Gov. Paul LePage vowed to veto a $15 million bond bill that would funnel money into affordable housing projects for senior citizens, calling the bonds a “feel good bill.”

LePage made the statement this week after he signed an $85 million bond bill that will pay for road and bridge construction or repair. The two bond measures, totaling $100 million, were negotiated by lawmakers in the final days of the legislative session that was winding down this week and received strong bipartisan support in both chambers of the Legislature.

The governor told the Maine Public Broadcasting Network that the housing bonds set “a real dangerous precedent” by earmarking voter-approved general obligation bonds for such projects. Instead, the governor said the Maine State Housing Authority can already issue bonds for senior housing projects rather than increase the state government’s debt load.

“There is absolutely no need for it; it’s just a feel good bill,” LePage told MPBN. “That bond should be at Maine State Housing. I don’t know why we would risk hurting our bond credit.”

But House Speaker Mark Eves, a North Berwick Democrat who was lead sponsor of the housing bonds bill, is calling on lawmakers to overturn the veto. The senior housing bond bill passed the House on a 117-27 vote on Wednesday – well above the two-thirds majority needed to override a gubernatorial veto, if Eves can maintain support for the measure. The bill passed the Senate without a roll call vote.

“The bond will address a dire need for affordable senior housing across our state,” Eves said in a statement Friday. “Older adults in our state want to live independently. They don’t want to be forced into costly nursing homes.”

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Eves and other supporters had initially proposed a $65 million bond bill – subject to voter approval – to build up to 1,000 units of affordable, energy-efficient housing for senior citizens. A recent report by the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition estimated the current need for affordable senior housing at 9,000 units and predicted that figure will rise to 15,000 units by 2022 because of Maine’s aging demographics unless more is done to address the issue.

The amount in the bill, L.D. 1205, was reduced to $15 million during late negotiations on a bond package.

LePage’s veto threat should not surprise supporters of the bill. In February, the governor and the head of the Maine State Housing Authority released written statements opposing the housing bond.

LePage said the coalition’s report “inflates” the need for affordable senior housing because it begins counting people at age 55 and he suggested that the original plan to build in all 16 counties was not financially viable.

The governor also criticized the use of voter-approved general obligation bonds, pointing out that the Maine State Housing Authority could leverage federal tax credits as well as private activity bonds to meet the needs of Maine’s vulnerable elderly population.

“By using general obligation bonds for senior housing we are placing the State in deeper debt and putting additional burden on the backs of Maine taxpayers,” LePage said in February. “The Maine State Housing Authority has the ability to issue bonds to finance affordable senior housing under its current authority. I support the balanced approach they are taking already with the resources they have.”

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LePage and Eves clashed throughout the legislative session, but tensions between the two spiked last month when the governor’s involvement led the Good Will-Hinckley nonprofit to withdraw a job offer to Eves to serve as the nonprofit institution’s next president. LePage had threatened to withhold more than $1 million in state funding for a charter school run by Good Will-Hinckley because Eves has opposed charter schools in the past.

Earlier this week, the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee voted unanimously to direct the state’s watchdog agency to investigate whether changes were made in the flow of state funding to Good Will-Hinckley and the effects of LePage’s funding threat on the school’s hiring process. LePage has already contested the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability’s authority to investigate his office. Eves is also threatening to file a civil rights lawsuit against the governor.

The Legislature is scheduled to return to Augusta on July 16 to consider a slew of vetoes from LePage, including the housing bond bill.

 


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