Good Morning from Augusta,
I hope you had a great Christmas and took some time to slow down and spend time with your family and friends.
We are actively gearing up for another busy legislative session that will convene on January 3rd at 10am. Over the last few months, some legislative committees have continued to meet right through the “summer” break, even though they were not technically “in session” during this time. This is very unusual, but it is a direct result of how much work was not finished during the first session. There were 483 bills carried over from the first session to the second session and the Legislature will be under the gun to finish up their work by statutory adjournment in mid-April.
In addition to the carry over bills, the Legislative Council, which is comprised of all the leadership in the House and the Senate, met last month to consider 284 “new emergency” bills submitted prior to cloture for the 2nd regular session. The Council met for the first time on November 9th and then again on November 16th and ultimately approved 100 “new emergency” bills for what is considered the “emergency” session. We are monitoring all these bills closely and provided the spreadsheet of the bills that we are following on behalf of the membership.
Senator Trey Stewart (R-Presque Isle) submitted LR 2969, “An Act to Create the Savings Account Program for Small Businesses,” as an after dead-line request on behalf of the PLC and our members. The bill, which you might remember from the 130th Legislature, creates a pilot program for farming, fishing, and timber harvesting businesses to set aside profits of up to $250,000 tax free for reinvestment into your businesses at another time in the future. Essentially, it is an attempt to create a rainy-day fund to help businesses weather tough times so you can reinvest at a time in the future when a reinvestment is necessary. This bill is currently on the Legislative Council agenda for January, and we are working with members of the council to get it voted in.
As always, we will keep you up to date on the important issues of the session. Legislative committees will start back in full force the week of January 8th and we anticipate some long days and nights in order for the legislature to completely finish all of the business in front of them.
Have a great weekend and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Best,
Dana