FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, May 16, 2019

MEDIA CONTACT: Julie Rabinowitz, Director of Policy and Communication, 207-292-2722 ext. 102, Julie@mainepbp.com

AUGUSTA — Maine People Before Politics has reviewed Governor Janet Mills’s bill, LD 1679 “An Act To Establish the Maine Climate Change Council To Assist Maine To Mitigate, Prepare for and Adapt to Climate Change,” which establishes a 38-member council to recommend ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. The bill’s public hearing is Friday, May 17.

“No matter whether Mainers believe that climate change is real and caused by humans, real and not caused by humans, or not real—or something else in between, this bill raises red flags,” stated Julie Rabinowitz, Director of Policy and Communication for Maine People Before Politics. “Most concerning is that the incredible amount of work to be accomplished by the council and its subcommittees is authorized to be funded by third parties, but her bill provides no structure as to how those funds would be handled or distributed. This is an ethical nightmare waiting to happen.”

Rabinowitz continued, “The bill doesn’t establish any fiscal controls, does not identify a legal structure to hold the funds, and does not restrict payments from organizations represented on the council, from businesses seeking to sell climate change technology, from interested parties or from foreign entities. It is an unaccountable slush fund for the 38-member council of political appointees and special interests.”

MPBP’s analysis has identified the top-ten concerns:

1. The bill sets up an unwieldy 38-member Climate Change Council with co-chairs and does not specify a mechanism for resolving tie votes of the council. It does not specify how many terms a member may serve and does not stagger the terms of members.
2. It names the Council co-chairs and the chairs of the working groups and subcommittee as a Steering Committee but does not authorize any specific function or authority for the Steering Committee.
3. The Council may solicit funding from third parties and the council may receive funding from third parties with no restrictions on the relationship to council members or interested parties.
4. There is no required financial reporting of the fundraising and financial activities of the council, and it is not specified as to whether funds will be deemed state funds.
5. The only spending authorization in the bill is for per diems for legislators; no state employee positions are authorized and there is no fiscal note.
6. Neither the State Economist or any economist is a required member of the Council; it lacks expertise to evaluate or model the economic effects of proposals that come before the council.
7. Subcommittees and working groups may also solicit and receive funding from third parties without limit or defined fiscal controls.
8. The Scientific and Technical subcommittee of undetermined size is the only one required to meet four times between now and July 2020. The Climate Change Plan update is due December 1, 2020, but the scope of work far exceeds a mere four meetings.
9. It puts into place greenhouse gas emission targets for 2030 (45% reduction below 1990 levels) that are more aggressive than California (40% reduction), New York State (40% reduction), Maryland (40% reduction) and Washington State (25% reduction) per information available from the U.S. Climate Alliance, the organization that Maine has joined under Governor Mills.
10. The bill does not identify or establish criteria for which tasks out of an overwhelming list should be the priority for the committee. If acidification of the Gulf of Maine is posing a risk for heritage industries like lobstering or shellfish harvesting on a timetable faster than another issue, the Council should be given guidance on how to weigh such competing priorities in developing initial recommendations for legislative or executive action.

Rabinowitz summarized, “Since all of the appointees to the committee are representing the interests of their employers—whether government agencies, non-profits, businesses, environmental organizations, academic institutions or others, and with only four meetings required of the Science and Technical Subcommittee before July 1, 2020, its unclear who will be doing the work. Much of the work could be produced by third parties with no impartial staff to vet the information being received by the working groups and subcommittees. Furthermore, with so many competing interests represented in the Council’s membership and given its co-chair structure, the bill is a recipe for gridlock rather than a task force targeted at protecting Maine’s economy and environment in a balanced manner.” 

“Maine contributes only .3 percent of our nation’s carbon dioxide emissions. Putting greenhouse gas reduction targets in statute will not mitigate any environmental changes in the Gulf of Maine in the short term. Rather than creating this slush fund to study every possible facet of climate change, the priority should be on protecting or mitigating documented, imminent threats to our economy, coastal communities and environment. The Governor’s proposal is not about priorities or balance or putting Mainers first, it’s about giving control over to special interests,” she stated.

The Governor’s Office did not produce a fiscal note with the bill, but the Governor did include a funding request in her budget change package announced this week (see OFFICE OF POLICY AND MANAGEMENT Z135). That request allocates $250,000 in each year of the biennium but does not create positions or authorize the funding for existing positions.

Rabinowitz concluded, “Without priorities, this bill amounts to nothing more than a lot of people having meetings, with no one tasked to do the actual work. With the authorization for outside money, this opens the opportunity for the work to be farmed out to other interested parties, creating a financial shell game using the credibility of the state to fund questionable research, biased proposals, and contracts filled with conflicts of interest. Rushing this bill through at the end of the legislative session will be a gift to the environmental special interests in Washington and Augusta.”