By Michael Shepherd - Feb. 14, 2023
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up.

📷 Gov. Janet Mills speaks with a visitor in her office at the State House in Augusta on Jan. 17, 2023. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty)

Happy Valentine's Day from Augusta. The Legislature is in. Here are the House and Senate calendars and the committee agenda. The governor's budget address starts at 7 p.m. Stream it on our website and social media channels.

What we're watching today

Here's what different Augusta factions will look for in the governor's budget address. Gov. Janet Mills goes back to the rostrum after her inaugural address last month to rally support for her two-year budget proposal. It rang in at $10.3 billion when she unveiled it in January at a time of high tensions after a dispute with Senate Republicans over the passage of a heating aid bill.

The temperature is lower in the State House now. The parties had no trouble coming together on a minor short-term budget deal that should pass this week. But the larger spending package contains another set of obstacles entirely, including whether Mills and Democrats will go it alone to pass one. (Everyone has signaled a desire for a bipartisan budget. The governor has not promised one, although doing so now would likely erode her negotiating power.)

Mills' inaugural address was short and aspirational. She tends to be relatively specific in these budget speeches, making some news two years ago by tacking on a borrowing package that she dubbed a "Back to Work" plan aimed at rebuilding during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Times are much different now, after a raft of aid led the budgets of Maine and other states to record surpluses. Those are slowing now, but the state remains in a solid budgetary position. The new budget leaves the state income tax code enshrined by former Gov. Paul LePage in place and the rainy day fund is at a record high. Economic factors remain mixed, but the state economist told a MaineBiz event last month that any recession would be mild.

Democrats are driving the bus on this budget. If they pass one alone, they would have to do so by the end of March. If minority Republicans stay attached to the deal, they should be able to win some notable concessions and a tax cut looks like it is one possibility.

Leading members of the party have criticized Mills' budget for its lack of an income tax cuts, but they have not coalesced behind a counteroffer and their members have filed uphill bills that would cut virtually every tax. The governor has routinely cited the need for caution as she has proposed keeping income taxes flat, but Republicans will be listening for any clues on taxes.

Democrats are looking for things as well. On the progressive wing, the Maine Women's Lobby and other groups pushing for a paid family and medical leave program want Mills to include startup funding in her budget, which is silent on that matter now. The subject comes with some peril, with Republicans criticizing it because of the payroll tax needed to funded to insurance program. Mills has also pledged not to raise taxes in her second and final term.

But if the Legislature does not address the issue to the liking of advocates, voters could decide it in a referendum led by those progressive groups. We will see if Mills gives any signals on these hot-button issues soon enough.

🗞 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

📷 Sen. Susan Collins, second from right, and Sen. Angus King, second from left, cut the ribbon at a Waterville event on Nov. 18, 2022, flanked by Colby College President David Greene, left, and Waterville Mayor Jay Coelho, right. (BDN photo by David Marino Jr.)

🛸 Maine's senators discuss objects shot down over the last few days.

◉ The administration of President Joe Biden has been defending its decisions to shoot down three airborne objects over North America in as many days, with the White House press secretary having to tell reporters on Monday that there is no indication of extraterrestrial activity or alien involvement.

◉ Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has been critical of the response to the Chinese spy balloon that traversed the country earlier this month, said these quicker actions call into question the later response on the balloon.

◉ "The latest incidents reveal that we have real gaps when it comes to policing our airspace, and we need to have better situational awareness and more of a protocol of how exactly to react," she said in a statement.

◉ Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, issued a joint statement in their roles as co-chairs of the Senate Arctic Caucus, saying there are "high stakes" in that region. One object was shot down near Alaska and the other in northern Canada.

◉ "America is an Arctic Nation and we must stand ready to defend ourselves and our interests, including the entirety of our airspace," they said.

🐋 In Virginia, conservatives invoke whales to try to stop wind development.

◉ This isn't Maine news, but it is a fascinating example of message flipping that could manifest itself here as offshore wind development continues. In Virginia, conservative groups including the Heartland Institute are invoking the right whale in public comments aimed at trying to stop federal permitting of a massive offshore wind project.

◉ "[The Biden administration] needs to take a multi-year pause to answer this and many other uncertainties before approving these large industrial projects," David Stevenson, the president of the American Coalition for Ocean Protection, said in a statement.

◉ Heartland has long attacked climate science, but the argument here aligns somewhat with that of environmental groups who want limits on Maine's lobster fishery, something that politicians in both parties here have resisted.

◉ Republicans here have been particularly outspoken about the potential for new limits on the industry. Top party legislators will hold a news conference Tuesday about ongoing threats to lobstering, which have been tamped down by a recently passed six-year pause on new federal restrictions.

📱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

⌨️ Mills shared her poetic side with the Associated Press.

📈 This once-modest home embodies southern Maine's real estate boom.

🔒 A man involved in separate homicides 20 years apart was charged with violating probation.

🍎 BDN reporter Kathleen O'Brien wrote about her favorite teacher.

🇭🇺 Here's why a Bangor street is named for a Hungarian freedom fighter.

💰 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.