Good Morning from Augusta.
And so it begins. On Monday, January 30th, our first major bill, LD 108, An Act to Establish a Logger Relations Advocate Within the Maine Forest Service, has been scheduled for a public hearing at 9 a.m. in the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee. We need you to testify in favor of this bill, either in person or via Zoom!!
Instructions on how to testify in person or via zoom can be found HERE. Yes, this is correct, you can travel to Augusta and testify in person or you can sign up beforehand and testify via zoom on your smartphone, laptop or tablet. This will make testifying much simpler and easier for our members to chime in on legislation without having to sit in Augusta for hours on end. To sign up to testify by Zoom, please follow this link.
This bill is one of the top priorities for the PLC this session. For more on its importance and to see the PLC’s testimony in favor of the bill PLEASE CLICK HERE.
With respect to further movement on other bills, even though it was a shortened week because of a legislative snow day on Thursday, there is actually evidence of an increasing list of the estimated 2,100 bills to be introduced this session. 354 of the expected 2,000 bills have progressed on the path to legislation, transitioning from an LR# (Legislative Reference - bill request) to an LD# (Legislative Document - bill reviewed and approved by the Revisor's Office) and have been referred to committees of jurisdiction by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In fact, when it rains it pours. The second of the PLC priority bills this session, LD 190, An Act to Allow a Person to File a Paper Copy of a Timber Harvest Notification, has also been scheduled for public hearing on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 in the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee. This bill will mandate the Maine Forest Service to provide both a paper option and an electronic option for filing a Forest Operations Notification (FONS). In January of 2021, the paper FONS was eliminated in favor of electronic only. The PLC wants the paper form brought back as an option. Senator Russell Black (R-Wilton) has introduced this bill for the PLC. We will send out talking points and a request for members to testify next week, but please put this on your schedule and begin calling landowners that you think would support this legislation. We need to pack the hearing with landowners and members that want to see this change made.
I have updated our bill tracking spreadsheet so you can see the bills and the related language.
Next Week’s Legislative Activity January 30 – February 3, 2023
Monday, January 30
Public Hearing, Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, 9 am, LD 108, An Act to Establish a Logger Relations Advocate Within the Maine Forest Service, The PLC would like to see a new position created at the Maine Forest Service, who’s primary responsibility is to work on behalf of loggers and the general public. This new position would not be staffed by a licensed forester and would act to help loggers with questions on training, regulation, markets, etc. The state of Vermont has created a similar position and Maine should also have one. Rep. Scott Landry (D-Farmington) has sponsored the bill on our behalf and the PLC will testify in support.
Thursday, February 2
Public Hearing, Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, 1 pm, LD 122, An Act to Authorize the Efficiency Maine Trust to Establish a Program to Support the Uptake of Medium-duty and Heavy-duty Zero-emission Vehicles by Maine Businesses and to Establish a Medium-duty and Heavy-duty Zero-emission Vehicle-to-grid Pilot. This bill is a concept draft so there is no actual language to review which is always problematic. This bill would authorize the Efficiency Maine Trust to: 1. Establish a program using federal or other funding sources to support the uptake of medium-duty and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles by businesses in the State in collaboration with other state agencies, including, but not limited to, the Department of Transportation, the Governor's Energy Office and the Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. The program would be required to include, but would not be limited to, a rebate program to support the purchase of medium-duty and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles and associated charging or fueling infrastructure; and 2. Establish a vehicle-to-grid pilot project to evaluate the benefits of using battery electric medium-duty and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles, such as electric school buses and freight trucks, as energy storage resources that can deliver electricity to the grid when the vehicles are not being used for their primary purpose. The PLC will oppose this bill as it goes above and beyond what the Climate Council has endorsed and we are concerned it will create a very slippery slope.
Public Hearing, Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, 1 pm, LD 175, An Act to Increase the Use of Municipal Waste-to-energy Processes as a Source of Renewable Energy, This bill amends the solid waste management hierarchy to add the incineration of waste to generate electricity to the State's solid waste management priorities. The bill also amends the definition of "renewable capacity resource" in the renewable resource laws to include a source of electrical generation that relies on generators fueled by municipal solid waste in conjunction with recycling. The PLC will oppose this as it will dilute the value of biomass as a renewable resource.
PLC Legislative Breakfast 2023
The Board of Directors would like to extend an invitation for you to attend our 2023 Legislative Breakfast. This event will take place on Thursday, March 2 from 7:00 – 8:30 am at the Governor Hill Mansion in Augusta. This meet and greet opportunity is a great way to sit down and build a relationship with your state representative who could impact your business with the decisions that they make in Augusta. Please RSVP by called 688-8195 or email office@maineloggers.com
Contact Your Representative or Senator
Don’t know who your Representative or Senator is? A complete roster, sortable by town, is available here: House Members Senators
In your message, clearly state the bill(s) you support and why each one is important to Loggers in Maine.
Introduce yourself and/or company.
- Identify the town you live in or where your business is located. If you work in multiple towns, please identify those towns (we need to show that harvesting occurs across the state);
- # employees (gross pay roll figure would be good);
- # of subcontractors your business supports (e.g. how much you spend for repairs, fuel, how many logging crews you keep busy, etc.),
- Volume of wood you move annually;
Conclude your message by thanking the Representatives for their service to the state and asking them to support these bills.
Have a great weekend and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Best,
Dana