Senate Concurred With House Amendments to H55, Advancing Omnibus Unemployment and Labor Measures

The Vermont Senate voted to concur with the House proposal of amendment to H55, an omnibus measure addressing unemployment insurance and related labor issues, after suspending its rules to take the bill up for immediate consideration. Senator from Chittenden Central moved the suspension and the Senate approved the motion by voice vote.

Senator from Windsor, the reporter for H55, summarized the bill on the floor. She said the bill “sets up the baby bond trust” (statutory framework only), extends employer experience-rating relief after natural disasters from four weeks to 10 weeks, continues data collection on firefighter cancer, and subsidizes early detection cancer screening for firefighters with $1,000,000 that was passed previously in the budget. She also said the House removed a section that would have increased…