By Michael Shepherd - March 10, 2022 Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up.
Good morning from Augusta. A reminder that revenue from new Bangor Daily News digital subscriptions through Monday will go to Direct Relief Ukraine. Read more on our initiative from President Todd Benoit.
What we're watching today
Lawmakers are starting to tease how they will attempt to change the governor's spending proposal. While top priorities have long been clear, Democrats controlling the Legislature and even minority Republicans have been somewhat quiet on their spending agendas since Gov. Janet Mills laid out her initial plan for the state's massive projected budget surplus. Mills' plan grew to over $1 billion after a recent upward revision led her to raise proposed relief checks from $500 to $750 to help with increased costs.
It is now the Legislature's turn to weigh in. During Mills' tenure, her budgets have mostly been adopted by the Democratic-led Legislature with some shaving generally prompted by Republicans. There was some tension after former Gov. Paul LePage, Mills' 2022 opponent, derided the relief-check proposal as a gimmick, even though the Democratic governor's plan was adapted from a late-2021 Republican demand. Certain progressives have been cool to relief checks as well.
They still look set to anchor an ultimate deal. Earlier this week, legislative Republicans released a list of areas of common ground with Mills, although they argued that relief payments should come as quickly as possible rather than waiting for the entire budget package. Agreement between the governor and Republicans should lock this item into a deal sooner or later. But LePage and Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, have also advocated for gas tax suspensions viewed dimly by business groups who do not want to erode Maine's long-suffering transportation funding model.
On the Democratic side, Mills left relatively little money for lawmakers to address a massive list of bills that have generally languished since last year without funding. There is potentially more now that the surplus projections were raised from $800 million to $1.2 billion. But big ideas are still being launched into the legislative hopper with less than six weeks to go in the 2022 session.
Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, unveiled a proposal on Wednesday to give tax rebates of $1,000 for residential ratepayers and $2,500 for businesses to offset high energy costs. Jackson has not filled in key details yet, including who would be eligible or how the program would be paid for, but his office said the bill will get a public hearing in the next week or so.
The budget committee wrapped up hearings on Mills' plan this week, although policy panels are still working through some of the details. The real work of altering the budget begins now and these attempts to influence the final package will be fascinating to watch with more money for lawmakers to use.
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What we're reading
— Former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin on Wednesday declined to say whether President Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election and said Rep. Jared Golden of Maine's 2nd District should not have voted to impeach former President Donald Trump over the Capitol riots. (It was the first press gaggle of Poliquin's 2022 campaign against Golden that came before the former congressman turned in signatures to qualify for the primary ballot.)
— The BDN's Jessica Piper parses Sen. Susan Collins' praise of Ketanji Brown Jackson, finding it mirrors past comments on eventual U.S. Supreme Court justices that the Maine senator voted to confirm.
— Democrats in the Maine House of Representatives advanced two election overhauls along party lines on Wednesday that would tighten ballot security rules and shift campaign finance oversight of local elections in Maine's three major cities to the state ethics regulator.
— Heating oil is following gas in a steep price surge. Maine's average per-gallon price was up 87 cents in the first full week after Russia escalated its invasion of Ukraine. Here's your soundtrack.
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Follow along today
10 a.m. The Legislature's health insurance panel will work on bills aimed at increasing access to behavioral health services that have been hard-hit during the COVID-19 pandemic by workforce shortages. Watch here.
10:30 a.m. Mills' energy office will brief the energy panel on a review of grid reliability and rate stability in northern Maine. Watch here.
The Department of Corrections will brief the criminal justice committee on the state's juvenile justice system. In the afternoon, the panel will get a presentation on substance use disorder treatment in state prisons. Watch here.
1 p.m. The judiciary panel will continue work on a slate of tribal-rights bills. Watch here.
📷  Lead photo: Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, covers his heart while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance on March 10, 2021 at the Augusta Civic Center. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
