Taxation Proposals:

The Appropriations Committee, along with members of the Taxation Committee, met with officials from Maine Revenue Services to discuss the new tax exemptions brought forward in the supplemental II proposal.

The sales and use tax proposals include a wood harvesting and horticultural exemption with a reduction of $350,000 in revenue in fiscal year 2013, rising to nearly $1 million per year in subsequent years. The committees had several questions regarding the logic of implementing further tax exemptions when faced with a current budget shortfall.  Several had many questions regarding the vagueness of the proposed language, especially around the wood harvesting provisions.  Rep. Martin pointed out that a similar proposal came forward last session which paired this exemption with job creation which was vetoed by the Governor.

The department also outlined a proposed medical equipment exemption for positive airway pressure machines (also called CPAP).  The committee asked questions regarding who is paying for these machines particularly if the bulk of buyers are Maine residents, insurance companies or other third parties.

In regard to income tax changes the department outlined an income tax exemption for active duty military pay for residents stationed outside of Maine starting in 2014.  The second proposal seeks to increase the current private pension exemption from $6,000 to $35,000 in the next five years starting in the next biennium.  During the discussion the department estimated that by FY 19 this proposal will result in the loss of $105 million in revenue per year.  The committee again questioned why proposals with no impact on the current biennial budget are being brought forward in an emergency supplemental during the last month of session.

DHHS Proposals:

The committee was joined by members of the Health and Human Services committee and received a briefing from Commissioner Mayhew regarding various DHHS proposals in this budget.  The two major items the committee focused on were the proposals around General Assistance and funding changes to the state’s two psychiatric facilities.

The budget proposes a series of changes to General Assistance.  The three major changes put forth are:

• making those who receive TANF benefits ineligible for General Assistance;
• restricting housing assistance through General Assistance to no more than 90 days per calendar year and
• reducing the reimbursement rate for all allowable expenditures to 50% for all municipalities.

Currently, communities are eligible for up to 90% reimbursement if they have extremely high General Assistance use in a year. Portland is the largest community receiving General Assistance and gets close to $4 million each year from the State. The City additionally contributes $2.6 million per year. The HHS Committee pointed out that these General Assistance needs will not go away, and that the reduction in reimbursement to towns will simply be a tax shift to local communities.

The Commissioner then outlined a proposed change to the funding model for the state’s psychiatric facilities.   The department believes that due to a proposed rule change (and possibly past rules) that the state’s funding method using federal funds must be changed.  The result of that change would require an additional $10 million in General Fund dollars to replace the loss of federal dollars through the funding change.  The committee questioned why the department is moving so fast in reaction to a proposed rule change?  Such fast action has not been the normal procedure of the department especially for a rule that has not yet been adopted.  The committee requested further information regarding this rule change including any documentation about the rule change and the timeline for its proposed implementation.

Department of Education Proposals:
Commissioner Bowen outlined his new spending and cuts for the supplemental budget. The new spending initiatives include $5 million for the Fund for Efficient Delivery of Educational Services, $850,000 for refurbishing school buses, $185,000 for the state charter commission and $450,000 for Jobs for Maine Graduates.

The cuts include: $1.7 million to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, 1% across the board cuts to Maine’s Public Higher Educational Schools ($1.7 million to the UMaine System, $554,000 to the Community College System, and $86,000 to Maine Maritime Academy). 

Finally, the Governor has a ton of big policy in the education portion of the supplemental budget — dramatically changing Child Development Services by eliminating the regional boards and all local control at the nine CDS sites and strengthening the ability for public schools to bring in kids 3-5 years old from the CDS sites. Also, the Governor re-institutes the Fund for Efficient Delivery of Educational Services. This new fund will be a mini race-to-the-top competitive grant that funds experiments around regionalization, professional development, choice options and more. The fund will accept request for proposals and be judged by three staff from the DOE who will score and then distribute the funds to schools.

Yesterday, Commissioner Millet introduced supplemental budget #2. This supplement budget will close any and all shortfalls in the rest of government for fiscal year 2013. On Monday, March 19th and Tuesday, March 20th there will be public hearings on supplement #2.

Supplemental Budget Table of Contents (PDF)

Supplemental Budget Proposals (PDF)

The State of Maine just recently finished a new priority competitive request for proposal for new major capital improvement. Seventy-one schools applied for the opportunity to replace one or more schools in their district (see list here). Five Portland schools applied (Hall, Longfellow, Reiche, Presumpscot, and Lyseth). Hall received the most points based on many catagories and finished 12th overall. The Maine Department of Education identified six schools to be funded in this round. It is very unlikely that Portland will receive any state funding for major capital improvements.

On a brighter side, the State also has a school revolving renovation fund (SRRF). The State is poised to announce that the fund has $10-12 million available and requests for proposals will be open again this spring. Hopefully Portland will submit strong SRRF proposals. The SRRF was created by Maine Legislative action in 1998. SRRF was established in order to provide funding assistance to School Administrative Units (SAUs) to ensure that Maine’s students have a safe, healthy, and appropriate learning environment. The SRRF provides assistance where SAUs have identified needs in the areas of health and safety, building systems, learning space upgrades and small-scale capital improvements.

Hike, Ski, or Ski Bradbury to Pineland – 2-4 p.m., Friday, March 2. Sponsored by the Royal River Conservation Trust (207-632-6112), participants will explore the new trail from the State Park to Pineland Farms. Variable trips to match the interests of participants. The group will meet at the Tryon Mountain trailhead in Pownal, on Lawrence Road 1 mile north of the intersection of Elmwood and Lawrence roads.
Winter Hike/Snowshoe with the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club – 10 a.m., Saturday, March 3. Participants should bring their own gear. A limited number of rental snowshoes are available for $5 per half-day.

Bradbury Blizzard Snowshoe Race – 11:00 am, Sunday, March 4.
Pre-registration is required; spectators welcome.

Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park
426 Wolf Neck Road, Freeport, ME 04032, FMI: (207) 865-4465

Wabanaki Nature Legends – 2 p.m., Saturday, March 3. A short walk on the White Pines Trail with stops for stories based on Wabanaki Legends.

Winter Steamer Dig – 2 p.m. Sunday, March 4. Try your hand at digging steamer clams!

“We need to build an education system around what each student needs,” LePage said. “Each student learns in different ways; we need to provide multiple pathways, and CTE plays a significant role in that.”

Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, said the latter proposal has promise. However, he said, he was disappointed that the governor’s education roll-out focused mostly on controversial proposals and little on initiatives outlined in a recently developed strategic plan designed to provide guidelines to improve Maine education.

Alfond said LePage’s proposal “crushes the momentum” of the plan, Education Evolving, because it alienates and divides the stakeholders who drafted it.

“Overall, the governor and the commissioner have taken the most divisive parts of the strategic plan and said these are the most important objectives for the state of Maine,” Alfond said. “Some of these objectives have been rejected by this Legislature two or three times, including using public funding for private schools.”

He added, “I’m disappointed and shocked that he and the commissioner have decided to take this route.”

Click here to read more from the Sun Journal.

Welcome and thank you for coming.

Democrats are here today – the day before the state of the state – to issue a challenge
to the governor and ask for him to put aside ideology and extremism, and work with us
to overcome the challenges our state faces.

Too much time has been spent on distractions, on needless fighting, on baseless
attacks, and on extreme policies that don’t create jobs, that don’t help working families
and don’t strengthen our economy.

Maine people demand that we work together – Democrats, Republicans and
Independents — to solve problems and move our state forward.

Democrats came together last year to call on the governor and Republicans to prioritize
job creation and the economy.

Instead, we’ve had a year of distractions, blame and extreme ideology. Too much time
has passed where day after day Republicans have ignored the real problems Maine
people face.

The governor and the Republicans in charge have made it harder for working families in Maine, especially if you are living pay check to pay check, are older, or live and work in rural Maine.

In the last year, our state has lost 4,400 jobs. While the governor and and his allies in
the Legislature campaigned on job growth, they’ve yet to deliver.

They have been diverted from that common goal by a national agenda that has nothing
to do with economic success in Maine and by special interests looking to line their own
pockets at the public’s expense.

When our economy needed a shot in the arm, the governor and Republicans in the majority held public investment hostage; stalled our work on proven energy efficiency
programs; tried to limit voting rights; made health care more expensive for many
Mainers; and ignored critical workforce training initiatives that would help get more
Maine people back to work.

The governor has proposed irresponsible, dangerous and short-sighted budget cuts that
will hurt Maine people and our economy. The governor’s cuts will harm our elderly, the
disabled, our children and at risk youth and result in thousands of more job losses.
Every community – every family – in Maine would feel the effects of this budget.
We’ve even heard the governor threaten to close schools, when what we need most
is a plan [to] increase access to higher education. Today’s students are tomorrow’s
workforce.

Rather than putting more money in the pockets of working families, the governor has
focused on a checklist for corporate special interests.

The governor and his allies routinely degrade our state rather than celebrate our
successes.

Maine people need leaders who have a daily focus on the economy and a positive
vision for long-term economic development.

Democrats challenge the governor to come to the table in good faith, stop the negativity, and propose real solutions to improve our economy.

Sen. Barry Hobbins

If we want to put Maine people back to work and build a stronger economic future, we
must work together to lower energy costs and invest in our roads and bridges, research
and development, and our classrooms.

In looking ahead to Maine’s future, we know that lowering energy costs is a top priority
for businesses as well as Maine households. The best and least expensive way to do
this is through energy efficiency and investment in renewable energy.

Maine is a leader in this field. We’ve created 12,200 jobs all across our state. And we
know that if businesses save money on energy costs, more jobs will follow.

Initiatives and programs that put more money in the pockets of Maine people and
business should not be threatened, instead we should help them thrive.

By making Maine more energy independent, we will save real dollars for Maine people
and in the process create jobs.

In the past, Democrats and Republicans have worked together – building consensus
and broad support – for our state’s energy policies. In fact, I can attest as Senate Chair
of the Energy and Utilities Committee, during the 124th legissature that Republicans
and Democrats alike unanimously supported nearly 50 pieces of cutting edge,
innovative energy policies. These major initiatives have helped to keep Mainers warm,
attract new energy investment and create jobs, have passed with unanimous support.
But things have changed. Instead of pragmatic solutions, the governor has shown
that he’d rather fight for radical and extreme policies that would put our state at a
disadvantage.

Democrats challenge the governor to put ideology aside and deliver an energy proposal
that builds on the success of our energy efficiency and conservation programs.

Rep. Terry Hayes
Mainers expect the governor to get serious about job creation. We challenge him to
better market our state — to attract businesses, investors, and young talent.
The chief executive must be a promoter in chief.

Mainers have a lot to be proud of. And we have tremendous opportunity for growth and
success.

We have some of the hardest working people and the most committed business
owners.

We also have a state rich in resources, and an economy that is diversifying.
The targeted tax credits we’ve passed for small businesses and our efforts to expand
broadband have gotten us top rankings from the US Chamber of Commerce and a
leading investment firm.

Yet, instead the governor and his allies take every opportunity to degrade our state and
the people who live here.

Their words have consequences. Their negativity scares people away from our state
and causes top banking firms to question our credibility. They don’t create excitement
for entrepreneurs. They don’t generate interest in people going to our colleges and
universities.

Maine is a great place to live, work and raise a family. We have challenges to
overcome, but we can’t get there if we don’t recognize our own strengths and use them
to our advantage.

Our water and air are clean; we are leaders in the creation of clean energy jobs; we are
blessed with abundant sources for alternative power; and our workers have a reputation
for integrity and quality.

We need to develop our strengths and building upon our assets. Talking our state down
with angry words and name-calling is not productive.

Maine needs our governor to promote our state.

Democrats challenge Governor LePage to change his tone.

Sen. Justin Alfond
The governor has yet to put forth an economic agenda that will put people back to work
and move our economy forward.

Day after day, we have seen the governor and Republicans miss opportunities to create
more jobs, attract new business, and strengthen the skills and training for our workforce.

This year alone, 4,400 Mainers lost their jobs. And instead of focusing on the very
things businesses say they need, the governor has employed tax-cut gimmicks that
have done nothing to get Maine people back to work.

Business leaders have told us that in order to grow and hire more people, they must
have a skilled and trained workforce, and lower health care and energy costs. Maine
needs a leader who will explore all options that can support our businesses and lead to
job creation.

Day after day, we have seen the governor distort the facts to fit his own extreme
ideological agenda. Maine needs a leader who will face the facts and speak the truth
because that is the right thing to do.

We hope the governor will stop the scapegoating and blaming; stop pitting people
against each other by picking winners and losers and instead, recognize our state’s
assets, resources, and achievements.

Democrats are calling for an end to the distractions. Let’s get Mainers back to work and
move our economy forward. Every day that we come to work in Augusta, that must be
our top priority. We cannot let another missed opportunity pass us by.

Democrats in the Legislature support investment as the backbone of our economy – the
roads, bridges, ports and rail that move our people and can propel growth.

We support incentives to increase competition in our energy markets to drive down
costs and promote renewable sources of power.

We want to put people to work making homes warmer, building schools for our children, and taking innovative ideas from the laboratory to commercial development.
We believe in a Maine that takes care of the most vulnerable, invests in job training and
treats people fairly and with respect.

We believe in a Maine where the government is a partner in progress, making smart
investments, and a government that isn’t just smaller but is better, more effective and
more efficient.

We ask the governor to put aside the rhetoric and the attacks and work with us toward
the practical solutions that will put people to work.

We can wait no longer. We all want action on a strong economic plan for today and
vision for Maine’s future.