[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},"mediaId",6386796,"mediaKeyId","2117595-c6a9c0dcf7ad1e31ec94e018304e1bf9","parentId",2117595,"title","Joint Fiscal Office releases updated basic-needs budget: childcare subsidies lower family costs, housing drives single-adult increases","audioSeconds",3377,"startMs",2039000,"endMs",5416000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2117595-c6a9c0dcf7ad1e31ec94e018304e1bf9&start=2039&end=5416","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2117595-c6a9c0dcf7ad1e31ec94e018304e1bf9/thumbnail_2039000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6386796/Vermont/Joint-Fiscal-Office-releases-updated-basic-needs-budget-childcare-subsidies-lower-family-costs-housing-drives-single-adult-increases","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6386796-8c8ab6487faa397211754351c8807785/orig.mp4?Expires=1776192904&Signature=UAeLmanfwWflA6Sx17wPYyVbUvIG~ny~ZjOe8RanUAafGRJQfK7oKtIwBhlqxUtiFO0gltWxy6NoL2SsX9Q6D3mO4xj-TgZZC9Wm9JrQakfeDTitXy-NYYBCC1jdqx3jVhwd4B4gjnOtzQvH34YXbMw0bkCKwqn4RYdFU5V3xOVD5eXeBZm9detiyZdVP5lYhTxxVAv3FG9Mk~UR-SkxiborNwc1WwC3DINA9I2BXFsPwSKT51AHPIKh5FCJ9Yy1hk11UJfsBEVWSeYWYUwghNRDV3mSH0-93~ZzGQhynkRefItBtmP5xHI0Fa8CC~SJCFIqsFowHrtx7IgjrMvacQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","","date","2025-01-16T03:36:13Z","article","Montpelier, Jan. 15, 2025 — The Joint Fiscal Office presented its updated 2024 basic-needs budget to the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee on Wednesday, showing changes to methodology, the formal inclusion of child-care subsidies in many household calculations and a new official category for a single person in shared housing.

The report, prepared by the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO), calculates monthly and annual budgets for seven household configurations and converts those costs into a wage required to meet basic needs without public assistance. Patrick Chardin of the JFO said the update reflects inflation since 2022 and several methodological changes the Joint Fiscal Committee approved.

Why it matters: The basic-needs budget is a reference used by policymakers and employers to understand what wages are necessary for Vermonters to meet essentials such as housing, food, transportation and childcare without public assistance. The report informs debates over wage policy, tax credits and social programs.

Key findings and changes

- Methodology and scope: The JFO said it uses national datasets (Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer-expenditure survey, NHTS for transportation, HUD for housing) and adjusts for Vermont specifics. The report covers seven family configurations (single adult; single adult with child; two adults with and without children; and variations where one adult is not a wage earner). The JFO included a new “single person shared housing” category to reflect roommates and shared two-bedroom units.

- Childcare subsidies and taxes: The report treats childcare subsidies as a public good and includes them in budget calculations; JFO also included a recently enacted payroll contribution for childcare in tax calculations. Patrick Chardin said including subsidies reduced calculated budgets for many households with children.

- Telecommunications and personal-care additions: The JFO shifted telecommunications assumptions to 100 percent cell-phone/mobile service (instead of a blended cell/landline average) and added a category for personal-care products (soap, toothpaste, shampoo) after advisory discussions.

- Urban vs. rural: The report presents separate figures for Chittenden County (designated urban) and the rest of Vermont (rural). JFO staff said some committee members expressed concern about that binary segmentation and asked whether more granular census-tract or town-level distinctions are feasible given available survey data.

- Wages and inflation: Compared with 2022, some household types (notably single adults) saw increases in required wages driven largely by housing, food and health-care inflation. Households with children showed some decreases in required out-of-pocket budgets where childcare subsidies applied.

Representative numbers and assumptions

- The report models seven household configurations and uses the assumption that household members are working-age adults unless otherwise noted.

- Childcare subsidy eligibility in the calculation extends up to 575 percent of the federal poverty level (the JFO’s parameter for applying assistance in the model). The JFO also uses a 5%-of-income savings assumption in the budget.

- The JFO noted the single-person shared-housing calculation assumes a two-bedroom rental split 50-50 for the single occupant’s portion of rent and half the Internet bill.

Committee questions and next steps

Committee members pressed for more granular data, asked for clearer transportation assumptions (public transit vs. private vehicle ownership) and suggested the report should show the roommate/shared-housing figures alongside a single-person private-unit scenario to help policymakers compare policy choices. Patrick Chardin offered to return with further charts and to provide printed copies of the full report. Members asked JFO to prepare additional comparisons and to supply the underlying data or citations for specific line items in advance of a follow-up session.

Ending

The committee paused the presentation for a break and scheduled follow-up work to examine detailed tables and to discuss policy implications, including how housing costs and childcare subsidies shape the transition from single shared housing to family households. The report will be posted to legislative reports and the committee expects to reconvene on the material in the coming weeks.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Senate Economic Development - 2025-01-15- 9:00 AM","oneSentenceSummary","Fiscal staff presented the 2024 basic-needs budget to the Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee, reporting methodological updates, inclusion of childcare subsidies and a new single-person shared-housing category; members raised questions about urban/rural segmentation and data granularity.","taxTitle","Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs, SENATE, Committees, Legislative , Vermont","taxId",37662,"location","Vermont","headline","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},6386803,"Attorney General outlines consumer-protection priorities: social-media suits, fossil-fuel claims, data-privacy push",2092,100000,2192000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2117595-c6a9c0dcf7ad1e31ec94e018304e1bf9&start=100&end=2192","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2117595-c6a9c0dcf7ad1e31ec94e018304e1bf9/thumbnail_100000.jpg","/articles/6386803/Vermont/Attorney-General-outlines-consumer-protection-priorities-social-media-suits-fossil-fuel-claims-data-privacy-push","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6386803-a934ac013ce6081edbf08a6afff86a89/orig.mp4?Expires=1776192904&Signature=l2dQ6AHMHsdzFntDx0FekbbRvQdQrWm8bm0G36c2S1ZvOMPenGxLZXSh9ArjWXrmW6jCCSVOporZQL6oFMTyufhZQnnqpx54JQdPThTD4yty-RI4CsNYkHOb3cdnSJ0O4ihTCYrp7gD2NWuqy4yqEq4ydB3gzEKHziXIEWGcQd0vxBB6FaD06swmBC~v01GlG343-n7aNEqNalMxzkR3Dbg3Q4q5GfEdQKxdG7b0G8wcyzt7Iui6lY670MCmNll33YccZDkOGz5grY2Zq-E~FFPGziFgLIWVT-Gp2g1xsoyksV4YGLZa25w9sYHBabphcH0Q4fwFK8yWv8OFFhLGyA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Montpelier, Jan. 15, 2025 — The state’s Attorney General told the Vermont Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee on Wednesday that her office is focusing on multistate consumer-protection lawsuits against social-media platforms and fossil-fuel companies, advancing a data-privacy bill, and expanding office staff to handle complex technology and contractor complaints.

The Attorney General said her office enforces the Consumer Protection Act and operates a Consumer Assistance Program housed at the University of Vermont that mediates complaints, fields scam reports and helps Vermonters recover funds. “We just want the harm to stop,” she said of the social-media litigation, adding those suits allege companies “downplayed the addictive nature and the harm that they are causing with their product, especially to teenage girls.”

Why it matters: The office’s civil enforcement actions can result in statewide settlements, consumer remedies and monetary awards that help fund agency work. Committee members focused on how the office measures return on investment for litigation and asked for clearer data on whether current enforcement and regulatory steps are changing consumer harms.

Key details

- Scope and staffing: The Attorney General described roughly 150 employees in her office, about 100 of them lawyers, and said the consumer unit handles matters ranging from unfair marketplace claims to some antitrust work. She said the Consumer Assistance Program answers thousands of calls each year and is operated in partnership with the University of Vermont.

- Major cases: The office has active multistate cases against social-media companies and separate litigation against fossil-fuel companies for alleged marketplace misrepresentations (commonly called “greenwashing”). She said defendants commonly seek dismissal or removal to federal court; one fossil-fuel case was remanded back to state court less than a year ago. The Attorney General characterized the core allegation in the fossil-fuel suits as misrepresentation that deprived consumers of accurate information needed to make marketplace choices.

- Data privacy: The Attorney General said she and staff have worked on a comprehensive data-privacy proposal since 2020 and that the House Commerce Committee is the expected venue to begin a new bill this year. Her office’s priority is protecting “sensitive data, like biometric data,” which, she said, cannot be replaced if compromised.

- Consumer Assistance and home-improvement complaints: A specialist position in the Consumer Assistance Program focused on home-improvement complaints — Gabriel Taylor Marsh — has helped recover roughly $800,000 for Vermonters in about 18 months, the Attorney General said. That role was originally funded for two years; the office is requesting that the Legislature make the position permanent.

- Request for additional resources: The Attorney General said she will ask the Legislature for an additional assistant attorney general to focus on large technology cases (social media, artificial intelligence and related matters). She said additional staff would allow Vermont to serve as a lead state in multistate litigation, which can increase recoveries (she cited past examples in which lead-state roles produced larger awards).

- Public outreach and scams: The office released a “top 10 scams of 2024” list and urged legislators to share Consumer Assistance Program contact information (1-800-649-2424) with constituents. The Attorney General encouraged committee members to invite Chris Curtis, director of the UVM-based consumer assistance program, to testify about the program’s top complaint categories.

Quotes

“We sued the fossil fuel companies,” the Attorney General said, summarizing one litigation track. “We just want the harm to stop,” she said of the social-media litigation, adding the suits assert companies “downplayed the addictive nature and the harm that they are causing with their product, especially to teenage girls.”

“Gabriel Taylor Marsh has neutrally gotten back to consumers $800,000,” she said of the home-improvement specialist in the Consumer Assistance Program.

What the committee asked for and next steps

Committee members asked the Attorney General’s office to provide clearer measures of program effectiveness and return on investment for litigation and enforcement activities. The office said it recently completed a strategic plan that emphasizes measurement and that it will provide additional materials — including the top five consumer-complaint topics identified by the UVM Consumer Assistance Program — to the committee. The Attorney General said the office will request the budget additions (the permanent home-improvement specialist and an assistant attorney general focused on big tech) in the governor’s budget process.

Ending

Committee members praised the Consumer Assistance Program’s partnership with UVM and scheduled follow-up contacts to receive the unit’s top complaint categories and the Attorney General’s forthcoming budget requests. No committee votes were taken on the requests during the Jan. 15 meeting.","At a Jan. 15 Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs committee meeting, the Attorney General described ongoing multistate social-media and fossil-fuel lawsuits, plans for a data-privacy bill, and requests to make a home-improvement specialist permanent and add staff focused on big tech.","actionData","errors"]

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Joint Fiscal Office releases updated basic-needs budget: childcare subsidies lower family costs, housing drives single-adult increases

Attorney General outlines consumer-protection priorities: social-media suits, fossil-fuel claims, data-privacy push