By Michael Shepherd - March 9, 2023
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up.

📷 Former state Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, speaks to the Belfast Rotary Club about his consumer-owned utility proposal on Nov. 13, 2019. (BDN photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik)

Good morning from Augusta. The Legislature is in. Here are the House and Senate calendars, plus the committee agenda.

What we're watching today

Is this proposed rate decrease guarantee a failsafe or a political ploy? Backers of the quasi-state takeover of the state's two biggest utilities were in front of lawmakers on Thursday to make what may seem like a counterintuitive case to put a hurdle in front of their 2023 referendum effort.

While they brand it as a security measure, the utilities are already calling it a political bailout attempt, and it got a skeptical response from members of the Legislature's energy committee on Wednesday.

Our Power, the group advocating for a consumer-owned utility that would borrow billions to buy out the infrastructure of Central Maine Power Co. and Versant Power and put it under the control of an elected board, is behind a new bill. It would bar utility regulators from turning the electric system over to the new entity unless it was "reasonably likely" rates would immediately go down by 10 percent or more.

"If the outcome in November is a yes, wouldn't you rather have some certainty that deal would not go forward unless there is immediate and net savings?" former Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, who works with Our Power and has long championed the utility takeover, asked a committee member.

Republicans on the panel have been opposed to the effort all along, while Democrats have been generally supportive but still split. This led to a coalition that passed a similar consumer-owned utility proposal through the Legislature in 2021. But it could not get past the veto pen of Gov. Janet Mills, which sent Berry and his allies to put the question on the 2023 ballot.

Lawmakers quizzed Berry aggressively on the proposal. Rep. Gerry Runte, D-York, wondered why proponents were asking his committee to legislate a "hypothetical," given that the question has not passed yet. When Berry accused the utilities of misleading Mainers on his idea, Rep. Larry Dunphy, R-Embden, asked him repeatedly to say who, exactly, is doing the lying and to prove it.

The two big utilities then had their turn to oppose the measure, telling lawmakers that their opinions were that such a change to the referendum would require a competing measure on the 2023 ballot that would be voted on alongside the utility takeover bid already locked in for that election. But they also said the idea was an attempt to provide a campaign talking point.

"It's time to let that question stand on its own," James Cote, a lobbyist for Versant Power, said.

We are already deep into the campaign between Our Power and the utilities that have spent $12.9 million on their political activities dating back to last year. This bill is an extension of that and could be read as a sign of security from Berry or an attempt from his side to head off a political issue. Getting it through the Legislature looks like a difficult sell that the utilities will fight hard.

🗞 The Daily Brief is made possible by Bangor Daily News subscribers. Support the work of our politics team and enjoy unlimited access to everything the BDN has to offer by subscribing here.

News and notes

📷 From left to right, Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, Rep. Lori Gramlich, D-Old Orchard Beach, Francois Rebello, Rep. Grayson Lookner, D-Portland, and Jonathan LaBonte, Auburn's transportation systems director, are pictured at a recent meeting in Coaticook, Quebec, to discuss Rebello's proposed night train from Montreal to Boston. (Courtesy photo)

🛤️ Two key lawmakers want a study of Montreal-Boston rail.

◉ This attention-grabbing redux of a proposed night train from Montreal to Boston via Maine is leading into a legislative effort led by Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, to get two groups to study the idea of passenger rail between those two cities. It gets a public hearing today. Watch it at 1 p.m.

◉ Bennett and his co-sponsor, Rep. Lori Gramlich, D-Old Orchard Beach, attended a summer meeting on the idea in southern Quebec. It still faces major hurdles, including low speed limits and a need for track upgrades on the Quebec side and private ownership of the proposed route on the Maine side.

◉ Under the Bennett-Gramlich bill, the Maine-Canadian Legislative Advisory Commission and the New England and Eastern Canada Legislative Commission would study the restoration of passenger rail and report back by December 2023.

8️⃣ Maine's congressman finds a notable eighth member for a centrist group.

◉ Newly elected Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, is the eighth member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a centrist Democratic group now run by Rep. Jared Golden of Maine's 2nd District. Politico first reported her joining the group.

◉ The Blue Dogs were once one of the most important coaltions in Congress, hitting a high of 64 members in 2006. But polarization, the number of frontline Democrats who have lost their seats since then and a recent squabble over branding while Golden took over put the caucus down into the single digits.

◉ Peltola is the only woman in the group right now. She beat former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in special and general elections last year under a new ranked-choice voting regime to flip an open Republican seat for Democrats on a "pro-fish, pro-family and pro-freedom" slogan.

📱Want daily texts from me tipping you to political stories before they break?
Get Pocket Politics. It is free for 14 days and $3.99 per month if you like it.

What we're reading

💩 The state's major landfill operator says it averted a short-term sludge crisis.

🏚️ An "unsafe" Brunswick home is still getting huge interest.

🗑 Bucksport residents aren't happy about a mill landfill revival.

🌾 Farmers are getting more money to adapt to climate change.

🚗 Maine is rejecting appeals in a crackdown on "vulgar" vanity plates, including one from a vegan with a "LVTOFU" plate. Here's your soundtrack.

💰 Want to advertise in the Daily Brief? Write our sales team.

Copyright © 2023 bangordailynews, All rights reserved.
You're receiving this email because you opted in at our website, or because you subscribed to the Bangor Daily News.

Our mailing address is:

bangordailynews

1 Merchants Plz

Bangor, ME 04401-8302

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.