Now that the 126th Legislature has officially come to a close, I can say with certainty that my 12 years in Augusta have been about helping Mainers and fighting for working people. Despite continuous opposition from Governor LePage, lawmakers were able to come together this session and pass a bipartisan budget, approve $50 million in bonds, and keep our funding promises to cities and towns to help prevent property tax increases. In the face of repeated adversity, we triumphed.
This year, we were able to create a responsible, bipartisan budget that champions all Mainers not just a select few. With overwhelming support in the House and a unanimous vote in the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans approved a budget that benefits students, the elderly, our communities, and working families.
Our budget restores funding to programs Gov. LePage wanted to cut, including our universities and community colleges, K-12 education, and Head Start. Our budget increases funding by $26 million for Maine’s nursing homes, allowing our elderly population access to the care they deserve, and our budget eliminates and reduces the waitlists at the Department of Health and Human Services for people with disabilities to get critical homecare services. Best of all, our budget doesn’t raise taxes or fees. We found savings and unspent funds in other programs.
We also approved $50 million in bonds to create jobs and strengthen our economy. The bonds include $12 million for Maine’s small businesses, the engine of our economy, and $7 million for Maine’s marine economy. When our small businesses are thriving, our state is thriving, and these bonds will help our small businesses grow and expand.
The bonds also include $10 million to invest in our drinking water infrastructure. The construction industry has been particularly affected by the recent recession and unemployment. Investments in infrastructure will create jobs in the short-term and strengthen our state in the long-term.
We also approved $21 million for research and development, investing in the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, biometric research facilities in Maine, and a lab at the University of Maine. By investing in programs with a history of success, we are funding the advancement and success of our great state.
Lastly, we kept our funding promise to our cities and towns. Last year, when Gov. LePage wanted to completely eliminate revenue sharing, we said “no.” Revenue sharing funds are used by our communities to help keep property taxes down and pay for essential services, like schools, police and fire departments, and road maintenance. We heard from hundreds of people and town officials across the state who told us their budgets were already bare-bones, and they couldn’t afford any more cuts; they would have to raise property taxes, cut essential services, or both.
Over Gov. LePage’s objections, the Legislature passed a budget last year that restored two-thirds of his proposed cuts to revenue sharing, and this year we finished the job and restored $40 million in revenue sharing funds to our cities and towns.
Of course not all our efforts were successful, and many good bills were defeated by the governor’s veto pen, including my bill encouraging the hiring of Maine loggers. Time and time again, Gov. LePage abandoned the needs of workers and prevented job creation in Maine.
Despite these setbacks, I’m proud that lawmakers were able to pass a bipartisan budget that helps Maine people, approve $50 million in bonds to strengthen our economy, and help our towns avoid property tax increases.
