Good Morning from Augusta,
It’s been a long week in Augusta filled with late nights and lots of conversations in the halls of the capitol building as the Senate and House managed to put in a full week of session activity, meeting Monday through Friday. With only two (supposed) legislative days left to complete their work before they leave town, things are moving at a feverish pace. Next week, there will be no session on Monday as state government celebrates the Juneteenth Holiday. The House and Senate return on Tuesday with the goal of trying to leave town by the end of the day on Wednesday. My best guess is that this will not happen, and they are destined to be in session until at least Friday next week to wrap things up.
One major success this past week came in the form of the Highway Budget. The Highway Budget was not part of the majority budget that was passed back on March 30th, and had to be voted on as an emergency measure before July 1st to keep the Maine Department of Transportation running or be at risk of shutting down. Republicans managed to use their leverage at the end of the session because a 2/3rds majority was needed to vote the bill as an emergency, along with a willingness to compromise by Governor Mills and produce a historic change to how roads and bridges will be funded starting next year.
As a result of the bill being signed by the Governor on Friday, the gas tax will remain the same, but now, 50% of the sales tax from all vehicle sales, which is estimated to be about $100 million/year, and the full amount of the liquor sales tax, estimated to be $65 million per year, will now be diverted to the Highway Fund. The Maine Dept. of Transportation has estimated that the unfunded component of roads and bridges in Maine is about $235 million/year. This compromise will now produce about 65% of the funding needed to fill that gap moving forward.
Also this week, the two bills that Senator Jackson introduced that we are supporting this session, moved forward in earnest. LD 1849 An Act to Ensure Fair and Timely Payment in the Harvesting of Forest Products, received final enactment in the Senate in a bi-partisan manner, with all Democrats and three Republicans voting in favor and it is now headed to the Governor’s desk. An update on what LD 1849 and the roll call votes are below.
LD 1874, An Act to Support Maine Loggers' and Truckers' Right to Work in Maine by Improving Labor Standards (PLC Supported) was brought off the table on Thursday in the Senate and also received a bi-partisan initial vote with all Democrats and one Republican voting in favor. On Friday it moved to the House, where the bill had a similar fate for an initial vote with all but one Democrat (Jim Dill, D-Old Town) and three Republicans (Theriault – Fort Kent, Blier – Buxton, and Ducharme – Madison) voting in favor. Final enactment votes in the House will take place on Tuesday next week before moving back to the Senate.
You can watch the debate for both bills in the Senate by clicking here and fast-forwarding to 4:41 pm
Lastly, we sent out a request this week to the membership to help us defeat LD 1964, An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Commission to Develop a Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits Program, Many of you responded with emails to the Governor and your local legislators, telling them you’re opposed to this bill. That said, we need more of you to do this and really send a strong message in opposition. If you haven’t done this yet, please click here and you can send a personalized message in less than two minutes. The bill will land in the Senate on Tuesday next week and we must send a message now that we are in opposition.
I have updated our bill tracking spreadsheet so you can see where all the bills we followed this session stand at this time.
Bills the PLC is Following on the House and Senate Floor
LD 827, An Act to Allow Employees to Request Flexible Work Schedules (PLC opposed) 1st and 2nd Votes in the House and Senate, Enactment Votes Next Week. The amended bill, does the following: 1. It combines the definitions of "private employer" and "public employer." 2. It allows an employee to request in writing, including by electronic means, a flexible work schedule. 3. It requires an employer to consider an employee's request for a flexible work schedule and whether the request can be granted in a manner that is not inconsistent with employer operations. It defines "inconsistent with employer operations." 4. It specifies that an employer and an employee must mutually agree on the duration of time and terms of a flexible work schedule. 5. It allows an employer to rescind a flexible work schedule with as much notice to an employee as is practicable. 6. It prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee for exercising rights given under the subchapter enacted by the bill. 7. It specifies that a collective bargaining agreement may provide an employee with rights more expansive than rights established by the subchapter enacted by the bill.
LD 949, An Act to Protect Employees from Employer Surveillance (PLC Opposed) Enacted and sent to the Governor but recalled from the Governor’s desk and amended in the House on Friday, June 16th because the Governor wanted the right to sue eliminated. The bill also now has a fiscal note and will head to the Senate for further votes next week. The amended bill specifies that an employer may use employer surveillance if the employer informs the employee before beginning employer surveillance. It prohibits an employer from using audiovisual monitoring in an employee's residence or personal vehicle or on the employee's property and provides that an employee can decline a request by an employer to install data collection or transmission applications on the employee's personal electronic devices for the purposes of employer surveillance. It also requires that an employer notify a prospective employee during the interview process that the employer engages in employer surveillance. It adds rule-making authority for the Department of Labor.
LD 993, An Act to Facilitate Stakeholder Input Regarding Forest Policy in Maine(PLC Opposed) Passed to be Enacted, moved to the Special Appropriations Table. The amended bill, which is the majority report, reduces the number of members on the Maine Forest Advisory Board from 21 to 10 and requires the Governor to appoint all members of the board. The amendment also requires that at least one member of the board be a professional forester. The amendment revises the duties of the board to advise and assist the Bureau of Forestry within the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry in the development and implementation of the state forest action plan required under the federal Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. The amendment also requires the director of the bureau to submit to the Governor and the Legislature a decennial report on the implementation of the state forest action plan, beginning January 1, 2025. This amendment also adds an appropriations and allocations section.
LD 1190, An Act to Ensure a Fair Workweek by Requiring Notice of Work Schedules (PLC Opposed) Awaiting Initial Floor Action This bill, sponsored by Senator Mike Tipping (D-Penobscot), states that any employer with more than 10 employees would have to pay their employees for a minimum of two hours if they have to cancel a shift under any circumstance. The bill also includes penalties if employers don’t comply with certain provisions.
LD 1303, An Act to Exempt Boats and All-terrain Vehicles Purchased for Qualified Commercial Fishing or Commercial Farming from State Sales Tax (PLC Supported) Passed the House and Senate on 1st and 2nd votes. Will move to enactment next week and then head to the Special Appropriations Table. This bill exempts from sales tax sales of all-terrain vehicles used directly and exclusively in commercial fishing, commercial agricultural production or commercial timber harvesting to a qualified purchaser. The bill defines "qualified purchaser" to mean a purchaser who, pursuant to the law governing the refund of sales tax on depreciable machinery and equipment purchases, has obtained a certificate from the State Tax Assessor stating that the purchaser is engaged in commercial fishing, commercial agricultural production and/or commercial timber harvesting.
LD 1338, An Act to Amend the Maine Exclusion Amount in the Estate Tax (PLC Opposed) Awaiting floor action. This bill returns the exclusion amount, below which the Maine estate tax does not apply, to $2,000,000 from the $5,600,000 in current law for estates of decedents dying on or after January 1, 2024. The Treasurer of State must credit 100% of the revenues generated by the reduction in the exclusion amount to the Maine State Housing Authority to be used to support affordable housing. Twenty-five percent of the amount credited must be used to support affordable housing for veterans.
The bill also creates an additional exclusion amount from the estate tax for family farms and aquaculture, fishing and wood harvesting businesses of up to $3,800,000. This additional exclusion applies to farmland or depreciable machinery and equipment used in agriculture, aquaculture, fishing or wood harvesting that is inherited by a family member and remains in commercial use for 5 years following transfer.
LD 1408, An Act to Reduce Maine's Dependence on Fossil Fuels and Carbon Footprint for Energy Production Using Waste Wood Fuel (PLC Supported) Awaiting Floor Action This bill, sponsored by Rep. Theriault (R-Fort Kent), will:
Expand the definition of net generating capacity to ensure it is clear that capacity sent to adjacent facilities behind the meter should not be considered electric output to the T & D system;
Expand the size of net generating capacity for a single participant from 10 MW to 15 MW. This would also make project size consistent with a requested change to the federal Community Wood Energy Program, authorized by Congress, which has currently been included in the Farm Bill reauthorization by Senator Collins;
Expand the total net generating capacity of all program participants combined from 20 MW to 30 MW to allow for more projects to bid in;
Expand the definition of projects that are eligible to negotiate a long term contract with an investor owned facility. This would allow projects that might be built in a consumer owned territory that is adjacent to an investor-owned utility to sell energy directly to the adjacent investor owned utility;
The full amended bill language can be found here.
LD 1455, An Act to Establish the Weighing Point Preclearance Program (PLC Supported) Awaiting Floor Action This bill establishes the Weighing Point Preclearance Program, which is operated by the Department of Public Safety, Bureau of State Police and which uses an electronic system that verifies a commercial motor vehicle's size, weight, registration and safety records as the commercial motor vehicle drives on a highway and allows compliant commercial motor vehicles to bypass weighing points. The bill also provides that if the Department of Transportation administers a separate program that uses a preclearance system, the department must determine which weighing points must participate in that program, and all preclearance system providers' devices and platforms must be treated equally and used concurrently at participating weighing points.
LD 1849 An Act to Ensure Fair and Timely Payment in the Harvesting of Forest Products (PLC Supported) Enacted in the House and Senate and heading to the Governor’s desk. Roll call votes can be found here. The amended bill requires an entity that contracts with a person to harvest wood and place the wood roadside so that the entity is able to have the wood hauled away for use or processing to pay the person within 30 days of the person's fulfilling the contract and placing the wood roadside. The amendment also requires the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry or a wood scaler under contract with the department to conduct random inspections to ensure that entities are complying with this requirement.
LD 1874, An Act to Support Maine Loggers' and Truckers' Right to Work in Maine by Improving Labor Standards (PLC Supported) 1st and 2nd votes in the House and Senate, further action next week. Roll call votes can be found here. This bill provides that the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry may obtain certification from a forest certification program for state land only if the program requires labor standards for logging and trucking.
LD 1964, An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Commission to Develop a Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits Program, (Opposed by PLC) Awaiting floor action. Sponsored by Senator Maddie Daughtry (D-Brunswick), the amended bill implements a paid family and medical leave benefits program based on the recommendations of the Commission to Develop a Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits Program established by the 130th Legislature. The program provides up to 12 weeks of family and medical leave to eligible covered individuals. An individual is eligible for leave under the program after working 120 days for a company prior to submitting an application or if the individual is self-employed and has elected to be part of the program. The weekly benefit amount is 90% of the covered individual's average weekly wage. The bill establishes the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Fund to support the program. The funds for administrative costs and payment of benefits come from payroll contributions of no more than 1% of wages shared by employers and employees, except that employers with fewer than 15 employees are not required to make employer contributions to the program. The bill also authorizes employers to provide these benefits through a private plan as long as the benefits for family and medical leave provided to their employees are the same as provided in the program. The PLC testified in adamant opposition along with PLC Board Member, Steve Hanington, Hanington Bros.
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