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VERMONT SECRETARY OF STATE - Jim Condos | |||||||
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January 2004 Press Release
Markowitz Appointed To The National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council Governing Board - Jan 5, 2004
Legislature Asked to Change Constitution's Voter Registration
Requirements - Jan 9, 2004 New Business Starts Highest on
Record - Jan 20, 2004 Primary Ballot Set - Jan 21,
2004
Rite Aid Pharmacies Charged with Unprofessional Conduct - Jan 30, 2004
Press Release Montpelier. Today, Secretary of State Deb Markowitz announced her appointment to serve on the Governing Board of the National Electronic Coordinating Council (NECCC). NECCC is a national think tank of public and private sector leaders and practitioners working to identify and develop best practices for eGovernment. Markowitz said, "I feel honored by my appointment to the governing board of an organization that is on the cutting edge of government technology. I will be working with the NECCC to develop tools to help government ensure its digital systems are secure and reliable and that they generate authentic records that can be preserved over time." In 1998 the National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council (NECCC) was formed in an effort to build on the success of the Conference on Electronic Commerce held in 1997. The group’s initial goal was to facilitate cooperation between states and the private sector as the industry moved toward electronic commerce. Today, a twenty-four-member board oversees NECCC with three representatives each from the three sponsoring associations (NIGP, representing federal, state and local purchasing agents; NASACT, representing the state auditors, state comptrollers and state treasurers; NASS representing the secretaries of state). This unique pool of federal, state and local professionals is in the strategic position to advance the progress of electronic commerce within all levels of government. #30 Press Release Legislature Asked To Change Constitution’s Voter Registration Requirements Secretary of State, the League of Women Voters,
Vermont Public Interest Research Group and Montpelier. Today, Secretary of State Deb Markowitz, with support from the League of Women Voters (LWV), the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), and the Champlain Initiative asked the Vermont Legislature’s Senate Government Operations Committee to consider amending Vermont’s Constitution to permit the voter’s oath to be self-administered. The Vermont Constitution requires citizens to take an oath before a judge or notary before they are qualified to vote in Vermont. No other state has such a requirement. Paul Burns, the Executive Director of VPIRG said, "Since the strength of a democracy is measured by the participation of its citizens, we must do all that we can to tear down the barriers in our system. Amending the Constitution to make the voter's oath self-administered will make a real difference." "Youth voter apathy is a national problem that is reaching a point of crisis in Vermont," said Marge Gaskins, president of LWV. According to Secretary Markowitz, census figures show that while 42 percent of 18 – 24 years olds voted in the 2000 Presidential Elections, only 36 percent of that same age group voted in Vermont. Markowitz said, "This is in stark contrast to Vermont’s statistics for its older voters: in the 2000 election voter turnout of citizens over 24 was 75 percent." Markowitz said, "While there are many contributing factors to low voter turnout of young people, a clear barrier in Vermont is the requirement that new voters take an oath before a judge or notary. This means, for example, that a Vermonter who is at an out of state college cannot register to vote simply by downloading a voter application form, filling it out and returning it to Vermont." Gaskins said, "By making the oath self-administered, we will preserve the tradition of taking the oath, while making it possible for people to register and vote, all by mail." Markowitz said, "not only would making the voter’s oath self-administered help increase participation of Vermont’s youngest citizens, but it would also enable our office to meet the public demand of on-line voter registration."
#30 For Immediate Release January 12, 2004 Contact: Marianne Lynch 802-828-2148 Town Meeting Day Deadlines Draw Near Secretary of State Deb Markowitz Reminds Citizens to Get Their Petitions In Soon Montpelier. Deadlines for getting items on the town meeting warning are fast approaching for the upcoming March town meeting. January 22nd is the deadline for petitions to get articles on the warning, and January 26th is the deadline for submitting nominating petitions for local office where elections are by Australian Ballot vote. Secretary of State Deb Markowitz said, "Vermont town meeting can provide a meaningful opportunity to discuss issues that are important to individuals in the town. This year we are already seeing petitions from voters on a variety of town issues, such as changing from floor voting to Australian Ballot voting on a particular type of question, or electing to pay the delinquent tax collector a salary rather than the statutory collection fee." Markowitz said "voters must act quickly if they want to get a particular issue on the town meeting warning." Unless the selectboard agrees to put a particular article on the warning, voters must present a petition to the town clerk by January 22nd. In most cases, the petitioned article must be signed by at least 5% of the registered voters of the town. In addition, according to Markowitz, January 26th is the deadline for submitting a nominating petition to the town clerk in towns that elect officers using the Australian Ballot. Markowitz said, "Serving in local office is a great way to give something back to the town. People who live in towns that vote their officers by ballot, rather than on the floor of town meeting must plan ahead if they wish to run for office." Nominating petitions must be signed by 30 voters, or 1% of the legal voters, whichever is fewer. All petitions must be submitted to the town clerk. For more information call your town clerk's office, or the Office of the Secretary of State at (802) 828-2363. For information on how to petition on a local issue please visit the Secretary of State website at www.sec.state.vt.us. #30
New Business Starts Highest on Record Filings with Vermont's Secretary of State's Office Show Marked Growth in New Business Starts for 2003 Montpelier. Secretary of State Deb Markowitz announced today that the number of new businesses registered with her office's Corporations Division during the year 2003 increased markedly from previous years. While the 8,371 new business starts in 2002 represent the highest number of new filings her office had seen in over a decade, in 2003 that number rose to 9,163 new businesses registered in Vermont. "The continued increase in new business registration is good news," said Secretary Markowitz. "Our business-starts statistic is a good barometer of confidence within the business community and shows that Vermont's economy continues to rebound," Markowitz said. According to Markowitz, corporate dissolutions have begun to stabilize as well. The 846 dissolutions in 2003 represent an improvement from the 892 dissolutions in 2002 and the 971 dissolutions seen in 2001. The 9,163 new Vermont business starts in 2003 include businesses that have been formed as corporations, as limited liability corporations and those using a tradename. Markowitz said "not every form of business entity saw growth this year. Much of this year’s increase comes from a jump in out of state businesses filing to do business in Vermont as well as new businesses forming as limited liability corporations (LLC)." The 1,093 new foreign corporations filed in 2003 represent an increase of nearly 200 from the new filings registered in 2002. The 2,262 new LLCs registered in 2003 reflect an increase of nearly 400 from the 1,863 newly registered in 2002. Markowitz said, "it is notable that Vermont businesses are continuing to form new limited liability corporations." LLCs are a new type of business entity authorized by the legislature in 1995. "Over the past five years the number of new LLCs has increased by about 300 a year," said Secretary Markowitz. "It is not surprising that there continues to be a lot of activity among limited liability corporations," said Markowitz, "LLCs are the wave of the future in the business community because they offer both flexibility in organizational structure and tax status. It will be interesting to see how much more growth in new filings we experience with this business entity before filings begin to level off." Markowitz said "in addition to the increase in the number of foreign corporations registering in Vermont and LLC filings we continued to see a rise in the registration of new tradenames, with 4,591 new tradenames filed this year as compared to 4,328 filed in 2002." In addition to seeing marked growth in for-profit enterprises, the Secretary of State's office also continued to experience a high filing level of non-profit corporations. For the past five years there has been nearly 400 new non-profit corporations registered each year. This year 443 new non-profit corporations registered to do business in Vermont. As of January 1, 2004, the approximate numbers of "active" registrations are: 16,130 Vermont domestic corporations; 6,786 nonprofit corporations; 7,411 foreign (out of state doing business in Vermont) corporations; 36,086 small business registrations (trade names) and 7,258 limited liability corporations. The Office of the Vermont Secretary of State licenses and registers foreign and domestic corporations, non-profits, LLCs, and tradenames and is the repository for Uniform Commercial Code filings. Information about the services offered by the Corporations Division, including registration forms and searchable databases are available at www.sec.state.vt.us. Please view our year end statistics. (PDF document) #30 For Immediate Release January 21, 2004 Contact: Marianne Lynch 802-828-2148 This press release is available digitally at http://www.sec.state.vt.us Primary Ballot Set 5 File for Vermont’s Democratic Presidential Primary Montpelier. Secretary of State Deb Markowitz announced today that five candidates filed petitions to be on the Democratic Primary ballot. The five candidates are Howard Dean, John Kerry, Lyndon LaRouche, Wesley Clark and Dennis Kucinich. The filing deadline was Tuesday January 20th at 5:00 p.m. Only one candidate, President George Bush, filed to be on the Republican Primary ballot. Major Party candidates who wish to participate in Vermont’s Presidential Primary must submit a petition signed by 1000 voters along with a filing fee of $2000. Independent candidates and minor party candidates do not participate in the Presidential Primary in March. These candidates must file nominating petitions by September 17th in order to participate in the General Election in November. #30 For Immediate Release January 30, 2004 Contact: Marianne Lynch 802-828-2148 This press release is available digitally at http://www.sec.state.vt.us Rite Aid Pharmacies
Charged With Unprofessional Conduct Montpelier. Today Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz announced that the Office of Professional Regulation has filed charges of unprofessional conduct against Rite Aid Pharmacies in the towns of Montpelier, Derby, Lyndonville, St. Johnsbury and Fair Haven. The Secretary of State’s Office alleges that Rite Aid allowed a pharmacist who was suspected of drug diversion, who was behaving erratically and who was known to have made errors in dispensing prescriptions, to continue practicing pharmacy at several store locations. The Pharmacist in question, Robert Clinkscale, practiced at Rite Aid pharmacies throughout Vermont from October 9, 2000 to June 4, 2003. Mr. Clinkscale’s license to practice pharmacy was suspended by the Board of Pharmacy on June 25, 2003, based on findings that he diverted controlled medications from the Rite Aid store located in Montpelier and based on his deteriorating mental health. The charges also allege that Rite Aid failed to follow the State of Vermont Pharmacy Regulations on several occasions in its Derby and St. Johnsbury locations by failing to timely notify the Board of Pharmacy of thousands of missing tablets of controlled and narcotic medications. Additionally, the State claims that Rite Aid prevented one of its outgoing pharmacist managers from conducting an inventory of controlled drugs at the St. Johnsbury location and failed to timely notify the Board of a change in pharmacist manager, as required by the Board of Pharmacy Regulations. In a separate set of charges, similar instances of unprofessional conduct have been alleged against Rite Aid=s Fair Haven location. Secretary of State Deb Markowitz said, "these are very serious charges against the Rite Aid Pharmacies. The Vermont Board of Pharmacy will be considering whether the charges have merit and what the appropriate sanction will be." #30
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