Maine

Maine lawmakers to vote on bills awaiting funding

Published

2 years ago

April 21, 2022

Maine lawmakers to vote on bills awaiting funding

The ink is drying on Maine’s $1.2 billion supplemental funds, however lawmakers nonetheless must make yet another spherical of adverse spending choices earlier than their job is completed.

That work begins Friday, when it may grow to be clear which payments handed by the a hundred and thirtieth Legislature shall be applied and which is able to die on the appropriations desk for a scarcity of funding.

The greater than 200 payments that have been accepted by the Legislature would value a mixed $1.6 billion to implement and are competing for a slice of the $12 million left unallocated within the supplemental funds signed by Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday.

The Legislature’s budget-writing committee is anticipated to vote Friday morning on funding suggestions that shall be despatched to the Senate for enactment when lawmakers reconvene Monday for what is anticipated to be the final day of the session.

Among the many payments on the particular appropriations desk are two that might profit Wabanaki tribes in Maine and one other that might assist extra authorized companies for defendants who can’t afford an lawyer. And there are scores of extra obscure payments that lawmakers are urging the committee to pay for, from mandating insurance coverage protection for postpartum well being care to making a Maine Local weather Corps composed of volunteers main native environmental safety efforts.

All 4 social gathering caucuses – Home and Senate Democrats and Home and Senate Republicans – will obtain $3 million to spend and have been assembly privately to set priorities for the Appropriations and Monetary Affairs Committee to think about. Every of the Legislature’s joint standing committees additionally has submitted its funding priorities for consideration.

NEGOTIATIONS IN PRIVATE

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As with the general two-year funds, the chairs and lead members of the appropriations committee are doing most of their negotiating in non-public, then holding a public session to vote on particular parts as soon as an settlement is reached.

Sen. Cathy Breen, D-Falmouth, who co-chairs the budget-writing committee, stated robust income projections at the least by way of subsequent summer season imply lawmakers have extra money than standard to fund priorities.

“A part of the grand funds cut price is at all times what we’re going to do with the desk,” Breen stated. “Some years when revenues are low, we don’t have a desk.”

One merchandise being carefully watched is a $1.2 million proposal to ascertain a restricted public defenders workplace, amongst different issues. Maine is the one state that doesn’t have a public defenders workplace to symbolize defendants who can’t afford a lawyer. As a substitute, Maine contracts with non-public attorneys – a program overseen by the Maine Fee on Indigent Authorized Companies.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine is suing the fee for failing to fulfill its constitutional obligations to make sure everybody charged with against the law has entry to an lawyer.

Breen stated Republicans and Democrats in each chambers acknowledge the significance of funding these companies and are discussing methods to share the prices.

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“We’re making an attempt to work out a four-way settlement on that,” Breen stated Wednesday. “We’re not fairly there.”

TRIBAL BILLS ON THE TABLE

Two payments aimed toward serving to Maine tribes are also on the desk. Breen wasn’t positive what would occur to these.

To this point, members of the social gathering caucuses will not be saying a lot about which payments they’re anticipated to fund.

Rep. Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, who co-chairs the budget-writing committee, declined to talk with a reporter on her approach into the Home chamber on Wednesday, as did Assistant Majority Chief Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, when requested concerning the standing of the tribal rights payments she sponsored.

One of the high-profile payments on the desk is L.D. 1626, which might restore sovereignty to Maine tribes, placing them on par with the nation’s 570 different federally acknowledged tribes. Maine tribes are the one ones within the nation topic to a pair of 1980 settlement agreements that enable the state to deal with them extra like municipalities than sovereign nations. Tribes in different states usually reply on to the federal authorities.

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That invoice would end in a lack of gross sales and revenue taxes from the tribes totaling $44,650 within the first yr, $152,000 within the second and $201,400 within the third yr. It’s opposed by Mills, who is anticipated to veto it. And preliminary votes in each chambers point out lawmakers shouldn’t have sufficient votes to override it.

It’s not clear if the anticipated veto will issue into the funding choices. A number of lawmakers stated this week they wish to ship the invoice to the governor’s desk after which, if she points a veto, to attempt to win extra votes to override it. It takes two-thirds of the Legislature to override a veto.

Mills has supported a extra restricted proposal that, amongst different issues, would legalize sports activities playing in Maine and provides tribes the unique rights to supply cell sports activities betting to the tribes. Racetracks and casinos can be allowed to supply in-person sports activities betting solely.

Whereas the invoice would scale back tax revenues from the tribes, it additionally is anticipated to end in a internet enhance of $1.4 million in state revenues.

LAWMAKERS MUM

Republicans additionally have been quiet about their priorities, with Senate Republicans voting twice towards extending the session – a transfer that might have successfully killed the complete desk. They ultimately relented, agreeing to increase the session by in the future, moderately than two, to permit workers to make amends for paperwork.

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Rep. Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester, who serves on the appropriations committee, stated her social gathering was nonetheless negotiating over which payments to fund.

“I don’t suppose we’re speaking (publicly) about it but,” Arata stated Wednesday.

Spokespersons for Senate Republicans didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Thursday afternoon. And a spokesperson for Home Republicans stated Thursday that he had no further data to share.

The payments awaiting funding embrace people who have been carried over from final yr’s session, with prices starting from tens of hundreds of {dollars} to tens of hundreds of thousands. The payments symbolize a variety in well being care, schooling, social companies, housing help and workforce growth.

It’s possible that among the payments accepted by the appropriations committee would should be amended to match any choices to grant partial funding – one thing that might require further votes in every chamber earlier than the payments have been despatched to Mills.

Breen stated the $12 million of funding accessible represents good alternatives for every caucus.

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“There’s some good things from all 4 caucuses that ought to see the sunshine of day,” she stated.

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Maine

Rare severe thunderstorm threat issued for parts of Maine, New Hampshire

Published

2 hours ago

June 22, 2024

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Rare severe thunderstorm threat issued for parts of Maine, New Hampshire

It has been 3 years since the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center alerted us to a level 3 out of 5 severe weather risk this far in advance. This is also the first time we are seeing a 10% risk for tornadoes since the beginning of the Storm Prediction Center outlooks in 2020.

Damaging wind gusts and even tornadoes are possible from noon Sunday into the early evening as a storm approaches from the west.

The threat starts at a level 1 (lowest out of 5) from Greenville, Bangor and Bar Harbor southwest to outside Augusta, as the storms will lose momentum by the time they reach Down East and northern Maine.

We get up to a level 2 out of 5 from Rangeley, Augusta and down to the Rockland area pushing southwest to Oxford and York counties. This is where the severe thunderstorm threat covers the most areas, with favorable conditions expected thanks to sunshine at midday.

The severe threat is highest over southwestern Oxford County into Carroll and Coos counties in New Hampshire. In central New Hampshire, conditions are most favorable for tornadoes and damaging wind gusts during the midday hours.

Here’s a timeline of the threats and when you can expect them. This mostly applies to the yellow and orange shaded areas. The thunderstorms will slide east later Sunday afternoon and evening.

Flooding on a localized scale could become an issue as the storms turn into broken segments and go over the same towns in the evening. Watch for standing water, and be aware of down lines and branches.

This is an idea of what the radar will look like Sunday afternoon. The clusters of thunderstorms and broken line segments will be moving east.

If a tornado or severe thunderstorm watch is issued, here’s what you need to know.

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Maine

Maine doctor convicted on multiple counts of illegally distributing opioids

Published

9 hours ago

June 22, 2024

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PORTLAND, Maine — A Maine doctor who runs an addiction treatment center has been convicted on multiple counts of illegally distributing opioids including oxycodone, hydromorphone and fentanyl.

Dr. Merideth Norris, 53, of Kennebunk, Maine, was found guilty in federal court Friday of distributing the opioids at her practice. According to court documents, she did so without a legitimate medical purpose and knowing that some patients were battling an opioid addiction. She prescribed the drugs, according to court documents, even after patients failed drug tests or were known to redistribute the drugs in the community.

A federal jury convicted Norris on 15 counts of distributing controlled substances and she faces up to 20 years on each count.

Prosecutors accused Norris of putting her patients’ safety at risk, according to the Portland Press Herald, and failing to heed warning signs like failed drug tests among her patients or advisories from insurance companies about her prescribing of dangerous combinations of opioids and other drugs.

Her defense team tried to make the case that Norris helped patients reduce their medications and that the charges ignored the complexity of treating people who were addicted to opioids and struggled to find a doctor, the newspaper said.

Norris could not be reached for comment and her recovery center was closed Saturday.

Norris has long faced scrutiny for her prescribing practices, including from pharmacists who refused to fill prescriptions she wrote. Walmart pharmacies also issued a “central block,” or a nationwide ban, on filling prescriptions written by Norris.

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Maine

Opinion: Misguided rate increases ignore Maine ratepayers, clean energy developers

Published

16 hours ago

June 22, 2024

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Opinion: Misguided rate increases ignore Maine ratepayers, clean energy developers

When it comes to the cost of utilities, Mainers can’t catch a break.

This week, the Maine Public Utilities Commission announced new rate hikes to subsidize Gov. Janet Mills’ green energy transition. The new rates will have consumers paying an extra $15.50 a month to keep the lights on. With many Mainers already stocking up on winter heating oil – which remains priced at $3.00 to $4.90 per gallon – and interest rates reaching the highest levels in a decade, the rate hikes could not have come at a worse time for Maine ratepayers.

Maine’s climate action plan, “Maine Won’t Wait,” earmarks billions of dollars for clean transportation, clean energy, climate resilience and other schemes like developing “climate-friendly building materials.” This most recent rate increase will go directly to pay the $179.3 million owed to solar developers – a 47% increase from the previous year.

Though companies like Central Maine Power blame their increasing rates on market volatility, the primary factor of these high rates is the governor’s requirement that utilities purchase power from solar projects at a fixed rate. The MPUC blamed a previous price hike in 2022 on fossil fuel market volatility, despite the government’s price fixes being in their second year under a Democratic majority. Even more telling, energy developers, manufacturers, renewable energy companies and the Maine Renewable Energy Association all opposed the latest rate hike, pointing out to regulators that the latest rate increase would be unfair to ratepayers.

To reach Gov. Mills’ goals of carbon neutrality by 2045, energy companies need to target the 91% of greenhouse gas emissions that come from energy consumption in Maine. That means Mainers will pay more for basic household functions like staying cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Similar climate schemes to attract more clean-energy jobs to the state by developing offshore wind power alongside inefficient solar power – despite opposition from the state’s well-known lobster industry – show that ratepayers will be the ones hurt the most from these policies. It’s telling that the only parties in support of this week’s rate hike are government agencies like the Office of the Public Advocate and Efficiency Maine Trust, the latter of which exists to “lower the cost and environmental impacts of energy in Maine.”

Instead of subsidizing solar power and burying ratepayers under crushing costs, Maine needs cheap, reliable sources of energy. The United States’ emissions peaked at 6,000 million metric tons of CO2 almost 20 years ago. Residential and commercial emissions are lower than those from electric power, transportation and industrial sectors.

Yet Maine, which is ranked in the bottom 10 states in the U.S. in terms of population and population density, is placing the financial costs of the state’s climate plans on its own residents’ utility bills. Maine’s contribution to national U.S. emissions is minuscule at best. Expecting Mainers to believe that by having the state achieve carbon neutrality, damaging storms will end and the planet will be saved is just not true.

Maine could become carbon-neutral tomorrow and still it would have no impact on worldwide climate change. Sticking Maine ratepayers with a higher bill to achieve a climate goal will not prevent more damaging storms from hitting Maine. Further increasing the cost of living will only drive younger Mainers from the state in search of more affordable places to live with better job opportunities.

When the clean-energy companies oppose rate hikes that will go to paying their own costs, it’s a sign that this rate hike is misguided. If basic utilities continue to significantly add to the cost of living, ratepayers will begin to look for cheaper places to live, to the detriment of Maine and its clean energy development.

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