Equal Pay, Voter Protection, Consumer Protection

Call for Letters to the Editor, Tweets, Facebook Posts, Calls to Legislators

From Bill at State Level Messaging:

Message Committee:

This is from Jill Krowinski, House majority leader. We need to get on this quickly! Any Facebook posts, Tweets etc and of course letters to the editor. Jill has provided talking points to use. Please pass this on to your county teams. 

Thank you!

Bill

From Jill:
Just a heads up that we have three important bills on the floor Thursday and Friday this week. Also, Rep Morris was on Vermont Edition and did a tremendous job talking about the Black Lives Matter resolution vote and some of the racial justice legislation that's being worked on. Any support on social media and letters to the editor are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Jill

Voter Protection-H.624

In a democracy, the right to vote is a fundamental freedom. 
It's important we have protections in place for Vermonters’ sensitive and personal data contained in the statewide voter checklist. 
This legislation will protect Vermonters privacy while ensuring the freedom to vote.
The outpouring of contacts to the Secretary of State’s Office from Vermonters was by far the greatest for any issue seen since Secretary Condos has taken office. Virtually every contact was asking that their individual data not to be shared, or that VT not comply with the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity’s request for the voter checklist data.


Equal Pay-H.294
Topline Message: For many hardworking Vermonters, the economy is a broken.  Workers are struggling to earn enough to sustain a family.  Making paid family leave part of every job, gradually raising the minimum wage and ensuring equal pay for women improves the lives of Vermont’s working families and puts more money into Vermont’s small businesses. 

On the bill: Let's continue to work to close the pay gap.  “This bill proposes to prohibit employers from requiring an applicant to disclose his or her salary and benefit history and from seeking an applicant’s salary history without his or her authorization.”
 
This is the deceptively simple statement of purpose in H.294 as introduced. But what does it really mean?
 
If passed into law, H.294 will be another positive and complementary piece of legislation that continues our work in making sure women and men are paid equally for equal work. Historically, women have been paid less than men and, as they move through their careers, this wage gap becomes greater, especially if employers are basing their salary offers on an applicant’s current salary. This gap also results in, at the end of one’s career, reduced retirement benefits for the woman. 
 
Practically speaking, the bill prohibits requiring an applicant to disclose prior to a job offer — but if the information is offered voluntarily it may be used. The bill does not prohibit asking an applicant for salary expectations, nor does it prohibit an employer from posting a salary range.
 
Employers on our committee expressed dismay that we would throttle an employer’s desire to know this information, but most of the business organizations — the State Chamber, the Lake Champlain Chamber, VBSR, the Grocer’s/Retailers, and MSA-VT, which combined represent over 5,000 businesses in the state — support this bill as amended.


Data Brokers-H.764
In exercising its police powers, the legislature in this bill seeks to protect Vermont consumers through requiring companies trading in their personal information to register in Vermont and comply with data security standards. The bill would apply only to companies that do not have a direct relationship with Vermont consumers