Advocacy groups connecting low-income Mainers to heating and housing assistance urged a special legislative committee on Wednesday to support Democratic Gov. Janet Mills' emergency bill to help residents deal with soaring energy costs.
The governor's nearly half-billion dollar bill includes direct relief payments to qualifying Mainers, as well as more money for low-income heating assistance programs and housing support for people who could be evicted when a federal program ends at the end of the year.
That proposal was blocked by Senate Republicans two weeks ago on the first day of the legislative session largely over procedural concerns.
Wednesday's hearing was designed to placate those concerns, but Kara Hay, president of the Penquis community action agency that takes applications for low-income heating assistance, urged lawmakers to act quickly to meet an explosion in demand.
"Right now we have never seen anything historically like we're seeing now," Hay said. "We have seniors who are crying hard because they don't know what they're going to do. They're cold, they're scared, they have no hope."
Hay said lawmakers should back the entirety of the governor's bill, but specifically the $50 million it includes for low-income heating assistance.
That's because while the program is fully funded, high fuel prices mean that more people are applying for help and the money isn't buying the same amount of fuel that it did a year ago.
The legislative panel was expected to work into the evening in hopes of reaching a deal on the bill that could pass immediately.
