Good morning from Augusta,
This week, the PLC continued to work on several initiatives that will provide a lifeline for contractors' survival due to lost markets and warm/wet weather.
LD 2212, An Act to Strengthen Maine's Agriculture, Food System and Forest Products Infrastructure Investment, a bill sponsored by Speaker of the House, Rachel Talbot-Ross (D-Portland) is one of the initiatives that we are very supportive of this session. LD 2212 provides a $10 million appropriation to the Maine Agriculture, Food, and Forest Products Investment Fund and makes changes to who appoints members of the advisory board. The PLC recently testified in support of the bill as it could provide new opportunities for our members to get grants and low interest loans for their businesses for equipment and reinvestment.
During the week, PLC staff had conversations with committee members and collaborated with Speaker Talbot-Ross’ staff to amend the language to ensure contractors in western Maine that work in Maine and New Hampshire are eligible to qualify for funding. We are confident that the amended version of the bill in fact does just that.
At the work session, the Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committee voted unanimously to add the amendment and pass the bill. LD 2212 will be subject to language review and will then go to the full legislature for approval. The biggest hurdle for the legislation will be in the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, where it will be up to them on whether the bill receives funding or not as it has a hefty fiscal note ($10 million).
In addition to the Speaker’s bill, the PLC is still closely monitoring bills that have passed out of committee but have yet to receive language reviews.
One of the bills being closely followed is Senator Hickman’s (D-Kennebec) bill, LD 2191, An Act to Provide Relief to Small Businesses Affected by Severe Weather-related Events. The bill includes a one-time General Fund appropriation of $50 million in fiscal year 2023-24 to the program. The PLC testified in support of this bill during the public hearing. As amended, the bill includes assistance to loggers for income replacement and dedicated funding to establish a Wood Salvage and Reclamation Program in the Department of Economic and Community Development to provide grants to landowners and contractors affected by the recent severe weather events.
Next week, the Legislature will continue their work and convene session for three days. The House and Senate are slowly working through the log jam of bills coming out of the Revisor’s Office and are hopeful to finish their work by the adjournment date of April 17th. In addition, the PLC will be keeping a close eye on what committees are scheduling as the presiding officers have eliminated the one-week notification requirements for public hearings and work sessions.
You can find more information on legislation from our bill tracking spreadsheet here.
Last Week’s Legislative Activity March 4 – March 8, 2024
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
LD 2212, An Act to Strengthen Maine's Agriculture, Food System and Forest Products Infrastructure Investment, Work Session - Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committee. The PLC testified in support. More information on this bill can be found above.
Bills the PLC is Following on the House and Senate Floor
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 Project - Last year the PLC testified with qualified support for this bill on February 14th of last year. Senator Ingwersen amended the bill to require the Efficiency Maine Trust to establish a pilot program to provide incentives for the purchase and lease of medium and heavy-duty electric vehicles used in a commercial application. The amended bill would require 50% of the funding be allocated to businesses with 50 employees or less. It would also remove businesses of 500 employees or more from qualifying for the pilot project. The bill was passed to be enacted in both the House and the Senate on March 6th.
The PLC testified in opposition to this legislation. The final bill reported out of committee was an extremely watered down version. 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. This version of the legislation was passed to be enacted in the House and the Senate on March 6th.
Have a great weekend, and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Best,
Dana