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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Maine solar companies ask Sen. Collins to protect federal clean energy tax credits
Sal Miranda (C) and Tony Chang of the nonprofit GRID Alternatives install no-cost solar panels on the rooftop of a low-income household on October 19, 2023, in Pomona, California. (Photo by). Members of Maine's solar and energy storage industry are asking U.S. Sen. Susan Collins to protect the clean energy tax credits that could be scaled back in the congressional spending bill. 'We realize that Congress has an important obligation to cut spending to balance the budget and reduce taxes,' wrote nearly 70 industry representatives in a letter Collins, who serves as Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. 'However, cutting solar tax credits would be counterproductive.' The spending bill that narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives late last month seeks to roll back the clean energy tax credits created in the Biden administration's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The bill has been sent to the Senate, where it will likely face changes. President Donald Trump, who late last week released a more detailed version of his spending proposal, has said he backs the House version of the 'big, beautiful bill.' The letter from Maine's solar industry cites three credits in particular they would like Collins to protect. The incentives specifically support manufacturing and the deployment of solar panels. Manufacturing credits attract investment, the letter argues, so removing those would 'pull the rug out from under' solar companies in the U.S, such as the 62 currently operating in Maine. Collins' office did not provide comment by the time of publication. Additionally, industry leaders pointed to recent studies that found clean energy tax credits could lower electricity bills, while repealing them could increase energy costs for ratepayers. Electricity prices in Maine have increased in recent years, in part due to the state's reliance on natural gas, which has seen price swings from global events like Russia's invasion of Ukraine. South Portland-based ReVision Energy often sees customers who install solar panels with hopes of lowering their energy bills, said Lindsay Bourgoine, director of policy and government affairs. In recent years, those customers have been able to take advantage of the Residential Clean Energy Credit, which covers 30% of the costs of qualified new clean energy equipment installed on a residential property. While that credit was designed to run through 2032, and then gradually decrease after, the House budget plan would move up that expiration date to 2026. Though interested homeowners are cautioned about the potential loss of those credits, Bourgoine said solar is still a wise investment — even if initial costs go up. With electricity demand expected to double in Maine by 2050, industry leaders outlined for Collins why solar is the fastest and least expensive way to add energy to the grid. A 2024 report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shows that solar accounted for more than 80% of the new capacity installed nationwide that year. 'If the solar and storage tax credits are reduced or eliminated, it would be devastating to the solar industry, which would cause a ripple effect of negative consequences for Maine and our country,' the industry representatives wrote in the letter. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bipartisan call to model child welfare oversight in Maine after New Hampshire
The failings of the Office of Child and Family Services, a division of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, was a key focus of the Legislature last session. (Photo by Getty Images) A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to change oversight of child welfare in Maine to mirror the approach taken by its neighboring state. Assistant House Majority Leader Lori Gramlich (D-Old Orchard Beach) said she modeled her bill after the New Hampshire Office of the Child Advocate. LD 1893, which has two Republican and seven Democrat cosponsors, would transfer Maine's existing child welfare ombudsman into a new, independent agency with expanding responsibilities to advocate for Maine children. The proposed Office of Child Advocate would have the authority to receive complaints, access information, investigate, make public reports and advise the executive and legislative branches on how best to provide services to the state's youth. 'This bill builds a foundation for meaningful oversight and reform while ensuring children's voices and interests remain at the forefront,' Gramlich told the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee during a public hearing Friday morning. After renewed scrutiny in recent years, there have been multiple proposals from lawmakers and agency leadership to improve the state's embattled child welfare system. Last year, frontline workers came forward with accounts of onerous workloads that culminated in December with a letter of no confidence in the agency's leadership. The proposed restructuring comes after the committee backed a proposal to update the state's definition of child abuse and neglect that legal experts have argued is easy to conflate with poverty. Christine Alberi, the state's current child welfare ombudsman, supports the bill to transition her position into an Office of Child Advocate because it preserves the work her office is already doing while adding 'necessary functions.' For example, the new office would allow for juvenile justice investigations and access to facilities such as Long Creek Youth Development Center, the South Portland-based youth correctional facility. However, Alberi said that adequate funding would be crucial to the office's success. During the hearing, she said it wasn't clear where those resources would come from, since the ombudsman office has struggled with a lack of funding for staff since 2012. The current child welfare ombudsman program in Maine operates as a nonprofit that assists and investigates complaints against how child protective services cases are handled. It submits an annual report that includes an analysis of case specific reviews and other details about its interaction with the Office of Child and Family Services. Having served as New Hampshire's first child advocate, Moira O'Neill said she believes Maine could have avoided a lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice over the state's children's behavioral health services had there been a proactive resource checking on the children in the care of the Department of Corrections. The suit was settled last November. O'Neill, who helped craft the model in New Hampshire before stepping down in 2021, supported Maine adopting that structure. She said Maine's current ombudsman office leaves many children, especially those in the juvenile justice system, without an ally. Republican lawmakers in New Hampshire have expressed interest in cutting the Office of Child Advocate when looking for ways to trim the state budget. Gramlich said the Office of the Attorney General suggested modest amendments to the bill that she is happy to work with the committee to incorporate. The Department of Health and Human Services, which houses the state's child welfare agency, spoke neither for nor against the bill. Director of Government Relations Abby Stivers said the department would like more time to review the proposal, but cautioned that the new framework being proposed likely requires more consideration than the department can give it in the remaining time for this legislative session. Stivers said the authority granted to the child advocate in this legislation could be wide reaching and questioned whether it is necessary given the multiple forms of oversight that already exist for child welfare services. The agency is subject to federal oversight, multiple citizen review panels and was subject to extensive investigative work from the Legislature's Government Oversight Committee last session. However, Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot) reintroduced a bill he brought forth last session to create an Office of the Inspector General of Child Protection. 'The problems with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services are going to require far more than cosmetic surgery being suggested by some,' he told the committee when introducing LD 770. An inspector general at the state level would send a 'clear and articulate message' that the accountability and transparency of Maine's child welfare system needs to be substantially changed, Baldacci said. He referenced a 2024 report from the federal watchdog that indicated Maine struggled to comply with best practices in the vast majority of abuse and neglect cases. Under this proposal, the inspector general would be appointed by the governor to serve a five year term, with the potential for reappointment. It would also take on matters related to juvenile justice and have subpoena powers. No one from the public testified on the bill. Bobbi Johnson, director of the Office of Child and Family Services, provided written testimony opposing the legislation. She wrote that it isn't clear what benefit the role would offer to the 'robust and comprehensive oversight of child welfare that already exists.' The proposal last session ultimately died after it was not endorsed by the Health and Human Services Committee. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
