In lieu of a single-topic column this week, I instead have a random assortment of business topics to throw out for your consideration. To be honest, this aligns much more with my work life as I’m constantly managing several different projects simultaneously rather than having the luxury of focusing on just one piece. Literally, some of these were taken from sticky note reminders on my desk. Here we go:

LD 1822 — data privacy is back, but again too much

We submitted a stance to our senators earlier this week about LD 1822, a bill being considered concerning online data privacy. This is a very important topic that we support some legislation on, just not THIS legislation. Before you think this doesn’t concern you, it does. Basically, if you are a business that uses Facebook or Instagram to market your business, such as boosting posts to specific demographics in your region (like a toy store targeting families within 25 miles of their store), this bill could kill that marketing tool for you (as I understand the bill).

Connecticut, followed by Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and then nearly 20 other states, have all passed a version of a data privacy bill that businesses and trade associations have found a way to work with, and still allow some online marketing. For the third year in a row, there is a bill in the Maine Legislature to make data privacy stricter than that Connecticut-model, for reasons that our chamber cannot understand. New this year, proponents focused on AI concerns when pitching this (which are legitimate, too), yet the language of the bill itself still has many of the issues in it that we have opposed for the last two years. Maine doesn’t need to be an outlier on data privacy.

Just one problematic piece of this bill, according to a Feb. 11 Portland Press Herald column, states that “the bill would ban targeting to minors.” Sooooo, what online platforms are minors not on? Because they are on Instagram, Facebook and everywhere else. How is a business supposed to comply with that online rule anymore than how a television ad could “not target minors” or a newspaper ad, when televisions and newspapers are readily available in the public domain?

Please drop this bill and follow what Connecticut and 20 other states have done, as a first step. If you want to go stricter after we see how that goes, then so be it, but let’s take the first step first, and not leap ahead of every other state without knowing the ramifications to Maine businesses. If we took this approach originally, we would already have a workable data privacy law on the books.

WILL Power breakfast series begins Feb. 24

I am ecstatic that our Women in Local Leadership team (the WILL of WILL Power) is going to have regular events in 2026 just as it had pre-pandemic. It was a long road back, but for women business leaders looking to connect in this region, this is a great way to build your network.

The first event is next Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the Brunswick Hotel. This breakfast event features Cary Ouellette, who works with a variety of business leaders on the mental hurdles and the emotional hurdles all business leaders face, and how to, in a way, get unstuck and get out of your ruts. It’s a very relatable topic. All are welcome. For more information and tickets, check out the Bath-Brunswick-Topsham Regional Chamber Facebook page or our website at midcoastmaine.com.

Housing and transportation meetings happening

I know this is vague, and it has to be, but I want you to know that I regularly attend two to five meetings per month about housing and transportation. The development of solutions is difficult, like turning around an air craft carrier, but not impossible, and I need you to know that incremental progress is being made. Often, we don’t mention it because we don’t want to get expectations too high for immediate solutions, but intentional and incremental progress is being made, and that should be known. I can’t be more specific yet or give any kind of a timetable, but yes, local leaders are focused on these two big issues, and the chamber has a big role in that.

To expand on the need for a second, I will say my family is feeling the financial strain the same as everyone else. I was talking to a well-meaning relative this week about our family budget, and they suggested, “Maybe you should sell the house and move into a rental to save some monthly costs.” I had to softly remind them that a two-bedorom rental apartment would be a $700 increase (at least) over my three-bedroom home and 2 acres, so that would actually cost more per month and over $8,000 more dollars per year. The price of everything is a huge problem for hardworking Mainers — but this note is to tell you that some of us are diligently working on real solutions so that this reality changes for all of us.

Three other quick ones

We placed five more high school interns into internships over the last week — it’s not too late to become an internship host site. Contact me for details at [email protected].

Look for more Lunch & Learn–style education events from the chamber in the coming months. Also, kudos to the Brunswick Downtown Association for its first speaker series event at Curtis Memorial Library on Thursday night.

Main Street Bath and the chamber are having our multi-stop ribbon-cutting event in Bath in a few weeks — look for details next week.

Cory King is executive director of the Bath-Brunswick-Topsham Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu