It may be a great idea, but STEM Loan Program didn't get funded
LD 1655, a bill designed to increase the number of science, technology, engineering or mathematics professionals in Maine, received strong bipartisan support from both Gov. Paul LePage and Senate Minority Leader Justin Alfond, D-Portland, as it made its way to enactment and becoming a new law. But for now the Maine STEM Loan Program is dead in the water.
What happened? It turns out a separate bill authorizing a $10 million bond to fund the loan program never made it past the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee and died there without enactment when the 127th Legislature adjourned.
So that means there's no money in the fund to provide the special interest rate loans to students pursuing an education in the STEM fields, including those studying out-of-state but who return to Maine to pursue a STEM career. Maine STEM students who stay to work here in one of those fields would be eligible for 0% loans. Likewise, there's no money for STEM graduates in Maine who choose to work in other fields to receive a 5% interest rate. Ditto for students who had pursued a STEM degree in Maine but moved out of state: They'd be eligible for an 8% interest rate under the approved loan program.
“The program is on the books, but we can't implement it,” said Bill Norbert, governmental affairs and communications manager for the Finance Authority of Maine. “We anxiously await funding from the Legislature that would allow us to administer the Maine STEM loan program.”
Norbert said that even though Alfond isn't seeking reelection due to term limits, he's confident another lawmaker will take up the funding bill needed to launch the loan program when the new Legislature convenes in January. Assuming that it follows the same approach as the unsuccessful funding bill, the general obligation bond would go to Maine voters for their approval. “The underlying bill had broad bipartisan support in its passage,” he said. “It is a key priority of ours and of the governor. It's a great idea.”
Meeting a need
In his testimony for LD 1656, the bill that was intended to finance the STEM loan fund, Norbert cited Maine Department of Labor estimates that the number of STEM jobs “will rise nearly three times the rate for all occupations in the 10-year period from 2012-2022, or 6.5%. The expected increase in STEM jobs is projected to be 6,800 and will account for 46% of expected net job growth. Currently, STEM jobs make up 11.8% of all employment in Maine, placing us 31st in the nation.”
“This bill [i.e., LD 1655] was well conceived,” Andrea Cianchette Maker, leader of Pierce Atwood's government relations practice, told Mainebiz in an interview at the law firm's Portland office. “I'm hopeful the state will be able to come up with the funding so that it can become effective.”
Maker is co-chair of the leadership team of FocusMaine, the newly formed private sector business group that has launched a 10-year plan to add jobs by focusing on three industries: agriculture, aquaculture and biopharmaceuticals. She said an important feature of the STEM loan program is the financial incentives it creates to draw talent to Maine to study and work in those fields.
“We need every tool in the toolbox to develop, attract and retain knowledge-workers in Maine,” she said.
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