The State of the State, like the State of the Union, is a widely anticipated speech when all state legislators congregate in the House chamber to hear the governor deliver a message about her goals for the year, challenges ahead and successes accomplished. As many of you know, Gov. Janet Mills hosted her first State of the State on Tuesday, Jan. 21. At about 6:30 that night, the Sergeant-at-Arms escorted the senators from our chamber at one end of the hall to the House chamber on the other. Soon after, Gov. Mills began her speech.

Gov. Mills spoke about several issues that stuck with me. The theme of the speech was about readiness and resilience — how we, as Mainers, proudly embody these characteristics and how those characteristics guide the governor’s vision for her future plans while in office.

One of these plans is about health care. I’ve spoken a lot about my priority for Mainers to have affordable, accessible health care, whether through one-on-one conversations with constituents, in a previous column, or in the newsletter that you received in your mailboxes this fall.

I’m proud of what my colleagues and I accomplished last session, especially related to honoring voters’ choice to expand Medicaid and reduce the costs of prescription drugs. But our work to tackle the ever-increasing costs of health care does not end there. This session, Gov. Mills, House Speaker Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, and others are working on a bill called LD 2007, “The Made for Maine Health Coverage Act.” This bill would ensure that some of the most common medical visits are free or low cost, streamline the process for choosing a health care plan, and use federal funds to make health care premiums more affordable for small businesses. This is the kind of progress we need if we want to be resilient and ready for Maine’s future. I look forward to the testimony at the public hearing, which will explain in more detail the impact on our health care system.

Speaking of Maine’s future, I can hardly believe that Maine is celebrating its bicentennial this year. We’ve been a state for 200 years. During this time, we’ve accomplished so much. But we need to continue to invest in Maine and its future. Like Gov. Mills mentioned in her speech, to put Maine on the most resilient path forward, we need to make sure Maine thrives by overcoming the challenges that we face, as well as amplifying our many strengths.

One way we are working on this is by investing in career and technical education. You may have read in the paper recently about the announcement of the new graduate-level program in Portland, called the Roux Institute, designed to attract more people to come to Maine and to create jobs. But we can’t rely on private investment alone to answer the large public policy questions that face our state: A bill from Sen. Erin Herbig, D-Belfast, LD 2022, “An Act To Provide Funding for Capital Improvements and Equipment for Career and Technical Education Centers and Regions,” will help fund much-needed updates to career and technical education centers across the state, so we can provide the highest quality of trade school education and invest in good-paying, in-demand jobs.

Gov. Mills asked in her speech, “What will our state be like 20 years from now, 50 years, 100 years from now?” The truth is, we don’t know. But we can work toward being ready for whatever the future holds, with resilient policy focused on supporting Mainers through good jobs with career paths or health care that works for the whole family, not just now, but for the next generation too.

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