AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills used her Tuesday budget address to unveil a smattering of new proposals focused on energy and housing, including one that would set a goal of having 100 percent of Maine’s electricity come from renewables by 2040.
The Democratic governor’s $10.3 billion two-year budget proposal, which was released last month, hikes state spending above ten figures for the first time. It holds the line on income taxes while continuing to fund K-12 education and municipal aid at statutory levels long unmet before Mills’ tenure, while putting $400 million toward transportation in a bid to draw $1 billion in federal money.
While Mills has sold the plan as a status-quo one that leaves Maine’s record rainy day fund untouched and rests on bipartisan ideas, legislative Republicans have criticized the measure for not containing a tax decrease. That may mark the major sticking point in talks around the budget between now and June, when the state’s fiscal year ends.
“Our state stands on solid fiscal footing, and we are prepared to weather whatever economic challenges may come,” Mills said in prepared remarks. “The state of our budget is strong.”
Mills made news in her address. The new energy goal would replace one set in the first year of the governor’s tenure that aimed to transition Maine to all-renewable electricity by 2050. The state sat at 71 percent in 2021 under a federal standard, though roughly half comes from renewables under a stricter state one that does not include large hydroelectric installations.
The governor also supported a measure from Rep. Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook, that would expand a “Housing First” program used in Portland and other places across the country statewide. Under the bill, the state would provide housing to hundreds of people who lack it before connecting them to mental health and substance use disorder treatment.
She rolled out a number of smaller programs as well, including a 25 percent increase in the state’s purchases of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, a new comprehensive plan for the embattled child welfare system in partnership with advocacy groups and another four judges to relieve a major backlog in the criminal justice system.
Mills’ budget continues past initiatives, including money to keep providing school meals to all students regardless of income, free community college for recent high-school graduates and allocates an initial $46 million to fund a program passed last year that freezes property taxes for seniors and is the subject of overhaul proposals in the Legislature now.
The governor left out some priority subjects for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. She did not tip her hand on whether she would be open to the desire of minority Republicans in the Legislature to cut income taxes. Progressives were also hoping she would support a $400 million paid family and medical leave program before lawmakers now, but she did not.
While two-year budgets are normally passed by consensus in Augusta, Mills and the Democrats in charge of Augusta could move by the end of March to advance their own plan over Republican opposition. Though the governor has not promised a bipartisan budget, the sides have said they want one and Mills looked to be trying for one on Tuesday.
“I look forward to working with all of you in the coming months to enact a strong, bipartisan budget that is worthy of the people we serve and that addresses our most pressing needs,” she said.
