Maine Gov. Janet Mills says her budget proposal is sound, state’s fiscal health is strong

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills told Maine lawmakers Tuesday evening that her budget proposal is sound and the state’s fiscal health is solid enough for “whatever economic challenges may come.”

The governor previously unveiled a $10.3 billion, two-year budget proposal as the starting point for legislative discussions.

“This budget proposal is strong. It is balanced. It lives within our means. It does not raise taxes. It makes meaningful investments in the things people rely on every day — while maintaining our record high rainy day fund to protect us against an economic downturn,” Mills said.

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The budget represents a 10% increase over the previous budget. But it’s still within the Revenue Forecasting Committee’s projection that the state will take in $10.5 billion over the coming two years, Mills said. The budget proposal leaves the state’s rainy day fund untouched at a record high of more than $900 million.

Delivering her budget address to a joint session of the Legislature, the governor referred to a quote attributed to the late All-Star baseball player Yogi Berra: “‘If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there.” The governor added, “Well, we know where we are going — and this budget is our blueprint to get there.”

But Republicans expressed concern about the budget’s size.

Sen. Trey Stewart, the Senate Republican leader from Presque Isle, described the budget as “another episode of spending gone wild” and said it needs to be trimmed by $1 billion.

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“There are too many people down here who think that doing great things means spending more money,” said Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, the House Republican leader, from Winter Harbor.

The governor’s proposal built on her previous budgets by continuing to fund 55% of local education, offering free community college tuition for recent high school graduates, providing free school lunches for all students and building more workforce housing.

With many struggling with heating bills, the governor set a goal of boosting renewable energy from the current level of 48% to 100% of electricity by 2040, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, lowering energy costs and providing green energy jobs.

The budget also included expansions of health care and additional assistance for the elderly and people with disabilities.

Among Other Highlights

— Mills announced plans to fight the opioid epidemic by boosting availability of the overdose antidote Naloxone by 25% and, with funding from the attorney general, doubling the number of trained people who can accompany police on substance abuse calls to lead people to services.

— Mills said she intended to improve child welfare by putting a substance abuse expert in every child welfare district to navigate risks for children, helping parents get into treatment programs, and expanding family recovery courts.

— She said she’d make $400 million available to the state Department of Transportation to leverage hundreds of millions of dollars in federal dollars for roads, bridges and highways.

— She said her proposal would fund four new district judges to help reduce a backlog of court cases, along with additional clerks and marshals.

Mills also said she welcomed legislative scrutiny of the handling of cases in which several children were killed by parents, saying those cases should be scrutinized.

As for housing, a chronic problem with growing homelessness, she announced her support for a “housing first” bill that recognizes that housing addresses not only homelessness but other problems including mental illness and substance abuse disorders. “Tonight, I call on the Legislature to send that bill to my desk. I will sign it,” she said.

The governor gave a hat tip to the fact that her speech was delivered on Valentine’s Day. Chocolate lobster treats were placed on tables for lawmakers to grab as they departed.