LD 1 is law | Reflections on waning hours of session and LD 1
Regulatory reform bill enacted
- Permitting streamlined
- BEP cut to 7 members
Lawmakers have approved a substantially modified LD 1, the regulatory reform bill backed by Gov. Paul LePage. The measure creates an environmental self-audit program and strengthens the business assistance office in the Department of Economic and Community Development, as well as streamlines permitting at the Department of Environmental Protection.
“LD 1 was never meant to do everything that we want to do,” said Sen. Jon Courtney, R-Springvale, the Senate majority leader and co-chairman of the Regulatory Fairness and Reform Committee that reviewed the proposal. “This is just a start and in the next session you will see other proposals that will go to the committees of jurisdiction for them to develop.”
The bill also trims the Board of Environmental Protection from 10 to seven members and creates a business advocate position within the Secretary of State’s Office.
George Gervais, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, told lawmakers at his confirmation hearing that implementing the provisions of the new law will be a top priority as he takes over. “There are a lot of things we can do to help businesses, and we will,” he said. The measure calls for a small business advocate located in the DECD. Gervais said he plans to reorganize the agency.
The bill was the focus of the early part of the session, with Gov. Paul LePage holding dozens of “red tape audit” meetings across the state. That yielded a 64-point plan that was blasted by environmental groups as the “wholesale repeal of environmental protections” and led to many issues being sent to individual committees for further review.
The governor later proposed a 48-page amendment to the bill that removed some of the more controversial measures but retained others, such as the elimination of the Board of Environmental Protection and the total repeal of the Informed Growth Act. Sen. Thomas Saviello, R-Wilton, said the committee was not ready to go as far as the governor proposed, but agreed the way the board operates needs to change. “We need a BEP that acts in a timely manner and a predictable manner,” he said.
Courtney said the measure also includes new reuse rules for hazardous materials and incentives for self-auditing that will improve compliance. “Republicans have long been strong supporters of the environment,” he said. “What we have done with LD 1 is to bring some common sense to environmental regulations.”
The bill also eliminates duplication of state permitting for fire codes and restaurant health inspections if municipalities already have licensed agents to perform those duties.
The measure drew praise from several business groups. Chris Hall, vice president of the Portland Regional Chamber, said the proposals make regulations more user-friendly, but don’t remove the penalties for failing to follow the law. “If you break the law, you are going to get hit with fines and some steep ones,” he said.
Legislature cuts its budget, bolsters security
- Lawmakers adopt austerity measures
- State House security to cost $546K
Legislative leaders have voted to cut the Legislature’s budget by $8.3 million over the next two years while bolstering security at the State House.
“This actually is probably an historic legislative council budget,” Majority Leader Jon Courtney, R-Springvale, said. “This is probably the largest reduction from a previous year in, I would suggest, the history of the Legislature.”
The budget for the Legislature and its offices is $59.3 million in the proposed two-year state budget submitted by Gov. Paul LePage. The reductions were achieved mostly through applying to lawmakers and legislative staff the same budget initiatives affecting other state workers, like suspension of longevity and step increases and changes in pension costs.
The leaders also voted to reduce out-of-state travel by 30%, suspend cost-of-living increases for legislators, reduce the length of each yearly session by a week, and require a task force look at additional possible savings. “This is a reduction of about $8.9 million,” said House Speaker Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, chairman of the budget committee. “The appropriations for additional security bring that down to be about $8.3 million.”
The controversial proposal to increase security at the State House will cost $546,000 over two years. It will add one police officer and four security officers to the Capitol Police budget to operate a metal detector at the public entrance to the State House. “That $550,000 is a lot of money,” said Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, assistant Senate minority leader. “I guess I am still not comfortable with spending that money when there are many competing priorities in this two-year budget.”
Both Courtney and Senate President Kevin Raye, R-Perry, argued that additional security at the State House is overdue. Raye said the additional security proposals are “moderate” and will not approach the level of security at federal buildings and in other states.
Delegation works to end widow’s tax
- Policy limits survivor’s benefits
- Final fix proves elusive
Maine has one of the highest numbers of veterans in the nation, over 138,000 in the latest estimate by the federal government. Members of the state’s congressional delegation say many of those veterans’ widows are being treated unfairly by a federal policy they call the “widow’s tax.”
The fundamental issue is a policy that says a military spouse whose partner dies from a service-related cause can’t collect both survivor’s benefits and the full annuity benefits from insurance purchased from the Department of Defense at retirement. The policy reduces the annuity payment by the amount of the monthly survivor benefit.
“It is absolutely inexplicable that we would place a tax on the surviving spouses of our fallen military men and women,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe. “This is totally wrong.”
Adding to the complicated policy is a provision saying that in order to fully collect on insurance, the widow must marry again. There are an estimated 55,000 widows affected by the policy across the country. “This is one of those really sad stories,” said 1st District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree. “There is no logic in this. It hits someone at a vulnerable time, someone whose spouse has served their country and there is just no good logic for it and it is a terribly sad thing to do.”
Pingree serves on the House Armed Services Committee and is co-sponsoring a bill to address the problem. She said the measure has bipartisan support. The issue has dragged on as committees in both the House and Senate have passed legislation to fix the policy, but without winning final approval.
“Military families make incredible sacrifices that, too often, go unrecognized,” said Sen. Susan Collins. “Our legislation would help ensure that surviving spouses and dependents of our service men and women receive the full benefits that they are due.”
Mal Leary runs Capitol News Service in Augusta. He can be reached at editorial@mainebiz.biz. Read more Capitol Update here.
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