spent a lot of time hearing about Universal School Meals from five school nutritionists, and from Rosie Kruger, State Director of Child Nutrition Programs for the Agency of Education. It seems abundantly clear that the program is working. One aspect of USM is the Farm Fresh School Meals which uses food from local farmers in school meals. Scaling up to use more Vermont products is something all the witnesses want to do. Currently, the schools who came to us buy 12-27% of their school’s food from local Vermont farmers. The more local food school districts buy from farmers, the more money they get reimbursed from the federal government and the less they’ll use state money. For every $1.00 spent on Universal School Meals, $1.60 is returned to the Vermont economy.
We held a joint hearing with the Senate Agriculture committee to take testimony about the organic dairy farm crisis. Maddie Kempner of NOFA-VT (Northeast Organic Farming Association of VT) started off the discussion by asking that we consider a one-time $9.2 million appropriation for Vermont organic dairy farmers in the Budget Adjustment Act. The BAA is the time mid-way through the fiscal year where the Governor and the Legislature adjust the budget. We stand to lose up to 20 organic dairies in the next few months if nothing changes.
We heard from seven organic dairy farmers about the severe economic issues they’re facing. There has been a snowball effect for these farmers borne of sky-rocketing production costs— from rising fuel costs and feed that’s more expensive than ever because of the conflict in Ukraine, unanticipated inflation increases, and a severe drought last summer that has left many farmers struggling.
These farmers are smart, hard-working and diversifying their farms as much as they can. And they’re still struggling. The price for organic milk has not kept pace with that of conventional milk. Organic dairy farmers do not have the safety net that conventional dairy farmers have because the calculations the Dairy Margin Coverage uses do not take into account the higher costs incurred by organic farmers. The DMC is an insurance program which helps bridge the gap when dairy prices are lower than production costs, and since organic dairy farms don’t have the volume of many conventional farms, their reimbursement from the DMC is insufficient.
Our committee voted unanimously to submit a letter to the Appropriations Committee in support of this one-time $9.2 million appropriation for organic dairy farmers as part of the Budget Adjustment Act.
’m thrilled to be one of your Representatives in the Vermont Statehouse. It’s been an exciting blur of a start to the legislative session.
I’m on the Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry Committee. While I come to this with experience from my work at the Champlain Islands Food Shelf as a volunteer and Board member, I am learning a great deal about ag and forestry from committee presentations. Currently, my committee doesn’t have any bills (this should change soon), but we’ve shared issues of concerns that we’re going to be working on. One of them is supporting farmers who might be transitioning away from the farming they’ve been doing. Last week I met with a constituent who is using four acres of his family dairy farm to grow hemp as a way to supplement their dairy farm income.
If you’re a farmer, I’d love to talk with you about any issues you might be facing and how my committee can be of assistance.
Other things my committee is focusing on is sustainable farming and forestry, and within that soil replenishment and carbon sequestration. As another committee member put it, “How can I, as a farmer, leave my land in better shape than when I began farming.”
I’m also a member of the Rural Caucus. This caucus looks at all the bills that are being offered to ensure the voices of rural Vermonters are heard. This is a truly non-partisan caucus and a real highlight of my week. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and questions.
I had the fun of performing stand up at the first legislative cabaret show. It was a lovely way to get to know my fellow legislators outside of the Capitol.
Please feel free to reach out to me whenever you’ve got an issue that you need help with. My email is jleavitt@leg.state.vt.us and it is the best to get in touch with me. Here’s a link to my Facebook legislative page: https://www.facebook.com/josieforstaterep
Update #2
This past week was very busy as my committee really dug into the issues that face Vermont food producers of all kinds as well as the complexity of Universal School Meals. NOFA-VT (Northeast Organic Farmers of Vermont) and the Vermont Farm Bureau came to the committee. The main take-away was our farmers are in trouble and as one farmer put it, “We’re not okay.” She elaborated that dairy farmers are facing the same struggles as other industries: Housing costs, healthcare, and childcare. If you’re a farmer and have particular issues you’d like me to know about, please reach out. I’d love to hear from you.
Some of the issues farmers have addressed have been taken up by the Rural Caucus’ two bills:
Workforce Housing bill. To address the housing shortage, this bill proposes to 1) break down regulations barriers, 2) provide strategic investments, 3) add capacity at the local and regional level for planning and zoning.
Right to Repair Equipment. The bill would reform existing laws so farmers and independent repair businesses can access the same repair documentation, diagnostics, tools, parts, firmware, etc. that authorized dealers have.
My committee also took testimony from Hunger Free Vermont to explain more about the success of Universal School Meals and to start the discussion about making it permanent. To put this in perspective, Alburgh’s Community Education Center has just over 80% of their students qualifying for these meals, and just under half of the students in Grand Isle School qualify. We will hear much more about Universal School Meals this week as well.
I forgot to mention that last week we had a community gathering at the Milton Library where folks could meet all the Legislators and Senators who represent Milton. This was a truly non-partisan event as we’re all striving to keep party politics out of things and focus instead on what people actually need. I was so happy to see over 25 people in attendance. Everyone asked great questions and I was so impressed, not only with the turn out, but the interest and commitment of the audience. Be on the lookout for similar events in Grand Isle County.
Staff at the County Courthouse in North Hero reached out to me to see if I could help with their understaffing situation. This week I met with Teri Corsones, the Vermont State Court Administrator, and she said plans were in the works to help alleviate some of the problem.
As always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, concerns, ideas, etc. My email is jleavitt@leg.state.vt.us
Update #3
This week my committee (Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry) spent much of the week focusing on learning more about Universal School Meals and the crisis facing organic dairy farmers throughout the state.
We spent a lot of time hearing about Universal School Meals from five school nutritionists, and from Rosie Kruger, State Director of Child Nutrition Programs for the Agency of Education. It seems abundantly clear that the program is working. One aspect of USM is the Farm Fresh School Meals which uses food from local farmers in school meals. Scaling up to use more Vermont products is something all the witnesses want to do. Currently, the schools who came to us buy 12-27% of their school’s food from local Vermont farmers. The more local food school districts buy from farmers, the more money they get reimbursed from the federal government and the less they’ll use state money. For every $1.00 spent on Universal School Meals, $1.60 is returned to the Vermont economy.
We held a joint hearing with the Senate Agriculture committee to take testimony about the organic dairy farm crisis. Maddie Kempner of NOFA-VT (Northeast Organic Farming Association of VT) started off the discussion by asking that we consider a one-time $9.2 million appropriation for Vermont organic dairy farmers in the Budget Adjustment Act. The BAA is the time mid-way through the fiscal year where the Governor and the Legislature adjust the budget. We stand to lose up to 20 organic dairies in the next few months if nothing changes.
We heard from seven organic dairy farmers about the severe economic issues they’re facing. There has been a snowball effect for these farmers borne of sky-rocketing production costs— from rising fuel costs and feed that’s more expensive than ever because of the conflict in Ukraine, unanticipated inflation increases, and a severe drought last summer that has left many farmers struggling.
These farmers are smart, hard-working and diversifying their farms as much as they can. And they’re still struggling. The price for organic milk has not kept pace with that of conventional milk. Organic dairy farmers do not have the safety net that conventional dairy farmers have because the calculations the Dairy Margin Coverage uses do not take into account the higher costs incurred by organic farmers. The DMC is an insurance program which helps bridge the gap when dairy prices are lower than production costs, and since organic dairy farms don’t have the volume of many conventional farms, their reimbursement from the DMC is insufficient.
Our committee voted unanimously to submit a letter to the Appropriations Committee in support of this one-time $9.2 million appropriation for organic dairy farmers as part of the Budget Adjustment Act.
