BATH

Bath Iron Works spent the second most amount of money lobbying state legislators during the last legislative session.

According to lobbyist filings, BIW spent $42,383.26 lobbying on behalf of a tax credit tailor-made to benefit the shipyard.

The law, approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor, gives the company up to $45 million in tax credits over a 15- year period, contingent on the company making two separate investments of $100 million in the shipyard.

“It doesn’t surprise me that a lot of effort was put into the lobby campaign for the tax break,” said Mike Keenan, president of Local S6, the shipyard’s largest union. “If I were to be honest, probably rightfully so.”

Keenan noted that BIW’s competitors receive tax breaks as well.

While Keenan congratulated the shipyard on getting the legislation passed, he said that BIW’s focus has to be on job security moving forward.

“Certainly they were successful in their campaign, and I can only hope that they put that much effort into job security in the shipyard for the shipbuilders,” said Keenan. “Put the (same) effort into the shipyard and the shipbuilding job security as you did for the tax breaks and we’ll all be happy.”

BIW declined to comment on this story.

While the General Dynamics owned company argued that the tax credits were necessary to keep the shipyard competitive with Mississippi based Huntington Ingalls, which has been the recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars of state support in recent years, critics of the bill claimed the tax credit was a case of corporate welfare.

“That’s what they got — they got a welfare check,” said Bruce Gagnon of Bath, a local activist who was one of the most outspoken opponents of the legislation.

Gagnon and others contended — during a hearing on the bill and at several protests in Bath and Augusta — that General Dynamics made enough profit that it didn’t need funding from taxpayers.

Although they were unable to defeat the legislation, the total amount of credits was reduced from $60 million to $45 million — as was the length of time the credits would be given, from 20 to 15 years — by the taxation committee. Also, the bill added reporting requirements and doubled the amount that needed to be invested to qualify for the full $45 million in tax credits.

Gagnon said activists spent $1,000 on their efforts, mostly to boost their articles on Facebook in order to get more prominence on that social network, and $1,000 in radio ads.

Other lobbying

The single biggest spender on lobbying in 2018 was Marsy’s Law for All, which spent $51,381.50 on lobbying during the session. The group, financed by a California billionaire, is seeking to add certain rights for victims of crime to Maine’s constitution, part of a national campaign to enshrine those rights in all state constitutions.

The third biggest spender was Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America at $40,730.82, followed closely by Central Maine Power at $40,204.14.

The Maine Press Association — whose membership consists of all of Maine’s daily papers including The Times Record, as well as about 30 weeklies — spent $6,666.64 on lobbying this session.

While lobbying reports for May won’t be filed until next month, they’re unlikely to change much since the Legislature has met for only one day during May. The legislative session ended in April, with legislators returning to Augusta on May 2 to deal with Gov. Paul LePage’s vetoes.

A total of $2.16 million had been spent on lobbying this year as of April 30, according to filings. The Portland Press Herald reported earlier this year that $5.2 million was spent on lobbying the Maine Legislature last year, and $2.5 million was spent in 2016.

nstrout@timesrecord.com

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