State lawmakers failed to pass a nearly $500 million emergency funding bill Wednesday night to help Mainers pay rising heating and electricity prices in what was an inauspicious and partisan start of the legislative session.
The majority of the money in the bill would have been used to send $450 "relief" checks to nearly 900,000 taxpayers in Maine. Modeled after the $850 inflation relief checks sent to most Maine taxpayers earlier this year, the payments would automatically be sent to individual taxpayers who earned less than $100,000 or married couples filing jointly who earned less than $200,000 last year. But it would also provide $50 million to low-income heating assistance programs as well as $21 million to help Maine families avoid homelessness as a federal housing relief program expires.
After passing the House on a 125-16 vote with overwhelming bipartisan support, the bill failed in the Senate after Republicans blocked it on procedural grounds. The 21-8 vote was shy of the 24 votes needed to pass an emergency measure that would take effect immediately.
"It just blows me away that anyone is going to go home today and feel good about where we ended up,” Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, said after the vote. Jackson and Republican legislative leaders huddled repeatedly with Gov. Janet Mills in the past week to craft a bill to get money quickly into Mainers' pockets as winter sets in.
Clearly frustrated by the partisan vote, Jackson said he isn't sure what will happen next because Senate Republicans are sending conflicting signals.
"We all heard that the same thing, that people are struggling with their heating costs, be it electric, oil or wood,” Jackson said. “They need assistance."
Mills, a Democrat, said in a statement afterward that the people’s best interests were not served by the Senate vote.
“I am deeply concerned about the impact that high energy prices are having on Maine people,” Mills said. “We must ease the burden by putting money back into their pockets so they can better afford these energy costs and ensure that our most vulnerable citizens are able to stay warm this winter. The plan I proposed incorporates the feedback of Republican and Democratic leadership in the Legislature. It builds on the nation-leading inflation relief measure we delivered earlier this year — and it is the fastest, most direct way to get help to Maine people as we work to bring down energy costs in the long-term. Tonight, a minority of the minority choose to reject this help for Maine people.”
But Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, said his caucus is still open to discussion to address a major problem facing Maine residents this winter.
"We stand ready to pass a hopefully bipartisan bill that will deliver relief to Maine families with speed, transparency and accountability,” Stewart said. “This is not a big ask. But it is what we have asked."
Stewart and other Senate Republicans want the emergency bill to go through the typical committee vetting process, including a public hearing. Legislative leaders have yet to announce the composition of the committees, however, and lawmakers are not slated to return to Augusta until January.
"This is not a simple bill,” Stewart said. “If you've read the bill you know that there are a number of components in there that are incredibly complicated. We need transparency and accountability in that process, and that necessarily involves feedback from the Maine people. And that has not yet happened. And I can't underscore that enough."
But earlier on Wednesday, Rep. Sawin Millett, a veteran Republican lawmaker who is widely regarded as one of the state's foremost budget experts, had urged his GOP colleagues to support the bill. While Millet said he always prefers the normal process, the Legislature had an opportunity to quickly help people in a time of crisis. A budget hawk who formerly served as the state’s top financial official, Millett also said he was comfortable with what were mostly one-time expenditures using surplus revenue or unbudgeted sources.
"I hope we will choose the better course tonight,” Millett said. “And I urge you all to realize that you will own this one way or another and you need to be honest with your constituents when you go back home."
It’s unclear what will happen next because lawmakers are not scheduled to return until next month. Jackson and House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross could call lawmakers back to Augusta, but Jackson says he would want assurances of a different outcome.
