‘Ounce of prevention worth pound of cure': tensions arise in hearings on Mills' budget plan

Yahoo

11-02-2025

The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee and the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee hear testimony on the biennial budget on Feb. 4, 2025. (Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star)
Feedback on Gov. Janet Mills' proposed biennial budget so far has revealed tensions across issue areas between requests to expand state programs versus investments that supporters say would prevent reliance on state government long term.
The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee held a series of public hearings in conjunction with the Legislature's other committees last week on Mills' plan to close the projected gap of $450 million in the next biennium. Responses ranged from excitement for maintaining some of the state's existing commitments to criticism for proposed program cuts and tax hikes.
One example of the strain over where to funnel new funding emerged between state spending for corrections and housing. If the state invests more in housing, less would be needed for corrections, Rep. Grayson Lookner (D-Portland) argued.
'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,' Lookner said. 'We want to ensure that we're not spending money in broken systems and we want to prevent people from entering these systems wherever possible.'
Lookner's comments put a finer point on a tension that ran throughout the hearings last week on sections of the budget also related to taxes, labor, the environment and education. This week the budget committee will hold hearings on items related to the judiciary and the Department of Health and Human Services.
While the hearings focused on state money, new restrictions being handed down at the federal level came up in discussion, notably President Donald Trump's executive orders rolling back efforts to support Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Rep. Sheila Lyman (R-Livermore Falls) asked Commissioner of Education Pender Makin on Friday for an itemized breakdown of any state funding that is being used to support DEI or Social Emotional Learning, otherwise known as SEL.
Other testimony underscored the need for state support in light of an uncertain future for federal dollars.
Yellow Light Breen, president and CEO of the Maine Development Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit focused on driving economic growth in the state, warned lawmakers on Wednesday about challenges the foundation is facing with its efforts to ensure a robust future workforce by reaching communities that haven't historically participated in certain industries. .
'We're trying to make our programs truly intentional in terms of being accessible, equitable and valuable and frankly, regardless of your politics, it's very tough right now because of the prohibitive language on the federal side,' Breen said. 'Many of our grants are federal.'
Click on the committee to jump ahead to coverage of individual budget hearings:
Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Housing
Education
Environment
Taxation
Labor
The Department of Public Safety wants lawmakers to approve the funding the governor has proposed for increased technology costs, several new positions and reclassifying some others.
However, some emergency services employees flagged a proposed transfer of $44 million meant for personnel into the general fund, which they argued could exacerbate existing issues with understaffing and mandatory overtime currently being deployed to fill gaps.
Anna Massefski, program coordinator with EMS ConnectME, praised Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck's leadership but said 'he's steering a sinking ship.'
'My coworkers and I go to work everyday to protect the people of Maine,' Massefski said. 'Not in the hot blooded hero sense you would think of for most first responders. No, we're the ones behind the scenes making sure people across Maine have the same access and right to safety no matter where they are.'
Massefski said that work — licensing ambulances, conducting background checks, issuing concealed weapons permits — is being done while the department is understaffed, under-resourced and underpaid.
Others argued increased allocations, specifically for new police positions, would be better spent on efforts to build stronger communities, such as through affordable housing and reducing barriers to health care.
Alicia Rea, a fellow for the ACLU of Maine, made this plea to lawmakers on Tuesday.
'In the context of revenue shortfalls, this proposed budget makes some commendable investments,' Rea said, pointing to funding for therapeutic foster care and intensive homes as a necessary step to transition away from incarcerating youth.
However, Rea urged lawmakers to reject increased allocations for the Department of Public Safety to instead maintain the state's prior commitment to build more crisis receiving centers and create mental health support positions, which the governor's plan would cut.
Testimony regarding funding for the Maine Department of Corrections revealed a similar dynamic — balancing prevention with expansion.
The DOC says more funding is needed to run efficiently. On the other hand, some argued that preventative measures to keep people out of prison are being cut from the budget in order to provide such allocations.
DOC Commissioner Randall Liberty said the department's priorities are ensuring there is funding for its new data management system — which is set to launch in 2026 — as well as for fuel and raises for staff.
'We have much safer communities when people are programmed, trained, treated with dignity and respect and less victimization that happens in the community,' Liberty told the budget and Criminal Justice and Public Safety committees on Tuesday. 'What we ask for are our needs.'
Other allocations for the DOC include funds for substance use disorder treatment for residents under the department's care, food and electricity costs, and allocations for specific prisons, jails and juvenile facilities. Andre Cushing, president of Maine County Commissioners Association, and Tim Curtis, the Somerset County administrator who also serves on the Jail Standards Council, testified that their groups both believe the proposed allocations for jails and hold facilities to be inadequate.
Jan Collins, assistant director of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, urged the committees to consider more funding for programs that prevent incarceration, such as education, job training, health care and housing.
'The proposed cuts to Head Start, child care, food assistance, medical care, direct care workers, and state workers do not save money in the long run,' Collins said. 'They have long term and expensive consequences for the future. These cuts are poor policy.'
The Maine Emergency Management Agency is seeking more funding to address the increase in severe storms causing damage across the state, particularly in light of federal funding stagnation. Gen. Dianne Dunn, commissioner of the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Services, said budget deficits related to federal funding have already resulted in MEMA leaving two positions vacant.
Three programs of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence have shut down in the past 18 months due to insufficient funding, leaving three counties without programming, said Executive Director Francine Stark when urging lawmakers to increase the coalition's funding. The coalition is a statewide network of domestic violence intervention programs, which state law requires courts mandate participation in when people are sentenced to probation for domestic violence-related crimes.
Housing groups applauded recent investments the state has made to expand affordable options, as well as the additional funds proposed in the next biennium for the Mobile Home Park Preservation Fund, which was created in the 2024 supplemental budget to support residents in purchasing their mobile home parks, but overall said more investment is needed.
Laura Mitchell, executive director of Maine Affordable Housing Coalition, said the 3,000 affordable homes currently under construction are a good start but only a fraction of the units needed, which is at least 84,000 new homes by the end of the decade, according to a study released last year.
'These investments were only one time investments that were made over the last few years and without additional funding in this budget the construction of affordable new homes will dramatically decrease,' Mitchell said.
Molly Feeney, representing a coalition of emergency shelter directors from across the state, asked lawmakers for an additional $5 million. The state currently contributes $2.5 million for these shelters.
'Emergency shelter beds are the front line emergency rooms for Maine's housing crisis,' Feeney said. 'If we do not address this funding gap, the first communities impacted will be those experiencing the greatest poverty and are often those living in the most rural parts of our state.'
Many people are staying unhoused for longer periods of time, according to a report released last week.
Erik Jorgensen, director of government relations at MaineHousing, the state's housing finance agency, criticized the governor's proposed $10 million cut for the Home Fund, which is MaineHousing's only discretionary funding source.
Fatuma Hussein, executive director of the Immigrant Resource Center, also urged lawmakers to provide MaineHousing with more funding so the quasi-governmental agency can adequately support the Gap Rental Assistance Program, which helps asylum seekers meet the difference between what general assistance pays and what actual rent is, which often do not match.
This gap is further exacerbated by the fact that many asylum seekers don't fit the definition of homelessness when it comes to federal assistance, Hussein said.
Educators and students overwhelmingly voiced their support for the part of the budget that would continue Maine's free community college scholarship during a joint hearing with the budget and education committees on Friday.
However, Maine's private colleges urged lawmakers to cut a proposal that would no longer allow their students to be eligible for the Maine state grant program, which provides need-based assistance.
Currently, all Maine public and private universities, colleges and technical schools that administer federal financial aid, such as the Pell Grant and Direct Loans, are eligible for the state grant program.
Cathryn McIntyre, a student at Thomas College studying to be a teacher, said the program was a crucial part of her ability to afford higher education.
'Without it I might have looked elsewhere for my education but this financial support gave me the confidence to continue my studies right here in my home state,' McIntyre said. 'I'm paying for my own college education, and every dollar matters.'
This was also the case for another state grant recipient, Riley Tellier, a student at Husson University seeking a degree in occupational therapy, who told the committees that changing eligibility would hurt the future of Maine's health care workforce.
'Husson is one of the best schools for occupational therapy in Maine, and without financial support, many students like me wouldn't have the opportunity to pursue this career,' Tellier said, explaining that even with the grant she's had to work two jobs to afford her education.
'I plan to stay in Maine, using my degree to give back to the community that raised me,' Tellier added, 'but without Maine state grants, fewer students will have this choice. We are the future of Maine's workforce. Please continue to invest in us.'
Representatives from the University of Maine System also called on lawmakers to up their funding. UMaine Chancellor Dannel Malloy voiced support for the 4% increase to Maine's public universities Mills proposed but told lawmakers it falls short of the 6% the system requested.
'Our universities are contracting, losing faculty and areas of study, all because of unsustainable funding,' said Michael Grillo, a history of art professor for UMaine.
UMaine and other higher education institutions also argued the funding the governor proposed 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, is not sufficient.
Mills' supplemental budget plan initially sought to provide some of this funding, but the budget committee removed those portions when revising the change package last week.
President of the Maine Community College System David Daigler had advocated for this funding during hearings for the supplemental and called on lawmakers to include that funding in the biennial, in addition to the allocations already proposed for the next biennium.
'We do assume that the employee's share of the premiums will become a negotiated item going forward but we do not feel it is appropriate or feasible to reopen the agreements at this time,' Daigler said.
Environmental groups and state employees turned out to voice support for the governor's proposal to create eight new positions within the Department of Environmental Protections and continue some temporary positions, specifically two that support the safer chemicals program, which helps address contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
While testifying in support of the funding, Beth White, director of politics and legislation for the Maine Service Employees Association, argued it is not enough.
'While the addition of two new positions at the DEP will help address this pollution crisis, much more must be done to ensure the DEP has the staffing and resources necessary to prevent, abate and control air, water and land pollution,' White said.
The state and union have had a long-running dispute over state worker wages.
A DEP employee of eight years, Robert Leighton, who manages the environmental analysis database that stores all sampling data, said his team has been short staffed and unable to hire due to low wages.
That database is used across agencies as part of Maine's overall statewide PFAS investigation and provided data that recent legislation relied on to set PFAS limits, Leighton explained.
'We really need to see action as well as leadership that is willing to invest in workers by offering a wage that matches our private sector counterparts,' Leighton said. 'Now is not the time for even more fiscal austerity at the expense of Maine workers, especially given the chaos and uncertainty happening in Washington [D.C.] right now.'
Testimony before the budget and Taxation committees on Monday underscored arguments lawmakers and advocacy organizations have been voicing since the governor first revealed the slate of tax changes in January.
Most of the public testimony on the proposed tax changes focused on Mills' plan to raise the cigarette tax from $2 to $3.
Taxes take center stage in budget debates
Echoing Mills' comments when she first released her budget, public health entities cited health benefits and reduced public health expenses in the long term when voicing support for the increased cigarette tax. Meanwhile, retailers argued the tax would hurt sales and low-income people, pointing to data that shows those with lower-incomes are more likely to smoke.
Other smoke shop owners similarly said they are concerned increasing cigarette taxes in Maine will drive customers out of state, as the hike will make Maine's tax rate almost double that of nearby New Hampshire. Another common concern from retailers, as well as some law enforcement entities, is increased prices driving underground markets.
Adam Hoffer, director of excise taxation for the Tax Foundation, also argued the excise taxes will not benefit the state long-term.
'Revenues from excise taxes tend to decrease over time while revenues needed for government services tend to grow,' Hoffer said.
Two aspects of labor-related state funding drew the most concern during the public hearing on Monday: pensions and the Workers' Compensation Board.
In 2011, former Gov. Paul LePage froze cost-of-living adjustments on pensions for three years and reduced the maximum for such adjustments for future years.
Lawmakers have made some changes since, but attempts to fully reinstate what had been cut have failed due to the ultimate cost to the state that would result.
'Ever since then, everybody says it would cost too much. We know it's wrong, but it costs too much to fix,' said former state employee Jane Gilbert. 'I know it costs too much to fix, but I hope you can do something anyway.'
A number of other former state employees who are seeing their retirement benefits dwindle also urged lawmakers to include some changes in the budget to help their pensions keep up with inflation.
'I expected a certain standard of living after giving 35 years of my life to the state of Maine,' said Bob Glindon, who worked in child welfare, 'and the state of Maine, basically, almost turned their back on me.'
A proposal from Mills to change a provision of law governing the Workers' Compensation Board Administrative Fund also drew criticism from business groups, which argued it's not necessary.
At the request of a 4-3 vote from the Worker's Compensation Board, Mills proposed removing current statutory language that places a specific dollar amount on the maximum value of assessments that may be levied from insured employers.
Lawmakers tried to make this change last session but that bill died when the governor declined to sign any bills sent to her desk on the final day of session.
Peter Gore, a government relations consultant with the firm Main Street Solutions, representing the Maine Council of Self Insurance and Workers Compensation Coordinating Council, said eliminating the assessment cap is unnecessary because the board can and has gone to the Legislature to get cap increases approved before.
'But the cap serves as a compelling safety valve to the business community,' Gore said. 'It also represents certainty, and by eliminating that cap, you insert uncertainty.'
The Maine Auto Dealers Association, American Property and Casualty Insurance Corporation and Maine Chamber of Commerce also voiced opposition to such a change.
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