AUGUSTA — On Nov. 4, Maine voters will weigh in on six targeted and timely investments, passed overwhelmingly in Augusta this spring. They represent hope for Maine’s future: Hope not only for a stronger economy, but also for better bipartisan collaboration at the State House.

Five of the six bond questions came out of the Joint Select Committee on Maine’s Workforce and Economic Future – an outstanding, bipartisan group which I was proud to co-chair for the past two years.

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Researchers Cat Lutz and Greg Cox collaborate at Jackson Laboratory, which would benefit from passage of Question 4. Photo by Whitney Hayward/Staff Photographer

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Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, is the House majority leader and the House chair of the Legislature’s Joint Select Committee on Maine’s Workforce and Economic Future.

Our proposed investments focus on small business growth and high-tech innovation. They recognize the potential of the little guy: small business owners, farmers, foresters and fishermen. They recognize Maine’s unique potential to lead in the area of human health research.

These proposals are timely because Maine’s recovery still lags the nation’s. Maine has regained only 63 percent of its jobs lost in the recession. New England has recovered 111 percent of its lost jobs and the nation has recovered 110 percent. Mainers need good jobs now.

Our committee didn’t start with predetermined outcomes. We sought the insights of everyday citizens, as well as countless business and economic leaders. Time and again, we heard that better access to flexible capital would help small businesses thrive and create jobs. We heard that stronger, sustained investment in research and development would drive powerful economic growth.

And we heard that now is the time to invest. Interest rates are negligible, the state spends about 3 percent of its budget on general obligation bond debt, and Mainers need good-paying jobs now.

We took the very best ideas we heard, and crafted the bonds with an eye toward 1) leveraging private sector and other matching sources of money, and 2) maximizing the sustainable creation of high-wage jobs, particularly those that bring money into the state or keep it from leaving in the first place.

Our largest proposal, Question 3, would invest $12 million in existing financing programs proven to help small businesses grow. Of the total, $8 million would go to a regionally administered, revolving loan fund to boost job creation, downtowns, and rural economies, while $4 million would go toward loan insurance administered by the Finance Authority of Maine.

Maine has lagged in R&D investment, especially since an R&D bond was vetoed in 2011, and now ranks just 41st in the nation. Yet according to many economists, innovation drives up to 80 percent of economic growth.

Innovation and human health are at the core of Questions 4 and 5, brought forward by Jackson Labs and Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratories, respectively. Question 4 would invest $10 million for a new, world-class center for advanced cancer treatments and research. Question 5 would invest $3 million toward a new research training lab and the expansion of a drug discovery and development facility focused on tissue repair, crucial for recovery from heart attacks or similar events.

Each proposal is more than doubled by private match. Each would put Maine on the map as a global leader in human health research.

Two other bonds would help Maine by helping our farmers, foresters, and fishermen.

Question 2 would invest $8 million in a University of Maine Cooperative Extension lab that supports agriculture and silviculture, for identifying and helping control key farm and forest threats such as the Asian spotted winged fruit fly, the emerald ash borer, late blight, deer ticks, and more.

The marine economy bond, Question 7, would invest $7 million in a collaborative project to create jobs by growing traditional commercial fishing, aquaculture and seafood processing and developing markets for Maine-based products.

The clean water bond, developed outside of our committee, is about creating jobs while protecting public health and natural resources and promoting safety. Question 6 would invest $10 million in infrastructure projects to provide high-quality drinking water, improve fish passage and habitat, and help communities prepare for severe storms and flooding.

Together, these six proposals would be a home run for our state. More smart, sustained investments like these – investments that begin with a willingness to listen – can create the good-paying jobs we need, bring dollars into the state, and grow Maine’s economy in a way that works for us all.

— Special to the Telegram

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