Good morning from Augusta,
This week, Governor Mills provided the Legislature with her State of the State Address. She rolled out her speech a little differently than in the past. On Tuesday morning, she released Part 1 of her address that “urges Legislature to practice fiscal responsibility & unveils timely investments to build more housing, fight the opioid epidemic, and improve child safety.” Her address, which can be found here, highlighted the following initiatives:
- Setting aside $100 million of the projected revenue to protect against budget short falls;
- Addressing Homelessness and Building More Housing;
- Improving Child Safety;
- Addressing the Opioid Epidemic;
- Investing in K-12 Education;
- Fixing Child Development Services in Maine;
- Attracting and Retaining Health Care Workers
In the second part of her address, which was presented on Tuesday evening in front of the full Legislature during a joint legislative convention, she turned her concentration to “violence and protect public safety & to rebuild and enhance resiliency to extreme storms”. The Governor highlighted:
- Establishing an Injury and Violence Prevention Program at the Maine CDC
- Strengthening Maine’s Mental Health System
- Prohibiting Dangerous People from Possessing Weapons
- Strengthen Maine’s Extreme Protection Order Law
- Institute National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for Advertised, Private Sales
- Incentivize NICS Checks for Unadvertised, Private Sales
- $5 Million Investment in the Community Resilience Partnership
- $50 Million Investment in the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund
As you can see, neither in the written address, nor the evening speech, did she say one word about the forest products economy. If this isn’t a sign of what’s to come this session, I’m not sure there will be another.
Also released this week, a bill sponsored by Senator Craig Hickman (D-Winthrop), LD 2191, “An Act to Provide Relief to Small Business Affected by Severe Weather-related Events”. This bill would establish the Small Business Weather Emergency Relief Program to provide relief payments to small businesses affected by severe weather-related events and directs the Department of Economic and Community Development to adopt rules for the administration of the program, including eligibility requirements, application processes and methods for determining award amounts, no later than March 30, 2024. The bill includes a one-time General Fund appropriation of $50,000,000 in fiscal year 2023-24 to the program. The PLC is supportive of this effort and if implemented correctly, could provide a lifeline for loggers and truckers who have suffered losses due to the extreme weather events over the past month and a half
The bills the PLC is following are highlighted below and you can always find more information from our bill tracking spreadsheet here.
Last Week’s Legislative Activity January 29 – February 2, 2024
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
LD 499, “An Act to Change Maine's Tax Laws”, Public Hearing – Taxation Committee
This bill is a concept draft carried over from last session. The sponsor produced language that was distributed to interested parties just two hours before the public hearing. The amendment replaces the bill and changes the title. The amendment provides that, beginning July 1, 2025, an employer of more than 20 employees in this State must, in accordance with rules adopted by the Department of Labor in consultation with the State Tax Assessor, offer to those employees a pretax commuter benefit in an amount not to exceed $300 per month. The PLC did not testify in opposition, but the committee is unlikely to support the bill.
LD 1606, “An Act to Finance Clean Energy and Infrastructure in Maine”, Work Session - Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee
The PLC testified in support of this bill in 2023 and has actively engaged the sponsor to amend it and include ALL renewable energy options into the bill, which would ensure consideration of wood energy sources. The sponsor provided us with the amendment and has changed it to a resolve that should not have a concern to the logging industry.
The sponsor's amendment was voted on in committee and passed along party lines (6-5) to change the bill to a study.
LD 1815, “An Act to Protect Maine's Consumers by Establishing an Abuse of Dominance Right of Action and Requiring Notification of Mergers”, Work Session - Innovation, Development and Economic Advancement Committee
After working with stakeholders, the committee voted unanimously to take out section 1 (prenotice of merger and approval requirement) and section 6 (the entire abuse of dominance provision) out of the bill. These were the 2 most concerning sections and once they were taken out, the bill was practically gutted. The PLC testified in opposition to this legislation and will be monitoring the legislation during the language review to ensure these changes were final.
Next Week’s Legislative Activity February 5 - February 9, 2024
Tuesday February 6, 2024,
LD 372, “An Act to Increase Enforcement and Accountability for Wage and Hour Violations”, Public Hearing, 1 pm – Labor and Housing Committee
This bill aims to increase enforcement on wage and hour violations by adding additional penalties allowing the director to assess forfeiture up to $1000 against an employer who violates any provision of Title 26 Chapter 7 employment practices statute. The PLC is in opposition to this bill.
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
LD 1648, An Act to Make Changes to the Farm and Open Space Tax Law, Work Session, 2:45 pm – Taxation Committee
This bill, sponsored by Rep. Boyle (D-Gorham) establishes a new method for the valuation of land under the farm and open space tax law. Last year, PLC testified in qualified support but insisted that changes be made to encourage forest management on open space to encourage the growth and harvest of more wood, not less, and not make land a haven for carbon management (no harvest).
An update was given at the work session on January 23rd by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the primary supporter of the bill. TNC updated the committee on a working group the PLC is part of that has been working on a revised version of the bill. This revised version of the bill will be presented to the Tax Committee on Wednesday. The PLC is in support of the working group’s recommendation.
Rule Making and Regulatory Issues
Maine Department of Labor: Paid Family and Medical Leave Listening Session - February 12, 2024, 5:30pm – 7:00pm via Zoom
The Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) will host a listening session regarding the new Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) Program. The listening session is an opportunity for members of the public to raise questions and identify areas that need clarification in the legislation. These questions and areas needing clarification will be used to inform the official rulemaking process, which will begin in the spring. This informal listening session does not replace and is in addition to the formal regulatory process governed by the Maine Administrative Procedures Act (MAPA).
This listening session will focus on the topic of private plans. Staff from the PFML Program will provide an overview about the provisions in the new law that relate to private plans and then will open the meeting to hear from the public. Participants who wish to comment will be allowed up to two minutes.
The session will be held via Zoom on February 12, 2024, from 5:30-7:00 p.m. If you are not able to access this meeting online, there will be access to watch at the Maine Department of Labor Frances Perkins Room, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta. Please use the Career Center entrance when arriving. Attendance will be limited to 500 people. If the webinar is full, a recording of this event will be posted to the Department's PFML webpage after the event has concluded.
Information regarding the PFML Program, including the implementation timeline and the PFML legislative language, can be found here. To ensure we maximize public comment, please review the parts of the law that relate to private plans ahead of the listening session.
Click here to register for the listening session on February 12. Registration is free.
Legislative Breakfast Update
The PLC’s Executive Committee has decided to cancel the 2024 legislative breakfast, originally scheduled for March 7, 2024. The PLC’s legislative agenda is very light this year and with the warm winter and late start for harvesting conditions, they thought it would be best to skip the breakfast this year.
As a result, the next quarterly board meeting of the PLC/TCNEF will take place on Thursday, March 21st from 9 am to 1 pm at the Governor Hill Mansion, Augusta, ME.
Have a great weekend, and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Best,
Dana