Legislature’s budget committee wraps up work, leaves many bills unfunded

The Legislature’s budget writing committee wrapped up its work early Thursday, leaving many major bills without funding even though they passed both chambers.

Measures to invest in the social safety net, waive tuition for certain University of Maine students, increase starting pay for teachers, raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and boost behavioral health support for public school students are among those that did not receive funding from the Legislature this year.

Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, who co-chairs the committee, said lawmakers hope some of the more than 130 bills that were carried over to the second regular session could receive funding in next year’s supplemental budget.

“There were many things we had wanted to fund and weren’t able to, so we’re eager to have these bills carried over,” Rotundo said shortly after midnight Wednesday.

If those bills are not funded next year, they will die on the table, despite being passed by committees and then in both chambers.

State government, which is firmly controlled by Democrats, has experienced historic revenues and budget growth since the pandemic, buoying the hopes of advocates looking to increase state investments in programs and conservatives seeking income tax relief.

Nonpartisan revenue forecasters have predicted, however, that the days of flush revenues could be coming to an end as federal officials try to slow the economy to reduce inflation. Lawmakers seem to be heeding that warning, spending cautiously and mostly on one-time expenses.

About 266 bills seeking more than $1.5 billion in funding over the next two years were competing for a relatively small pool of funding, between $10 million and $12 million. That was the money left unappropriated by the governor’s $10.3 billion budget.

The budget still contains a “cushion” of $27 million to $29 million for unexpected expenses, according to spokespeople for legislative Democrats.

In all, 123 of the bills seeking funding were recommended for passage, including 26 bills already included in the budget that Gov. Janet Mills signed this week. Another 37 bills were approved after lawmakers determined they would not require additional spending or could be paid for out of agencies’ existing budgets.

The committee endorsed several bills seeking to address the state’s opioid epidemic, including funding a study on the creation of a safe consumption site, where people could use illicit drugs under medical supervision to try to prevent overdoses and connect them with treatment. Such centers are against federal law, but pilot projects are in operation elsewhere, including New York City.

Many of the 60 bills approved in the last round of voting on Wednesday night and Thursday morning did get funding – but at levels well below their original costs or as one-time expenditures, not ongoing funding requests. Scores of other bills were carried over to the second regular session.

A new Lobster Innovation Fund was expected to receive $2 million to help lobstermen test new gear to comply with new federal regulations. But the committee reduced that funding to $50,000. That decision was driven mostly by concern about costs, not by a federal ruling delaying implementation of the new rules, a Democratic spokesperson said.

A bill calling for a $5 million annual investment in the construction and renovation of emergency housing got a one-time appropriation of $257,000.

Lobbyists say that getting a bill enacted, even with the slightest bit of funding, still can be considered a major win since it can put a program on the books and in the mix for more funding in future budgets.

LEFT IN LIMBO

Left in limbo until the next session, however, are more than 140 bills that were the focus of intense lobbying and testimony before committees.

They include L.D. 1376, a bill to increase the state minimum wage to $15 an hour, which was opposed by the Mills administration, and a proposal to eliminate the sales tax on adult and baby diapers.

Also left hanging was a bill to increase starting teacher salaries. L.D. 1064 would have cost $3.5 million in the first year and more each year thereafter. A bill seeking an $81.4 million annual investment in behavioral health supports for public school students, whose needs have grown since the pandemic, will have to wait until the next session.

Also carried over were bills to strengthen the social safety net, including ones to raise the state’s General Assistance reimbursement rate for municipalities from 70% to 90%, to resume enhanced Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits using state dollars, and to create a $15 million eviction-prevention pilot program and a $2 million rental-subsidy program for homeless students.

A proposal to allow the composting of human remains also was left waiting. It would cost about $100,000 a year to implement.

It’s unclear when lawmakers will return to cast their final votes on these bills and seek to overturn any additional vetoes from the governor. So far this session, Mills has vetoed two bills – one relating to the state’s jurisdiction over indigenous tribes and another dealing with offshore wind. Both vetoes have been sustained by the Legislature.