Peter Welch: “Mr. Speaker, this commission is going to be very helpful to Vermont. We have in the northern tier of Vermont six…”

“Mr. Speaker, this commission is going to be very helpful to Vermont. We have in the northern tier of Vermont six counties, Caledonia, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Franklin, Orleans and Essex. It is among the most beautiful parts of Vermont. It has among the most industrious people in Vermont. But it has the highest unemployment rate and the lowest wages, about $10,000 below the national median. We want economic development in our northern counties. This legislation is going to give that impetus that is going to allow our regional economic commissions that have been providing excellent leadership but on threadbare resources the opportunity to use local decisionmaking, local ingenuity and local people committed to a prosperous economy in that region to get a leg up. What is tremendous about this legislation, modeled after its predecessors, is that it is a bottom-up approach.”