Latest news with #AppropriationsandFinancialAffairsCommittee
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal uncertainty clouds state revenue forecast as budget work resumes
Christopher Nolan, director of the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal and Program Review, updates the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee on the revenue forecast on April 29, 2025. (Photo by Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star) The revised revenue forecast legislators have been waiting for to help drive policy and funding decisions isn't providing much more clarity than before. It also means legislators still have a relatively small amount of money to work with this session. Maine's Revenue Forecasting Committee only made minor changes to its predictions for state revenue for the next several years. However, the lack of serious revisions was not due to what's known but rather what's not: uncertainty with federal funding and the economy, specifically impacts from tariffs. While the committee's report is not due until Thursday, it previewed the reforecasting for the Legislature's Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee on Tuesday, whose members' questioned whether the uncertainty was inherently negative. 'At this point, the risk really is primarily on the downside,' said State Economist Amanda Rector, who chairs the Revenue Forecasting Committee, implying that revenue is more likely to see losses than gains. However, she noted that it's possible the economic outlook could be resolved in a way that ultimately boosts consumer and business confidence. While stating the revenue prediction is the best the committee could do based on the current economic forecast, Rector acknowledged, 'I would say that certainly it's not the highest level of confidence probably in a forecast they've ever done.' With all of that uncertainty in mind, the state is still expected to bring in roughly $11.2 million in the next biennium, 2026 and 2027. After factoring in the updated revenue forecast and laws enacted so far this session, the state is now expected to end fiscal year 2027 with $125,278,261, according to Christopher Nolan, director of the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal and Program Review. That's essentially the pot lawmakers now have left to fund legislation, though taxes and other revenue generating options are also being considered. In March, Democrats pushed through a roughly $11.3 million, two-year budget plan without Republican support after Senate Republicans refused to back a change package for the current fiscal year to address the immediate funding deficit for MaineCare, the state's Medicaid program, unless it included structural reform to the program. At the time that budget passed, the state had expected to be left with about $127 million at the end of fiscal year 2027. The lower figure that Nolan shared is largely due to the cost — about $3.2 million — associated with a law passed earlier this month that aims to address the limited availability of indigent defense in the state. The two-year budget passed so far only continued baseline spending and funded the emergency measures initially attempted in the change package, so Democrats said it was only 'part one.' That budget also did not fund another expected shortfall for MaineCare, the state's Medicaid program, which Democrats said was intentionally left out while they waited for the updated projections and any changes coming from Washington, D.C.. Republicans have argued that Democrats passed an unbalanced budget because it didn't include that or any of the policy changes legislators may be looking to adopt in a 'part two' budget. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Gov. Janet Mills proposed some tax increases and program cuts for the next biennium and those recommendations appear to remain the same for this next budget, as Mills' press secretary Ben Goodman said on Tuesday, 'We are not anticipating the release of any new budget proposal.' Earlier Tuesday during a press conference, Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook) said what the minority party in Maine is able to get into the state budget may also depend on what's ultimately included in the congressional budget. Stewart and his caucus will continue to call for structural reform to MaineCare. In particular, legislative Republicans want the state to request a waiver to institute work requirements for able-bodied, childless adults to access Medicaid, a restriction the federal government is also weighing. 'Clearly, legislative Democrats don't want to move on any of those issues,' Stewart said, 'but they might be forced to.' The phrase 'considerable uncertainty' came up in the committee's deliberations time and time again, said Megan Bailey, senior economic analyst in the Maine Office of the State Economist, during the latest revenue forecasting committee meeting on Monday. This phrase was uttered when it came to economic policy, government spending, consumer sentiment, geopolitical tensions and consumer sentiment, Bailey said. The commission also made a specific assumption about Maine likely being at a greater risk from federal funding uncertainty, given that it's already faced what's widely considered retribution from the Trump administration over the state's protections for transgender people, as well as tariff policy changes, given that Canada is Maine's largest trading partner and that the state relies on Canadian tourism. 'Until there is better knowledge about how some of these federal policies and changes will settle out, they didn't see much of a compelling reason to change much of their forecast,' Bailey said, noting in that way the commission followed the lead taken by the Federal Reserve and Federal Open Market Committee. Until there is better knowledge about how some of these federal policies and changes will settle out, they didn't see much of a compelling reason to change much of their forecast. – Megan Bailey, senior economic analyst in the Maine Office of the State Economist If conditions change 'enough to warrant a revised forecast,' Bailey said the commission is discussing the possibility of revising projections ahead of its next scheduled update on Nov. 1. Members of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee pressed Rector Tuesday on what specific conditions would warrant an earlier revision. Rector said there would need to be 'pretty significant evidence' that economic conditions or revenue positions were sufficiently different from the existing forecasts and, specifically, reliable data for them to base any such changes on. 'This is, in some ways, similar to the early stages of the pandemic,' Rector said, 'where things were changing very, very rapidly, but at that point, there was no evidence to sort of say, 'Ah, this is how we need to update the forecast,' so the commission had to wait long enough to get some data to look at before they came back.' In other ways, this moment is markedly different from the COVID-19 pandemic. The two-year budget was 'not the last word.' Here's what comes next. Forecasting Committee member Michael Allen, who is associate commissioner of tax policy for the state, said the Federal Reserve played a significant role in mitigating the economic downturn then. But in a 'normal' recession, it takes time for people to feel the effects. It took almost a year for anyone to really feel the impacts of the Great Recession around 2008, Allen said as an example. 'If there's a problem, it's probably something that's slowly building,' Allen said. 'I think all of this reflects the fact that, at the moment, the information coming in is still pretty good.' As Rector noted earlier, a lot of the uncertainty hinges on frayed consumer confidence, while fears of tariffs and spending cuts have yet to show up in the numbers. Inflation growth has remained somewhat elevated and the commission is expecting more upward pressure from tariffs. Annual inflation according to the Consumer Price Index was 3% in 2024, which was slightly higher than the commission's forecast of 2.7%. Because of that, as well as the expected impact of tariffs, it increased its inflation predictions for the 2025 fiscal year from 2.4% to 3.2% and 2026 from 2.3% to 2.8%. The commission left its inflation prediction for 2027 unchanged at 2.2% and slightly decreased its predictions for 2028 and 2029, both from 2.2% to 2.1%. The commission also updated its predictions for two components of personal income, reducing the forecasted growth for 'dividends, interest, and rent' as well as nonfarm property income, because growth for both in 2024 was smaller than expected. Aside from federal uncertainty, the commission noted some of the continued pressures on the state level, including a tight labor market, aging workforce, strained housing market and climate-related disruptions starting to impact the hospitality industry. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmakers hope to support affordable housing construction without adding to budget
Members of the Legislature's Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee on May 7, 2024. From left to right, Sen. Jill Duson (D-Cumberland) and co-chairs Sen. Peggy Rotundo (D-Androscoggin) and Rep. Melanie Sachs (D-Freeport). (Photo by Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star) With an eye toward the need to rein in state spending, a plan that the budget committee's Senate chair says will help build more affordable housing without adding to the budget is headed to the floor. On Wednesday, the Legislature's Taxation Committee voted 5-4 in favor of LD 146, an adjustment to the stipulations of a tax credit that housing developers and financiers testified in support of last month. The vote was party line, with Democrats in favor, and four members were absent. When introducing the legislation, Sen. Peggy Rotundo (D-Lewiston), who co-chairs the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, said the deficit the state is facing over the next biennium limits what is possible when it comes to funding more affordable housing development, even though Maine still has a significant shortage despite recent investments. Rotundo sees a solution in changing the timeframe for accessing credits through the Historic Property Rehabilitation Tax Credit, which encourages private sector investment in the rehabilitation and re-use of historic buildings. In 2008, the Legislature instituted a cap of $5 million on the credit a developer can take in one year. In 2013, through a bill Rotundo co-sponsored, lawmakers clarified that if a developer is doing a project in a large complex, the $5 million annual cap pertains to each building, rather than the entire complex. 'As construction costs have increased dramatically since 2013 and even more since 2008, the $5 million credit no longer carries the same substantial incentive it used to,' Rotundo said. Rotundo's bill would double the tax credit to $10 million over a period of two years. It makes no changes to the $5 million maximum allowed in subsequent years. Rotundo attempted to institute this change with a last-minute amendment last session, however that bill died in nonconcurrence. Those who testified during the public hearing for the bill in February said the current model incentivizes developers to delay or space out projects across multiple tax years in order to not exceed the $5 million annual cap. Moving to a higher credit over a longer time period will help change that, said John Kaminski, an attorney at Drummond Woodson who has been involved in these projects since the credit was enacted in 2008. A recent example of such complications occurred when Redfern Properties and New Height Group transformed the old Mercy Hospital campus in Portland into the apartment complex now known as the Nightingale, said John Egan, senior program officer at the Genesis Community Loan Fund. 'Had this law been in effect at the time, the project could have been completed more efficiently with reduced delays and lower costs,' Egan said. While not all historic tax credit projects are developed into housing, Laura Mitchell, executive director of the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition, said more than two-thirds do. Mitchell pointed to a January report by the New York-based consultancy HR&A Advisors that cited the historic tax credit as a recommended tool for Maine to increase housing production and strengthen the construction workforce. Tara Kelly, executive director of the statewide nonprofit Maine Preservation, pointed to a study her organization did of the period from 2009 to 2019 that found renovations aided by this tax credit added more than $166 million to local property tax rolls and another $19 million in new income and sales tax revenues. 'During this period, the program generated $3 million more to the state's coffers than it cost,' Kelly said. Others cited a 2021 report from the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability that found that the program's structure and administration was sound and that its benefits exceed historic preservation goals. Andrew LeBlanc, a commercial real estate developer, provided a first-hand example of how the tax credit helped him in 2019 transform vacant buildings in Augusta into three retail spaces and 23 apartments, which he said are now fully occupied — one by him, his wife and child. The project cost $7 million and he got $1.2 million from the tax credit, which he said enabled him to get institutional equity investment. Now, LeBlanc is working to redevelop the old Federal Building in downtown Augusta into a boutique hotel, which he said is the same size as his former project but has an expected cost of $30 million. 'We're up against the cap that you've heard a lot about today,' LeBlanc said. Of note, the contents of this bill are also included as a section of LD 435, so lawmakers may ultimately pursue this change through another vehicle. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maine Democrats move to adopt partial budget, with or without Republicans
Mar. 15—Democrats in the Maine Legislature said Friday they would move forward without Republican support, if necessary, to fund a MaineCare shortfall in this year's budget and ensure that essential services are funded for the next two years. The announcement came a day after lawmakers killed a supplemental budget deal that Senate Republicans refused to support without structural reforms to the MaineCare program. The stalemate means the state is having to reduce MaineCare payments to health care providers, who have warned of the resulting financial challenges and impacts to patient services. Democratic leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives on Friday brought forward a "continuing services" budget that includes the $118 million in MaineCare funding that was blocked Thursday, along with funds for other core government functions in the upcoming two-year budget cycle, and avoid the possibility of a government shutdown in July. "While we had hoped to pass a responsible supplemental budget to address urgent needs, political brinkmanship prevented that from happening," Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, said in a written statement. "Now, we must focus on passing an initial budget to ensure critical services remain funded and our constituents are not the ones who suffer from partisan gridlock." House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, also expressed support for the new budget plan Friday, saying that nursing homes, hospitals and health care are suffering because the MaineCare funding has not been approved. "We must urgently address the supplemental budget in combination with the biennial budget, in order to put Maine people first and end the political posturing," Fecteau said in a written statement. "Democrats are not willing to risk a government shutdown or neglect our state's health and well-being. It's time to move forward." In addition to the MaineCare funding, the plan also includes $2 million to combat the forest-damaging spruce budworm, a spokesperson for Fecteau said Friday. That funding also failed to get approved in the proposal that was defeated Thursday. Democratic leaders said that they hope Republicans will join them in supporting the new plan — though that seemed unlikely as of Friday afternoon. The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee approved the continuing services budget in a 7-3 vote Friday evening, sending the new proposal to the full Legislature. "This initial budget provides a foundation for our legislature as we move forward with our work," Daughtry said in a written statement following the vote. "It ensures that partisan fights will not shut down our state. This is about doing right by the people of Maine. A continuing services budget maintains the state's vital operations, protects healthcare access and ensures stability for Maine." The proposal was met with opposition from Republicans and led to a tense Friday afternoon meeting of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, which gathered to take up the new proposal and began voting on line items around 5 p.m. Sen. Sue Bernard, R-Caribou, the ranking Republican member of the committee, refused to attend the work session after Republicans said they received little notice of the new plan. And in a news release, Senate Republicans said they are united in opposition to the plan. "I don't know how much the rest of the committee knew of this plan, but our caucus was not given an adequate heads up," Bernard said in the release. "The Democrats have abused the budget process, the members of my committee and the public. "The problems that existed in the supplemental budget continue to be completely unaddressed. MaineCare is on the verge of collapse and won't be available for those who truly need it. ... I cannot be a part of this plan." In a text message, House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, also blamed Democrats for the supplemental bill, which was meant to fill gaps in the current budget, getting killed Thursday. "There were myriad options to not let that critical bill end up in the dead file," Faulkingham said. "(Democrats') failure to negotiate with Republicans will delay this funding by more than 100 days." Meanwhile, Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, Senate chair of the appropriations committee, said at the onset of Friday's meeting that the items being taken up in the new plan constitute a "skinny budget" that includes money only for items currently funded by the state, as well as items from the supplemental budget that failed, including the MaineCare and spruce budworm funding. The proposal includes no new initiatives, programs or taxes and no new positions with the exception of one, Rotundo said. Lawmakers are expected to vote on the proposal in the coming weeks. After it is approved, Democratic leaders said, they will continue policy discussions with Republicans on a second budget proposal to make changes beyond the essential services. Rotundo said Democrats have heard concerns from Republicans about being shut out of budget negotiations, but she said in the last two two-year budgets, the committee has in each session voted out a second, bipartisan part of the budget. "We continue to be committed to work hard to do the same this year," Rotundo said. Republican committee members said they are frustrated. "The long and short of it is, we are terribly concerned about the way this process has been," said Rep. Jack Ducharme, R-Madison. "Sen. Rotundo says we've done bipartisan biennial budgets. I've been here since 2021, and sometimes I feel like if Republicans are in the building, they call that a bipartisan budget." If Democrats approve the plan without Republican support as a simple majority and then formally adjourn the regular session, the budget would take effect 90 days later. That means lawmakers would need to act by the end of March in order for the plan to take effect in time for the start of the fiscal year on July 1. The Legislature would then reconvene at that point to finish its business — a tactic that Democrats have used before in recent years. A group that included two Republican lawmakers sued Democratic leaders in 2023 for passing a party-line budget, adjourning and then reconvening to take up other business, arguing the move violated Maine's Constitution. But the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld a lower court decision to dismiss the case last year, saying the group lacked standing and had not shown proof of suffering an injury sufficient for them to bring the case. Staff Writer Katie Langley contributed to this report. Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Democrats look to advance stopgap budget after failure of short-term MaineCare deal
Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart and Assistant Senate Minority Leader Matt Harrington talk as the upper chamber prepares to vote on the supplemental budget on March 11, 2025. (Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star) This story will be updated. The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee is expected to meet on Friday afternoon to vote on a budget plan that addresses the immediate Medicaid funding shortfall, in light of the failed supplemental budget, as well as continuing services for the next two fiscal years. This move is reminiscent of how the Democratic majority approached the biennial budget last session, when it passed an initial continuing services budget to keep the lights on and then another spending package to incorporate policy changes. As it did in 2023, this decision is likely to anger Republicans, who have already been expressing concern this session about Democrats passing another party-line budget. Passing a budget in this manner would undermine the minority party's ability to threaten a government shutdown over budget negotiations. In statements shared on Friday, the presiding officers said the continuing services budget will prioritize core government functions and not include new initiatives, cuts or tax increases. However, the full picture of what is or isn't in this plan will not be known until the Appropriations Committee votes on what to include. It is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. in Augusta. 'While we had hoped to pass a responsible supplemental budget to address urgent needs, political brinkmanship prevented that from happening,' Senate President Mattie Daughtry (D-Brunswick) said. 'Now, we must focus on passing an initial budget to ensure critical services remain funded and our constituents are not the ones who suffer from partisan gridlock.' The final blow to the supplemental budget came Thursday when Senate Republicans maintained their opposition to the plan that would have filled the $118 million shortfall for MaineCare, the state's Medicaid program, and provided funding for to treat a growing outbreak of spruce budworm, a destructive insect that threatens Maine's northern forests. The plan was also amended to include some Republican demands — limits to General Assistance and promised cost-of-living adjustments for certain essential support workers that are being withheld by Gov. Janet Mills' administration. 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. Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) said on Friday that the supplemental budget negotiations demonstrated that Democrats can't count on Senate Republicans. 'We must urgently address the supplemental budget in combination with the biennial budget in order to put Maine people first and end the political posturing,' Fecteau said. 'Democrats are not willing to risk a government shutdown or neglect our state's health and well-being. It's time to move forward.' Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart of Aroostook and House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication. The Democratic leaders said they are encouraging their colleagues across the aisle to support the continuing services plan that will be hashed out Friday. Daughtry, reminiscent of her comments to Maine Morning Star ahead of the final failed supplemental vote on Thursday, added that she believes the fiscal uncertainty being seen in Washington D.C. can be avoided in Maine. In D.C. on Friday, Congress will decide the fate of a stop-gap spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown on the federal level. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Health care providers push for cost-of-living adjustments, against new taxes in two-year budget plan
The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee crafts the budget proposal to be sent to the full Legislature for consideration. (Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star) With much of Gov. Janet Mills' two-year budget proposal to close a projected $450 deficit focused on cuts and taxes related to health programs, public hearings last week on those sections saw sizable pushback from health care providers and parents of children with disabilities. In particular, objections centered on the governor's proposed taxes on ambulance services and pharmacies and cuts to mental health supports, as well as an item left out of her plan: expected cost-of-living adjustments for health care providers, a decision those testifying and lawmakers argue is illegal. A snow storm last week postponed the final hearing for health-related initiatives to Feb. 24, when the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, which sets the budget, and the Health and Human Services Committee are slated to hear from the public about social services, including General Assistance, which helps municipalities pay for basic necessities for those who can't afford them. Cost-of-living adjustments and General Assistance have already proven to be contentious issues in negotiations for the more pressing change package to address a Medicaid funding shortfall in the current fiscal year. Lawmakers also heard from the public last week about proposals for the two-year budget related to the judiciary, particularly the need to sufficiently fund indigent defense and the Victims of Crimes Act. Click on the section to jump ahead to coverage of individual budget hearings: Cost-of-living adjustments Taxes Mental health Judiciary Darryl Wood, the executive director of Life Enrichment Advancing People, or LEAP, a nonprofit that provides residential services and case management for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, said his organization had to close group homes after struggling to find and retain staff. Wood was among the health care providers and parents of children with disabilities who turned out en masse last week to object to Gov. Janet Mills' decision to withhold anticipated cost-of-living adjustments. The raises were set to take effect Jan. 1 but providers were notified by the Mills administration in December they would not be coming. An inability to pay providers competitive wages would also hurt the people who rely on the care they provide, which Kim Humphrey told lawmakers would be the case for her son, Daniel, an adult with severe autism who lives in a group home and helps deliver meals on wheels to seniors. 'Without adequate funding, Daniel loses the hard-earned skills that allow him to participate in his community,' Humphrey said. 'The proposed budget will devastate my son's life.' Humphrey urged lawmakers to use some of the state's currently maxed out rainy day fund, a move Mills and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have previously objected to. The suspension of cost-of-living adjustments will also impact the ability to hire and retain workers for NeuroRestorative Maine, which provides rehabilitation for brain injuries, said program director Jennifer Jello. Jello also pointed to language in the budget plan that would make future adjustments subject to available appropriations. 'Without that predictability of implementation, there could be detrimental impact to existing care and provider capacity,' Jello said. Others pointed to the Mills administration's recent settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to improve the children's behavioral health system, which explicitly requires annual cost-of-living adjustments for community-based services in line with the state law. The possibility of reinstating cost-of-living adjustments in the current fiscal year also remains in limbo. After Democrats seemed poised to vote through a change package without Republican support on Feb. 11, an amendment to offer modest cost-of-living adjustments this year for essential support workers showed some promise — though ultimately fell through. The Legislature's presiding officers opted to delay final enactment votes on the supplemental, however, leaving open the possibility cost-of-living adjustments could make their way into a bipartisan deal. Mills proposed several tax changes that have faced pushback so far, but two of those proposals specifically involve health care and are meant to bolster MaineCare, Maine's Medicaid program. These are a 70 cent tax on prescriptions for pharmacies and a tax on non-municipal ambulance service providers equal to 6% of their net operating revenue, the revenue from which the Mills administration says will be used to leverage additional federal dollars and eventually increase MaineCare reimbursements. The Legislature's Blue Ribbon Commission on emergency services recommended a similar ambulance assessment in its final report released in January 2024. However, Rep. Sue Salisbury (D-Westbrook), who sat on the commission and had voted in favor of the recommendation, told lawmakers during the hearing that the group later heard that the program would be hard to manage and not have the desired effect. Salisbury also questioned whether Mills' version of this plan would use the revenue generated to address other shortfalls in the MaineCare budget and not just help ambulance services with the gaps they'd face. In addition to opposing the ambulance tax, Jeffrey Austin, vice president of government affairs for the Maine Hospital Association, urged the committee to reject MaineCare rate cuts Mills has proposed starting in 2027, arguing they are also in conflict with Maine law. 'This is not just a rate cut that they're proposing,' Austin said. 'It's a wholesale change to the methodology used to reimburse hospital-based doctors that is supposed to under the law go through a rate reform process.' Taxes take center stage in budget debates The pharmacy tax also saw strong pushback. While the Maine Pharmacy Association is supportive of efforts to improve MaineCare reimbursements, executive director Amy Downing said, 'Funding this initiative through a tax on pharmacies is an unsustainable and dangerous path.' More than 10% of the state's retail pharmacies have closed in the past decade, and Downing argued the tax would place additional financial strain on those that remain, potentially forcing them to reduce hours, cut services or close altogether. 'The state's argument that increased MaineCare reimbursements will offset this tax in aggregate is flawed,' Downing said. 'Pharmacies with a high percentage of MaineCare patients might break even, but those serving a more diverse mix of patients, including those on Medicare, private insurance or paying out of pocket, will be unfairly penalized.' This is a concern for Steven Royer, vice president of the Kennebec Pharmacy and Home Care, a MaineCare and commercial health insurance provider. After several closures in recent years, they have two pharmacy operations: a long-term care pharmacy and an infusion therapy pharmacy that provides medications and nursing services in home settings. Most of the patients served by the two pharmacies do not have MainCare, as many are seniors who are on Medicare, Royer said. 'While I understand that some pharmacies receive an increased reimbursement for MaineCare prescriptions, this increase would not offset the tax being assessed in our pharmacies due to our patient population,' Royer said. Emily Hill, chief resident in the Family Medicine Residency at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, said the system she works in day-to-day is already fragile. 'I acknowledge the difficult choices you all have to make, especially given the tenuous federal funding environment,' Hill said. 'However, I want to highlight today that these savings are ultimately costs, costs that will be shouldered by the hard working Mainers who work in healthcare and, most importantly, these will all be felt by patients.' Mental health providers urged lawmakers to reject Mills' plan to not move forward with two crisis receiving centers in Kennebec and Aroostook counties authorized last year, in response to the mass shooting in Lewiston. Two other centers will still be built in Lewiston and Penobscot County. They argued the state should divest in law enforcement strategies to address substance use and mental health issues and instead use those funds to support community programs, such as the centers. 'Access to care remains a challenge, as is evidenced by long wait lists for community-based services and individuals languishing in emergency departments instead of receiving the behavioral health support they need,' said Jennifer Christian, associate director of Alliance for Addiction and Mental Health Services. Halting funding for more crisis centers will exacerbate this, Christian said, as will withholding cost-of-living adjustments for providers and Mills' plan to reduce workforce incentives. The governor has proposed a decrease from $2.5 million annually to $1 million annually for recruitment and retention incentives for staff who provide medication management services. Mainers object to proposed program cuts ahead of governor's budget address Betsy Sweet, speaking on behalf of the Behavioral Health Community Collaborative, said the frustration being felt in hospitals and jails will not be fixed with more beds or capital infrastructure. 'Here is my plea to you: we need to do this differently,' Sweet said. 'We ask that your committees look beyond the line by line entries and blippies and look at the overall picture.' The appropriations committee is the only committee already poised to connect the dots between spending across issue areas. 'They are so connected,' Sweet said, 'and you are the ones that can make those connections not just intellectually, but financially.' This tension between requests for investments in measures that supporters say would prevent reliance on state government long term and requests to expand existing state structures was also seen in the budget hearings for other issue areas. Maine only hired its first five public defenders in 2022. Mills added two offices and 10 more public defender positions the following year. Last month, the Kennebec County Superior Court ruled that Maine violated people's Sixth Amendment rights by failing to provide indigent legal representation. The governor's proposed budget doesn't create any new positions for public defense services, which leaves the state with a half baked system, said Jim Billings, executive director of the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services. The state has five offices in the northern and western regions of the state, but no public defender structure in the most populous counties. The list of cases without counsel in the state has been hovering around 1,000 cases for months, according to Billings. Billings also said Mills' proposed allocations to pay outside counsel fall drastically short from what's needed. Maine has long relied on private attorneys to represent low-income defendants in the absence of indigent defense infrastructure. Currently, Public Defense Services is paying between $3 and $4 million per month for outside counsel fees, which Billings said means the system will run out of funding for this in April 2026. 'This is also disastrous for trying to recruit new members of the bar to do [Public Defense Services] work or to even maintain the meager roster we have,' Billings said. Another budget item of concern when it comes to the judiciary is funding for the Victims of Crime Act. The budget includes a $3 million ongoing allocation, however that only covers half of the funding gap created by a reduction in VOCA funding from the federal government, said Francine Garland Stark, executive director of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence. Garland Stark asked lawmakers to increase the allocation to $6 million. Shira Burns, executive director Maine Prosecutors Association, also urged lawmakers to close the gap. Six of Maine's eight prosecutorial districts and the Office of the Attorney General rely on VOCA grant funding for their Victim Witness Advocate programs, and those six districts get get $55,000 each year to support salaries of VWAs, an amount that has not increased in well over a decade, Burns said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
