WHEREAS, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub.L. No. 111-5, (hereinafter "ARRA") amended the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (hereinafter the "Code") to authorize state and local governments to issue Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds and Recovery Zone Facility Bonds (hereinafter together referred to as "Recovery Zone Bonds"); and

WHEREAS, the Code established bond volume limitations, or caps, on the issuance of Recovery Zone Bonds and allocated those volume caps among the states to counties and large municipalities within each State based upon population and relative declines in employment in 2008; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service allocated Vermont's share of the Recovery Zone Bond volume caps to the State and sub-allocated the caps among 11 Vermont counties; and

WHEREAS, the Assistant Judges in 9 of those 11 counties, pursuant to their authority, have waived their counties' respective allocations and re-allocated their share of volume caps to the State of Vermont; and

WHEREAS, on October 14, 2009, the State of Vermont Emergency Board, pursuant to its authority to allocate private activity volume cap among bond issuing instrumentalities of the State, will consider allocating all Recovery Zone Facility Bonds' volume cap waived by the counties to the Vermont Economic Development Authority, an instrumentality of the State of Vermont; and

WHEREAS, in October, 2009, the Joint Fiscal Committee of the Vermont General Assembly, pursuant to its authority, will consider approving the Governor's allocation of the Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds' volume cap waived by the counties to the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank, an instrumentality of the State of Vermont, and to the State of Vermont should there be capacity not used by the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank; and

WHEREAS, the purpose of Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds is to promote economic activity through expenditures that promote development or other economic activity in a recovery zone designated as such by the county or State, as applicable, that is the recipient of volume cap; and

WHEREAS, the purpose of the Recovery Zone Facility Bonds is to finance property used in the active conduct of a trade or business in a recovery zone; and

WHEREAS, Recovery Zone Bonds are a significant resource to the State of Vermont and will stimulate economic activity, increase employment opportunities and mitigate the effects of the national recession; and

WHEREAS, the Code requires that all Recovery Zone Bonds be issued prior to January 1, 2011 and it is imperative that recovery zones in Vermont be designated as soon as possible to ensure that Vermont and Vermonters realize the full benefit of the bonds; and

WHEREAS, the Code defines a recovery zone, among other things, as an area designated by the issuer as having significant poverty, unemployment, rate of home foreclosures, or general distress; and

WHEREAS, unemployment in Vermont has nearly doubled statewide during the current downturn and every county of the state has suffered at least a doubling of unemployment since 2007 leading to significant general distress; and

WHEREAS, 28% of Vermonters work outside their county of residence and new jobs created anywhere in the state will significantly benefit those impacted by the recession; and

WHEREAS, projected state general fund revenues for FY2010 are 15% below actual revenues in FY2008 and are, in fact, less than actual FY2005 revenues and this severe impact on state revenues will be mitigated by development and construction anywhere in the state; and

WHEREAS, there is no area of Vermont that has not been significantly impacted by the recession and it is urgent to address both the problems of unemployment and declining revenues in Vermont.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, James H. Douglas, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Governor, do hereby designate the entire State of Vermont as a recovery zone under the Code as amended by ARRA. This designated recovery zone shall pertain to any Recovery Zone Bonds issued by the State of Vermont, the Vermont Economic Development Authority, the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank, and any other instrumentality of the State that may later receive an allocation of Recovery Zone Bond volume caps from the State.

This Executive Order shall take effect upon signing.

Dated October 9, 2009.