Defeat LD 1496!

This bill is sponsored solely by six Democrat legislators who sit on the Appropriations committee.

The Legislature and the LePage Administration created a $65 million set-aside in the Budget Stabilization Fund last session. This money is to be used to pay back the final amount that Maine may owe the federal government once the negotiations are complete over Riverview’s disallowed costs during its period of decertification. The total owed could run about $70 million, which is why the set-aside was created. The final determination of how much the state will owe has not yet been made.

Governor Mills recently tapped this set-aside to pay for a gap in Riverview’s operating costs related to these disallowed costs, taking out about $10.5 million and leaving approximately $54 million left in the set-aside, although the state has excess revenue that could have been used to pay the bills.

The sponsors of this bill (members of the Appropriations committee) want to move the payment of the costs from this specifically created set-aside in the Budget Stabilization Fund to the Maine Taxpayer Relief Fund.

However, the Maine Taxpayer Relief Fund was created to give money back to Maine taxpayers. It must be used to provide tax relief to residents of the State, with the purpose of reducing the individual income tax rates to 4 percent.

Instead of giving Mainers tax relief as intended, these lawmakers want to use it to pay back the federal government. They call this “protecting” the Budget Stabilization Fund.

The Budget Stabilization Fund is important, and it’s also important to keep this set-aside there.

Since Governor Mills’s budget spends all the cash on hand, our legislators might be worried that they’ll need more cash freed up in the BSF to pay bills as money runs out.

It is dangerous precedent to allow the Taxpayer Relief Fund to be used for anything other than taxpayer relief. Obviously, taxpayer relief is not a priority for the sponsors of this bill.

This bill will be heard by the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee but has not yet been scheduled. Contact the committee members and let them know your thoughts on this bill.

An Act To Protect the Maine Budget Stabilization Fund

Sponsored by Representative GATTINE of Westbrook. Cosponsored by Senator BREEN of Cumberland and Representatives: DUNPHY of Old Town, HUBBELL of Bar Harbor, JORGENSEN of Portland, PIERCE of Falmouth.