Maine
News from Augusta: What the New Supplemental Budget Does for Maine
The tip of a legislative session is all the time a busy time in Augusta. Difficult discussions, ongoing efforts at compromise, late nights and shut votes are simply part of the method. However when all is alleged and accomplished, we get the chance to look again and replicate on what we had been capable of accomplish.
This 12 months, as I start to take inventory of the progress we had been capable of make for our state, I’m first drawn to the historic, bipartisan supplemental funds we handed proper earlier than adjournment in mid-April.
The funds obtained overwhelming help from lawmakers on either side of the aisle, and I needed to share with you simply a number of the nice issues it does.
The cornerstone of the funds was an initiative I’m certain you’ve heard of by now: the $850 reduction checks.
Mainers haven’t had it simple the previous couple years with the pandemic, and now, we’re going through excessive costs on the pump and the grocery retailer. We knew we needed to get reduction on to Maine individuals, and beginning this summer time, people who make $100,000 or much less, and joint-filers who make $200,000 or much less, will start receiving these $850 checks within the mail.
The one different requirement to obtain your test is to file a state tax return by Oct. 31, 2022. Even should you aren’t required to file in a typical 12 months, you continue to should do that 12 months to obtain the test.
In the event you want help submitting, CA$H Maine is accessible to assist. You may contact our native company at by cellphone at (207) 347-2335 or by e mail at money@uwsme.org.
One other essential side of the funds is funding to focus on the PFAS disaster. I’ve written at size in latest months about PFAS, or “ceaselessly chemical compounds,” that are dangerous to human well being, particularly after extended publicity.
Maine farmers are on the frontlines of this disaster, largely on account of an previous apply of spreading municipal wastewater sludge over farmland. Nonetheless, we now know this sludge was laden with PFAS chemical compounds, and we’re paying the worth.
Farmers need to shield us all and cease the unfold of PFAS, and plenty of have willingly stopped promoting their merchandise. It’s a tragic state of affairs the place people who’ve offered crops to the group and fed their very own households for generations at the moment are studying it’s not secure to take action. They want our help throughout this time, and the funds delivers.
We created a brand new PFAS belief fund and put $60 million in it. The fund will likely be used for PFAS abatement, increasing testing capability in state and personal labs, and supporting these farmers and small enterprise homeowners who’ve been so badly hit.
Although this can be a scary and unsure time, we have to do all we are able to to maintain small companies afloat and shield the general public from these dangerous chemical compounds. This and different measures handed this 12 months will assist us make
Maine’s farms and meals provide the most secure within the nation.
The funds additionally helps training in Maine. We maintained our dedication to fund 55 p.c of our Okay-12 public training, and as well as, we created a brand new Training Stabilization Fund to make sure that we are able to hold funding our colleges at this degree sooner or later even in an financial downturn. This can assist hold property taxes secure.
The funds additionally supplies as much as two years of free group school for latest Maine highschool graduates. Value ought to by no means be the deciding issue when somebody considers greater training, and this initiative makes {that a} actuality. College students who enroll in a full-time program will likely be eligible.
Lastly, we made investments in our Profession and Technical Training Facilities to make sure that they can make essential upgrades to tools and hold their applications high notch.
These are simply a number of the nice issues the latest supplemental funds does for our state. On high of what it does, I’m happy with how we received right here. Each events put politics apart and labored collectively for the higher of our state, and Mainers will profit due to it.
You probably have any questions concerning the funds or the rest, you may ship me an e mail at Stacy.Brenner@legislature.maine.gov or name my workplace at (207) 287-1515. You may as well observe me on-line at Fb.com/SenatorStacyBrenner.
Sen. Stacy Brenner, 207-287-1515, stacy.brenner@legislature.maine.gov. Representing Senate District 30, Gorham, a part of Buxton, and a part of Scarborough. She is the co-owner of Broadturn Farm in Scarborough and can be an authorized nurse-midwife. Aide: Evan Myers Evan.Myers@legislature.maine.gov.