Wrapping up the 127th
The second session of the 127th Legislature has wrapped up. I’m pleased to report that we passed significant measures to improve the lives of Mainers.
One of our most important accomplishments that we achieved right away in January was providing $3.7 million for enforcement, prevention and treatment to help address the state’s drug crisis.
The drug epidemic in Maine is serious and becoming more and more deadly. According to the Attorney General’s Office, in 2015, 272 people died in Maine as the result of a drug overdose, up from 2014 which saw a record 208 overdose deaths.
There is still more to do to rein in this terrible epidemic, but this was a step forward in combating the drug crisis in Maine.
We also took strides to invest in research and development and in our transportation infrastructure. Both areas are important to our economic future. We passed two bonds that will go to voters on the ballot.
The first would provide $100 million in funding for construction, repairs and maintenance of the state’s transportation infrastructure. According to an analysis released by Business Roundtable in 2015, as much as $3 in economic activity is created by every $1 invested in infrastructure.
The second would invest $50 million in job-creating research and development initiatives. Of that total, $45 million would go to sectors targeted by the Maine Technology Institute, including biotechnology, composites, forest products and agriculture, aquaculture, information technology and precision manufacturing. The other $5 million would go to the Maine Venture Fund, a professionally managed venture capital fund that invests exclusively in promising Maine companies.
We also enacted two bills to address Maine’s biomass industry. Our forest products industry is vital to the economic health of our state, and we need to do everything we can to protect this critical component of the industry.
According to the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, the biomass industry directly supports nearly 150 jobs and an estimated additional 900 jobs indirectly. It accounts for a quarter of the power supply in Maine. Of the six biomass plants in Maine, two closed their doors in March and the remaining four are at risk of closing.
The first law will set up a process for stakeholders in the forest products industry and energy sector, representatives from relevant state agencies, lawmakers and a University of Maine scientist to identify solutions to the growing challenges biomass is facing. Establishing this commission will help us to find a clear path forward.
The second law we passed provides a bridge strategy to protect the biomass industry while it adjusts to rapid changes in the wood products industry. The measure will prevent the loss of more than 1,000 jobs in Maine’s biomass industry while also protecting ratepayers from an increase in their electric bills. It allows for two-year 80 megawatt contracts to biomass facilities that will be funded through unallocated general fund surplus.
All of this legislation was passed with bipartisan support. It took a lot of work, but we came together to pass policies that are good for Maine.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions about bills before the Legislature. You can reach me at: SaucierforPI@gmail.com.
Rep. Robert Saucier is in his second term in the Maine House and represents part of Presque Isle. He serves on the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee and the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. He is also House chair of the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission.
