By Michael Shepherd - Dec. 14, 2022 Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up.
📷 A driver for the Dead River oil company fills his truck with heating oil at the Sprague terminal, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, in South Portland. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty)
Good morning from Augusta. The Daily Brief will be off through the rest of this week plus Monday. It will return Tuesday, Dec. 20. Here's your soundtrack.
What we're watching today
A new offer will not solve the heating aid impasse, but it could show the way forward. In the week since Senate Republicans voted down a $473 million heating aid bill led by Gov. Janet Mills, there has been little positive movement. Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, accused the Democratic governor of "lying" about negotiations. The stalemate prompted a joint offer from a Republican and a Democrat on Tuesday.
That idea, outlined by Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, and Sen. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, was a radical departure from the Mills package. While she wanted $450 relief checks to single tax filers making $100,000 and $900 ones to couples making $200,000, it would shrink that part of the program by putting direct payments on a sliding scale and limiting them to families making $60,000, largely leaving money for other heating aid programs in place.
It got a lukewarm reaction from Mills and leading lawmakers, particularly because House Republicans had already negotiated an increase in the amount of Mainers who would receive checks under the program. All but 16 of them supported the aid bill in a vote last week, while Senate Republicans insisted on a public hearing before they would sign onto such a measure.
Those holdout Republicans have come under heavy criticism from the Democrats who lead the Legislature. While Stewart has argued the Democratic-led Legislature could seat a panel to hear the bill and advance a version before the new year, committee assignments have not been released yet. That makes it likely the impasse will last into January.
Responding to the Bennett-Grohoski proposal, a spokesperson for Mills said the governor hoped any path forward would preserve "the progress already made" with House Republicans. Their leader, Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, said a public hearing would be the best way to keep a deal on track. This may leave an early-January hearing as the best solution.
Democrats could call a snap hearing when lawmakers return to Augusta. That would satisfy Senate Republicans' key demand and put them under pressure to outline policy priorities, since they have leaned on process objections so far. With the heating season in high gear, it will be harder for either side to delay a deal when lawmakers are firmly planted in the State House.
The circumstances here still look to be conducive to a deal. However, this one has been rockier than most observers expected. It is generally easier to give taxpayers a good chunk of their money back. We will soon see how this dispute sets the tone for the upcoming year under the dome.
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News and notes
📷 Superior Court Justice Bruce Mallonee hears a case at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor on Nov. 17, 2022. (BDN photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik)
📁 Maine's low-income legal defense system issues another dire warning.
◉ The commission meets on Wednesday at 9 a.m. Watch it.
🚧 "COMMUNIST MILLS SUCKS" and "MILLS 4 ME" signs may draw fines.
◉ Some homegrown 2022 political sign efforts ran afoul of Maine campaign finance laws. One from a Brownville couple that backed former Gov. Paul LePage and another was from a York citizens' group that supported Mills are likely to draw small fines from the Maine Ethics Commission.
◉ One of the signs designed by the Brownville couple featured the eye-catching communist line directed at Mills. Their signs were put up primarily along public roads. The problem was that the signs did not include disclosures mandated under state law if an effort exceeds $250 in costs. The couple eventually disclosed the costs.
◉ The pro-Mills signs in southern Maine had a similar problem, featuring an incomplete disclosure at the bottom of the signs. Commission staff are recommending $200 penalties for each set of violations.
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