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Associated Press
3 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Maine lawmakers try to thread the needle on forest protections
Late last year a team of ecologists came to a dire conclusion: without new conservation and management initiatives, half of the oldest forests in Maine's unorganized territory could be gone in the next 35 years. A bipartisan bill introduced by state Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) aims to reverse that trend while also protecting Maine's undeveloped lakes and ponds through prescriptive conservation measures. After overcoming initial opposition from state officials and forest industry groups through multiple compromises, the bill was unanimously voted out of committee and approved by the state Senate this week. Although the version of L.D. 1529 the full legislature received is drastically different from what Bennett originally proposed, it now has support from both conservation and forestry groups. In Bennett's original draft, agencies under the state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry would have been tasked with prioritizing the acquisition of mature forest stands for conservation and placing dozens of undeveloped ponds and lakes into a new management classification, further shielding them from development. By instructing the Land for Maine's Future Board — the state entity that funds conservation land acquisitions — to place parcels with mature tree stands at the top of its acquisition list, Bennett said his original bill would have provided protective actions without regulatory processes. The bill also included measures to promote the study of Maine's oldest forests, intended to spur new conservation strategies down the line and entrench late-successional, old-growth forests at the center of forest management plans. And the bill went beyond forest protections. Bennett also included a provision directing the Land Use Planning Commission, which oversees Maine's unorganized territory, to reassign undeveloped lakes and ponds to a more protective class that limits development near shorelines. Such proposals won approval from conservationists and environmental nonprofits across Maine, but drew criticism from DACF officials and forestry groups like the Maine Forest Products Council. DACF official Judy East testified that the proposals were developed without input from key stakeholders and would be a costly addition to the department's already heavy workload. Similar criticism arose from the Maine Forest Products Council, a trade group representing landowners, loggers, truckers, paper mills and foresters across the state. In his testimony, MFPC Executive Director Patrick Strauch wrote that L.D. 1529 'establishes predetermined outcomes for forest stands on private land without any consultation with the landowner community.' Instead of jumping forward to land acquisition policies and reclassifying Maine lakes, Strauch said the state should first work with stakeholders to determine how and where to conserve older forests and lakes while acknowledging the multiple uses, like recreation and timber production, that state management plans allow for. John Hagan, who co-authored the 2024 report from environmental nonprofit Our Climate Future that surveyed the state's unorganized territory, encouraged both sides to come to the table the same way they did to support his team's mapping project. 'I hope we can all come together, work together, support this bill, and come up with a practical plan to conserve (late-successional or old-growth) forest before it's gone and the question of saving it becomes moot,' Hagan wrote in his testimony. Ultimately, both sides did. The amendments added across two committee work sessions removed more immediate, sweeping development restrictions but maintained and fine-tuned instructions for state agencies to study and incorporate forest and lake protections in long-term management plans, all for an estimated cost of $75,000. Instead of reclassifying undeveloped Maine ponds and lakes in the near future, the new version now instructs the Maine Land Use Planning Commission to evaluate the decades-old Lake Management Program and determine whether reclassification is needed. It also instructs the state Bureau of Forestry to conduct research that follows the work done by Our Climate Future and sets a 2026 deadline for the DACF to compile statewide strategies to enhance its conservation. The end result is a bill that the Maine Forest Products Council and environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Council of Maine both support. 'Mainers recognize that these are really unique resources that we have,' said Luke Frankel, director of NRCM's Woods, Waters, and Wildlife Division, and the bill is 'a promising path forward to protecting older growth forests.' ___ This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maine lawmakers try to thread the needle on forest protections
Late last year a team of ecologists came to a dire conclusion: without new conservation and management initiatives, half of the oldest forests in Maine's unorganized territory could be gone in the next 35 years. A bipartisan bill introduced by state Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) aims to reverse that trend while also protecting Maine's undeveloped lakes and ponds through prescriptive conservation measures. After overcoming initial opposition from state officials and forest industry groups through multiple compromises, the bill was unanimously voted out of committee and approved by the state Senate this week. Although the version of L.D. 1529 the full legislature received is drastically different from what Bennett originally proposed, it now has support from both conservation and forestry groups. In Bennett's original draft, agencies under the state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry would have been tasked with prioritizing the acquisition of mature forest stands for conservation and placing dozens of undeveloped ponds and lakes into a new management classification, further shielding them from development. By instructing the Land for Maine's Future Board — the state entity that funds conservation land acquisitions — to place parcels with mature tree stands at the top of its acquisition list, Bennett said his original bill would have provided protective actions without regulatory processes. The bill also included measures to promote the study of Maine's oldest forests, intended to spur new conservation strategies down the line and entrench late-successional, old-growth forests at the center of forest management plans. And the bill went beyond forest protections. Bennett also included a provision directing the Land Use Planning Commission, which oversees Maine's unorganized territory, to reassign undeveloped lakes and ponds to a more protective class that limits development near shorelines. Such proposals won approval from conservationists and environmental nonprofits across Maine, but drew criticism from DACF officials and forestry groups like the Maine Forest Products Council. DACF official Judy East testified that the proposals were developed without input from key stakeholders and would be a costly addition to the department's already heavy workload. Similar criticism arose from the Maine Forest Products Council, a trade group representing landowners, loggers, truckers, paper mills and foresters across the state. In his testimony, MFPC Executive Director Patrick Strauch wrote that L.D. 1529 'establishes predetermined outcomes for forest stands on private land without any consultation with the landowner community.' Instead of jumping forward to land acquisition policies and reclassifying Maine lakes, Strauch said the state should first work with stakeholders to determine how and where to conserve older forests and lakes while acknowledging the multiple uses, like recreation and timber production, that state management plans allow for. John Hagan, who co-authored the 2024 report from environmental nonprofit Our Climate Future that surveyed the state's unorganized territory, encouraged both sides to come to the table the same way they did to support his team's mapping project. 'I hope we can all come together, work together, support this bill, and come up with a practical plan to conserve (late-successional or old-growth) forest before it's gone and the question of saving it becomes moot,' Hagan wrote in his testimony. Ultimately, both sides did. The amendments added across two committee work sessions removed more immediate, sweeping development restrictions but maintained and fine-tuned instructions for state agencies to study and incorporate forest and lake protections in long-term management plans, all for an estimated cost of $75,000. Instead of reclassifying undeveloped Maine ponds and lakes in the near future, the new version now instructs the Maine Land Use Planning Commission to evaluate the decades-old Lake Management Program and determine whether reclassification is needed. It also instructs the state Bureau of Forestry to conduct research that follows the work done by Our Climate Future and sets a 2026 deadline for the DACF to compile statewide strategies to enhance its conservation. The end result is a bill that the Maine Forest Products Council and environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Council of Maine both support. 'Mainers recognize that these are really unique resources that we have,' said Luke Frankel, director of NRCM's Woods, Waters, and Wildlife Division, and the bill is 'a promising path forward to protecting older growth forests.'
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Could Maine adopt a four-day workweek? One legislator wants to find out
Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) addresses the upper chamber on May 7, 2025. (By Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star) A Republican legislator is pushing for the state to lay the groundwork for a four-day work week by establishing a pilot project and a tax credit to encourage participation. Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford presented a resolve, LD 1865, to the Taxation Committee on Thursday that would establish a pilot project administered by the Maine Department of Labor to 'promote, incentivize and support' the use of a four-day work week and study the benefits and effects of the schedule change. 'This proposal is rooted in a simple principle,' Bennett said. 'Maine people work hard and they deserve to thrive, not just survive.' Bennett said his proposal is not about working less but working smarter, but some Republican legislators on the committee were critical of the plan. 'Working five days a week, that's part of being an adult,' said Rep. Tracy Quint of Hodgdon. Bennett pushed back. 'I don't think part of being an adult is to have to work in a given rigor that was handed to us by what worked in 1938,' he said, adding that when former President Franklin D. Roosevelt ushered in the 40-hour work week about 80 years ago, critics feared economic disaster but instead it helped usher in an era of prosperity. 'I do not want our state policy making to be governed by fear,' Bennett said. The pilot project would be voluntary, open to all private and public employers with at least 15 employees, but selection will be up to a process established by the Department of Labor to ensure a wide breadth of participation. Research on four-day work weeks is in its early stages, and not all four-day work weeks look the same. Bennett said he'd like the pilot to involve a reduction in hours per week to 32 hours, eight hours per day, without any loss of pay, employment status or benefits. Other models compress 40 hours into four days. An international trial of more than 200 companies that switched to a reduced hours workweek like Bennett proposed found improved worker well-being, retention and recruitment, with most companies choosing to continue the model. However, other studies identified some negative impacts, including scheduling problems, more intense monitoring measures and a risk of benefits fading over time. Some private Maine businesses have implemented four-day work weeks, using varying methods, as well as a handful of municipalities, including South Portland, Lewiston and Biddeford. In order to encourage participation, the resolve would also establish a tax credit against income taxes owed by that employer. The specifics of that credit are not outlined in the proposal. Currently, it states that it would be determined by the department and the State Tax Assessor, but constitutionally tax changes must go through the Legislature, so ultimately such a decision would have to come back to lawmakers. Rep. Shelley Rudnicki (R-Fairfield) questioned why a tax credit is necessary if some municipalities and businesses in Maine have already implemented four-day work weeks, but Bennett said Maine-specific data on effectiveness is lacking. The credit would be an incentive to help the state gather that data, and it is not intended to replace the cost of the additional eight-hour work day. 'I want it to be proven out that the productivity gains and the other possible advancements are achievable and aren't just replaced by state tax dollars,' Bennett said. Pressed on the cost the tax credit could incur the state by legislators of both parties, Bennett said he would return with specifics for the work session but anticipates it to be modest. He is also open to the committee choosing to fund an incentive in another way, noting that he modeled his plan after a similar bill currently being considered in Massachusetts that uses taxpayer dollars. 'I hope that you don't reject it on that basis,' he said. The duration of the pilot project in Maine would be at least two years but no more than four years, which would be determined by the Department of Labor. The resolve specifies that participating employers should be diverse in size, industry location and ownership, including those owned by veterans, women, minorities and people with disabilities. Those participating should also have both employees who are exempt from and subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. No one testified for or against the measure on Thursday, but Patrick Woodcock, president and CEO of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, spoke neither for nor against. Woodcock said, if the resolve does pass, the chamber would want to partner with the Department of Labor to make the pilot as effective as possible, noting that it would be helpful to gather data about how a four-day work week would work for salaried versus hourly employees. 'I think ultimately, for something like this to be successful, you do need the executive buy-in,' Woodcock said. 'If this does have a trend of being utilized as a best practice, I think Maine does need to be at the forefront of consideration of this model.' The department would be required to report annually to the Legislature on the progress and participation levels for the duration of the pilot project and then submit a final report. The report would assess the economic and social effect of a four-day workweek on the participating employers and the effect on the wellbeing of participating employees, as well as include recommendations. However, throughout the pilot, participating employers must provide the department access to employer data and participating employees including through interviews and surveys on a regular basis, though employees can opt out of those inquiries and any data gathered must be anonymized. The State Tax Assessor would also be required to submit an annual report on the tax credit. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
EDITORIAL: It's a 'yes' for Sen. Bennett's light-bulb moment
Feb. 9—Let there be light! A refreshing bit of legislative work came to light last week, a state-level bill that would open private intraparty meetings of lawmakers to interested members of the public. This push for greater transparency deserves Mainers' support. The access will work in their best interest. L.D. 12, put forward by Republican Rep. Rick Bennett of Oxford, would apply to meetings of three or more lawmakers of the same party. The bill would add so-called "legislative caucuses" to the types of meetings covered by the state's Freedom of Access Act. The last time we wrote about the legislative caucus was in March of last year ("Closed-door meeting on gun policy was ill-advised"), reacting with disappointment to the news that a group of Maine Democrats conducted a private or "closed-door" meeting with a representative from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The decision to conduct that meeting in that manner, as we wrote then, may not have broken any rules but assuredly "sent the wrong message at an already tense time." Let's remove the opportunity to make such decisions; let's break Augusta's habit of breaking into caucuses; let's throw open the doors. Editor's note: The Maine Press Association, of which the Maine Trust for Local News is a member, has submitted written testimony in support of Bennett's bill. (Is the Pope a Catholic?) Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maine lawmaker wants to open intraparty meetings to public
Feb. 6—A bill before the Maine Legislature would make private intraparty meetings of lawmakers open to the public, which its sponsor says will increase transparency and provide more insight into how lawmakers arrive at decisions. The proposal would give the public access to gatherings of three or more lawmakers of the same party by adding legislative caucuses to the list of meetings subject to Maine's Freedom of Access Act. The act already protects public access to meetings of the full Legislature and its bipartisan committees, as well as to local school board and city council meetings. The same law also mandates that records belonging to public agencies and officials are public. "LD 12 will add a new level of transparency to the legislative process," Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, the bill's sponsor, said during a public hearing Wednesday. "It will ensure the public can see how decisions are made, who is influencing those decisions and the reasoning behind our policies or laws." It's common for lawmakers to meet in closed-door caucuses to discuss strategy or hold negotiations, but such meetings also have been criticized as a tool for subverting public access laws to conduct legislative business. In one instance last year, Democrats came under fire for a private caucus in which committee members were briefed by an official from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives while considering several firearms measures. Republicans criticized the move, saying the meeting shouldn't have been held in private. The Maine Press Association submitted written testimony in support of Bennett's bill, and no one testified against it. But changing the law could be complicated, and it's unclear how much support the proposal will have among lawmakers. The bill does not list any co-sponsors. Lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee asked Bennett how the bill could affect legislative working papers that are now confidential under state law, and whether discussions around a party's political strategy would be open to the public. Bennett said his intent is not to disturb the ability of lawmakers to solicit input under the working papers exemption as they develop a bill, but he said that legislative decisions should not be made in private. "People making real decisions behind closed doors, that ought not to be done and there doesn't seem to be a means of addressing that through social or cultural change," he said. Bennett said he understands that political strategy is "not, strictly speaking, the public's business." "(But) if we're doing policy work and making decisions, sharing information like three selectmen sitting around a diner table having a conversation about a public matter, which is against the law, I'd like to see those kinds of conversations not rendered unless there is public access," he said. The Maine Press Association, which includes 44 newspapers and digital news sites across the state, said negotiations and conversations that take place behind closed doors violate the principles of transparency. "Private caucus meetings prevent freedom of access, and constituents are left out of the process," the association said in its written testimony. "That subverts the very nature of our participatory democracy." Bennett, who has served on and off in either the Senate or House of Representatives since 1990, said he sees more and more work and decision-making being done in caucuses. "I know there are reasons for that and we all can surmise what they are with growing levels of partisanship and toxicity," he said. "I believe we need an antidote to this." The committee on Wednesday also heard a proposal from Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, that would require agencies and officials to fulfill Freedom of Access Act requests for public records within 30 days. The bill, LD 152, would update current law, which requires agencies to fulfill requests "within a reasonable time." Libby has two Democratic co-sponsors on the bill, but it has also been met with opposition from numerous municipalities, schools and state agencies that say they don't have the resources to work within a 30-day time constraint when fulfilling records requests, many of which can be broad and complicated. Libby, meanwhile, said she has heard from constituents who are frustrated by the amount of time it can take to fulfill a request. In one example, the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition said in written testimony that it is still waiting for data requested from the state medical examiner's office in 2023 to better understand a rise in deaths among people on probation. "This bill is essential," said Jan Collins, the coalition's assistant director. "Lifesaving public policy decisions are wholly dependent on information government offices collect. We should be able to access it in a timely manner." Copy the Story Link
