Committee approves stopgap biennial budget, adds funding for Medicaid and urgent needs

Yahoo

15-03-2025

Entrance to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee room in the Maine State House in Augusta. (Photo by Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star)
The Democratic majority of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee approved a biennial budget bill Friday night that largely continues funding for state government at the same level but includes some additional appropriations to address urgent needs, including the MaineCare funding gap.
The committee passed the plan 7-3, with two members absent, around 8:30 p.m. with an emergency clause, meaning if it secures two-thirds support of the full Legislature the funding could take effect immediately. However, Republicans on the committee made it clear Friday that's unlikely to happen.
This threshold was the downfall of the supplemental budget bill the Legislature had considered to address the current $118 million funding shortfall for the state's Medicaid program. It will again pose problems for the biennial budget that now includes that same time-sensitive measure and others, such as $2 million to treat a growing outbreak of spruce budworm, a destructive insect that threatens Maine's northern forests, which has a narrow treatment window this spring.
Without two-thirds support of the full Legislature, the allocations won't be immediately available. Short of that, a majority of both chambers would have to approve the bill by the end of March in order for the funding to be available by the start of the next fiscal year, July 1.
The final blow to the supplemental budget came on Thursday when Senate Republicans maintained their opposition to the plan after it was amended to include some of the minority party's demands: cost-of-living adjustments for certain essential support workers that are currently being withheld by Gov. Janet Mills' administration and limits to General Assistance, as well as annual training requirements for the program that Republicans hadn't requested.
Medicaid funding fix fails final votes in Senate with Republicans maintaining opposition
Another addition had been a review of MaineCare for fraud, waste and abuse, but Senate Republicans said it had to include structural reform of the program in order to get their vote.
The new biennial plan includes the funding for MaineCare, to treat spruce budworm and other initiatives the committee had initially had in the supplemental plan, as well as some aspects of the amendment — though not Republicans' key asks.
The committee voted to include the annual training requirements for General Assistance but not the limits to the program. The biennial plan includes cost-of-living adjustments, but it does not include the review of MaineCare.
An item to address a concern raised by the Maine Community College System, University of Maine and Maine Maritime Academy during public hearings for the supplemental and biennial budgets is also included: funding to help cover the costs for state-supported positions related to the new Paid Family and Medical Leave Program, which took effect on Jan. 1.
The biennial budget plan doesn't add any new state spending to provide this support but rather would use the remaining balance from the state's fund for the program.
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Addressing some of these time-sensitive issues in the two-year budget presents clear timing complications.
Many providers that rely on MaineCare are already looking at backpayments since the state started to withhold some funds this week and they could be looking at longer delays depending on when budget allocations become available.
In a statement shared with Maine Morning Star ahead of Friday's meeting, House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) said, 'I think it's extremely juvenile to send the supplemental budget, a bill we had invested so much time on, to the dead file and then immediately move on to a Democrat only majority budget when they know this will delay funding.'
Peggy Rotundo (D-Androscoggin), who co-chairs the budget committee, said if they didn't vote today, the Legislature's nonpartisan offices wouldn't have had enough time to draft the legislation to get it to the floor for consideration by the end of March.
However, she added that she hopes the budget bill could gain enough support to be enacted as an emergency to avoid any delay. That seems unlikely at this point as Republican members of the committee voted 'Ought Not to Pass,' recommending that the full Legislature reject the bill.
Before casting votes, members of the committee voiced opposing perspectives of the politics that led to this point, both this year and in past sessions.
Republicans also critiqued Democrats' decision to pursue a budget that doesn't require their buy-in, reminiscent of the majority party's approach last session. Meanwhile, Democrats argued a two-part budget is necessary to keep the lights on, now more than ever.
'We all have a different story to tell about this and I don't think we're going to resolve all that historical knowledge that we all have as individuals,' said committee co-chair Rep. Drew Gattine (D-Westbrook). However, Gattine said that given the current volatility outside the Legislature's control, it's important to shore up the state government commitments they can.
'We have uncertainty coming out of the federal government,' Gattine said. 'We have uncertainty coming about our own local economy, about our state economy, about our national economy. And I think what we can do as legislators here today is take some of that uncertainty away.'
Federal funding uncertainty came up in deliberations about specific initiatives, too.
For example, the majority of the committee backed Mills' proposal to transfer $45 million from the education stabilization fund to the general fund, though Republicans argued against using it to fill the state's budget gap.
Rep. Mark Blier (R-Buxton) raised concern about this move in light of the ongoing investigations by President Donald Trump's administration into Maine's Department of Education.
'It's really not very prudent for us to move these funds out of a lot of our education system,' Blier said.
An audit of the state budget to assess whether current, baseline funding levels are adequate has been a consistent call from Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook).
Republicans on the appropriations committee raised concern on Friday about the biennial proposal continuing state spending at current levels without such introspection.
The human and environmental costs at stake in Maine's Medicaid funding battle
'When you're voting in this baseline budget, you're really voting in baseline budgets that have been, in my opinion, majority Democrat baseline budgets,' said Rep. Ken Fredette (R-Newport), referring to Democrats' past use of majority budgets.
Republican budget lead Rep. Jack Ducharme of Madison said, 'The people of Maine cannot afford for us to just do continuing services.'
While appropriations committee member Sen. Sue Bernard (R-Aroostook) was absent for voting Friday, in a statement she reiterated concerns about the sustainability of the MaineCare program as it currently stands.
'The problems that existed in the supplemental budget continue to be completely unaddressed,' Bernard said. 'MaineCare is on the verge of collapse and won't be available for those who truly need it.'
Rotundo argued that baseline budgets have also grown under Republican leadership in the past. She added that the committee may have to revisit baseline numbers in a separate budget that Democrats are planning to introduce next to address policy changes.
The biennial budget plan approved by the appropriations committee Friday night prioritizes continuing services to maintain state government functions and doesn't include program cuts or tax increases.
But those are coming.
In order to address the $450 million deficit, Mills initially proposed a biennial budget plan that included a number of new taxes on tobacco, cannabis, streaming services, pensions, ambulances and pharmacies, which Republicans have said they will not support.
Mills' proposal also includes targeted program cuts that have faced pushback from progressives, including reversing the state's recent investments in child care, limiting low-income food assistance for asylum seekers and removing funding appropriated last year for some crisis receiving centers in the wake of the Lewiston mass shooting.
Before the appropriations committee considers part two of the biennial budget, read up about the policy proposals here, here and here.
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