During the legislative reports Mark Larsen informed us that the legislature is looking into an income tax to fund our public education system. He also told us that there are problems with the state corrections budget. The state is $10 million over budget. It was discussed within the NPA of how it currently costs us $25,000-$40,000 per inmate, per year to keep them in state an only $20,000 to send them out-of-state. Someone suggested sending more of offenders out-of-state to save money. The majority of these offenders are for drug abuse and women population is growing the fastest.
The main discussion topic was Healthcare. John Tracy, Mark Larsen and an AARP representative gave presentations all praising the current universal healthcare proposal. Basically, the proposal is for every Vermonter to pay 3% of their income for health insurance. If you or your employer pay 3% or more for your private health insurance you will be left alone. If you pay less than 3% or don’t have health insurance at all you will pay the difference to the state. For example, if you are currently paying 1% of your income for health insurance, you will need to pay the remaining 2% to the state.
