The last few weeks of the 2023 legislative session got more complicated on Tuesday, when Republicans injected the long-term issue of funding for roads and bridges into a more immediate debate about funding infrastructure.
The Maine Legislature needs to make a deal on the Highway Fund budget, which is funded largely by the gas tax and remains separate from the overall state budget, by July 1.
While Democrats bypassed Republicans to pass a state budget earlier this year, getting a transportation budget in place by month’s end requires a consensus deal. That is why Republicans have some leverage, but their task is historically fraught.
The context: Republicans also have long had some ideas on this subject. While Democrats who run the Maine Legislature have largely favored gas tax increases but never moved them forward, Republicans largely want to transfer money from the state budget to the transportation side.
Gov. Janet Mills is doing that in her latest spending proposal, which sets aside $400 million in hopes of drawing down $1 billion in federal money for transportation. On Tuesday, Republicans said lawmakers should eschew that kind of one-time move and find up to $400 million that could be sent to roads and bridges every year and in an ongoing fashion.
Republicans, led by Sen. Brad Farrin of Norridgewock, note that there has been some bipartisan buy-in on this kind of an idea. One bill that would send $200 million from vehicle sales and use taxes to the highway budget got a unanimous vote from the Legislature’s tax committee, for example.
On the committee, Democrats argued against making long-term changes quickly, with Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note arguing for Mills’ mostly status-quo transportation budget by saying he recognizes that state departments cannot always get full funding from the Legislature. Despite more federal funding being available, his department is still managing $265 million annually in unmet needs across the transportation system.
What’s next: Making a deal on this topic has been elusive for lawmakers. Mills assembled a task force in 2019 that tried to make a deal on raising gas taxes and figuring out budget transfers, but the work broke down the following year. Solving this problem has been hard over years, and it will be even harder in days.
