AUGUSTA, Maine — A bipartisan group of lawmakers want to create a $50 million relief program to aid small businesses hurt by the recent storms in Maine and other severe weather.
The emergency bill put forward this week by Sen. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, and backed by several other lawmakers on both sides of the aisle would establish a “Small Business Weather Emergency Relief Program.” It seeks $50 million for the relief fund and directs the Department of Economic and Community Development to establish eligibility requirements, application processes and methods to determine award amounts by March 30.
The measure signals consensus among lawmakers on how to respond to the Jan. 10 and Jan. 13 storms that caused devastating flooding and damage along Maine’s coast, though Democrats and Republicans have not seen eye to eye on how climate change should shape the scale of relief.
The twin storms destroyed homes, businesses and lobster fishing infrastructure up and down the coast, and they came less than a month after a Dec. 18 wind storm brought widespread power outages, flooding and an estimated $20 million in damage to central and western Maine.
Hickman’s bill initially came out in early January in response to the December storm before he updated it to cover this month’s storms.
“I believe it is the state’s duty to support these businesses and ensure the stability of local economies,” Hickman said earlier this month.
The after-deadline bill is cosponsored by numerous senators and representatives, including Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, and House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor. The bill says recent severe weather-related events have significantly affected small business owners during the busiest revenue season for small businesses in Maine.
“With the devastation my region and other parts of Maine have experienced from recent weather events, it is critical that we bring as much relief and resources as we have available to those communities,” Faulkingham said Wednesday.
The Senate is scheduled to send the after-deadline bill on Thursday to the Legislature’s economic development committee for a public hearing and work session at later dates.
Gov. Janet Mills has requested federal disaster declarations for the December and January storms, with damage estimates still pending for this month’s flooding. But Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance is not available for the many seasonal and vacant homes in coastal Maine nor for small businesses, though the U.S. Small Business Administration may offer options besides private insurance.
Mills convened the Maine Climate Council for a meeting Tuesday that featured discussion on how to rebuild buildings and infrastructure to make them more prepared for the increasing frequency and severity of storms.
Maine Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Melanie Loyzim, a member of the council, also noted her office has proposed a bill that would exempt the emergency rebuilding of damaged structures in flood zones from federal permit rules to help fishermen and seafood dealers rebuild piers to be more storm resistant ahead of the busy summer season.