District 8 Legislative Update - March 17th, 2009
March 17, 2009 -
Hi everyone! The last two weeks have been busy in Augusta. The Governor presented bold initiatives in his State of the State address. My first two sponsored bills had successful public hearings. Finally, the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee worked hard analyzing over 40% of the next biennial budget.
Portland Local 740's First-Place Finish
Last week in the Senate Chambers, I was proud to present Portland Local 740's nine-member fire fighting team a sentiment for their first place finish in a Boston competition that had them climbing 82 flights of stairs in full turnout gear.
Local 740's team was among 600 participants from 25 departments in the Race Up Boston Place fundraising event for the American Lung Association. The top five made the climb in a total of 46 minutes, 7 seconds! The competition is designed to replicate the endurance needed to climb stairs in a high-rise to fight a fire, as well as simulate its physical demands.
Congratulations Local 740, and thank you for making Portland safe! Pictured above are James Westburg, John Hardy, Mike Nixon, Lenny Tracy and me.
FY 2010-2011 Budget
In early February, the Governor announced his proposed 2010-2011 biennial budget, estimated to cost $6.1 billion over the next two years. Over the course of the last month, the Education & Cultural Affairs Committee examined the budget; this Wednesday, March 18th, we will send our recommendations to the Appropriations Committee, which has the final say.
All in all, the Governor is rightfully responding to declining revenues and a strong desire amongst Mainers to not raise taxes by reducing the budget. In fact, if passed as is, it will be the first budget since 1974 to be smaller than the preceding year's budget. While this may please some people who wish to shrink the size and cost of state government, it unfortunately comes at a time when Mainers need services the most.
As Senate Chair of the committee that oversees education, I have a particular interest in the issue: K-12 and higher education makes up nearly half of the entire budget ($2.97B). Please see my website for more details.
The Governor's proposed budget increases some licenses and fees, expands the tax base (not increasing rates), reduces some reimbursements, and reduces the number of State employees by 306, which brings that number to the level it was in 1983. These measures are meant to preserve his promise to not increases taxes.
Click here to read more about the budget.
State of the State
On Tuesday, March 10th, I attended my first State of State address. Here are my thoughts and some interesting facts:
The Governor delivered a good speech. He blended the wonderful history of Maine's Governor Braunn (1933) with economic realities and a bold vision. Governor Baldacci challenged Maine to enter into a new economy that returns us to our roots of natural resources to promote green jobs and energy production. He challenged us to not go backwards around school consolidation, and to continue to leverage our quality of place. He laid out bold new plans:
Education - create a new medical school and a technology and engineering school; provide laptops for every high school student;
Health Care - create a Maine Universal Wellness Program and pilot program on the delivery of primary care;
Energy - proposed $32 million in weatherization of low-income homes and $7.5 million for a Marine Wind Energy Fund
My criticisms are that many of his economic development plans are not new, have been stalled and might not ever occur. The Aroostook County's Grid is on hold, the Central Maine Power Reliability Project is facing huge hurdles, and the LNG in Washington County has been years in the making.
Some fun facts:
* Whenever the entire Senate membership enters and leaves the House Chambers, the entire House body stands in welcome.
* We stood up around 17 times during the night for the Governor and various other individuals.
* We received the Governor's speech 30 minutes beforehand, and the font was size four. Reading glasses may be in my near future.
My First Bills
In the past few weeks, I had my first hearings on bills I had submitted. The first was LD 773, "An Act To Increase Funding for Higher Education." If passed, it would authorize an additional $150+ million for higher education. With those funds, we could directly affect students' and families' access to higher education by keeping tuition at the current or previous year's levels, putting funds into the Maine State Grant program, or be used to lower the principal of student loans. It would provide an incredible cushion for our colleges and universities.
The second bill is LD 678, "An Act to Provide Middle School Students with Access to Innovative Science Education." Since the fall of 2005, the Sam L. Cohen Center for Interactive Learning at the Gulf of Maine Institute has brought 5th and 6th graders from every corner of our state to Portland to immerse themselves in a half-day program called "LabVenture!". This bill would authorize the $502,000 needed to continue this program at 90% for the next two years, and I believe it is a worthwhile investment in our community and for the children of our state.
Read my testimony here....
Closing
I want to thank you again for the privilege of representing Portland in Augusta. Every day I am getting more e-mails, phone calls and requests to help solve problems in our community. We are in difficult times, and I am always willing to assist you in solving these challenges; please feel free to contact me!
Thanks,
-Justin
PS - If you would ever like to shadow me in Augusta please sign up on the website.
