Maine Lawmakers Pass Heating Relief Bill That Includes $450 Checks

By Dan Neumann, Maine Beacon:

As their first order of business to kick off the new legislative session in Augusta, state lawmakers on Wednesday passed an emergency heating and housing assistance bill to help people get through the winter amid high prices.

The Maine State Legislature passed LD 3, a $474 million proposal put forward by Gov. Janet Mills in December that would use Maine’s budget surplus and other funds on direct checks for heating assistance as well as funding for housing programs. Specifically, the plan would send checks of $450 to a projected 880,000 Mainers.

The checks would be income-targeted, but a wide swath of Mainers, including those in upper-income brackets, will receive the money. Those eligible include single filers making less than $100,000, heads of household making less than $150,000 and couples filing jointly making less than $200,000.

The emergency legislation passed the Maine House on Wednesday afternoon 114 to 29. The bill later passed the Maine Senate 24 to 10. Both votes gained bipartisan support.

“We could have got this done a month ago,” said Sen. Mark Lawrence, a Democrat representing York County. “Mainers have been waiting.”

An earlier version of the bill was stalled last month by Senate Republicans, who argued that the emergency legislation hadn’t gone through the proper process and pushed for a public hearing. The Senate Republicans’ intransigence came after their colleagues in the House overwhelmingly voted with Democrats to pass the bill. Some Republicans who blocked the measure, such as Auburn Sen. Eric Brakey, had made high energy prices a focus of their election campaigns. On Wednesday, several Republicans voted against the emergency legislation — even after their request for a public hearing had been satisfied.

Mills’ plan includes other spending, such as $40 million for the Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps homeowners and renters pay for heating costs. In addition, the measure contains $10 million for the Maine Community Action Partnerships to help local groups deliver emergency fuel for people who need it and $21 million meant to aid the Emergency Housing Relief Fund formed by Mills and the legislature earlier this year, which works to prevent people from experiencing homelessness. The measure also provides funding to allow Maine to finish sending out $850 checks to those who have not yet received the last round of direct payments, which were included in a budget deal passed last year.

Mills and Democrats needed Republican support to reach a two-thirds majority in both chambers to allow the emergency legislation to go into effect immediately. To get Republican support, Democratic leadership set up a temporary committee to hear from the public.

As Beacon previously reported, the ad-hoc committee heard testimony from people across the state, including groups that advocate on behalf of asylum seekers and housing-insecure residents.

“This package could provide 1,084 at-risk Maine households access to funds necessary to stay sheltered as the federal Emergency Rental Assistance program ends,” Mufalo Chitam, executive director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, told the committee. “These issues are quite literally a matter of life or death for some people and urgent, bipartisan action by you, the state’s policymakers, is needed.”

On Wednesday, House Republicans attempted to amend the governor’s emergency legislation on the floor by including a sales tax freeze, but the proposal failed 79-64 along party lines.

In the Senate, several floor amendments were rejected Wednesday.

“Maine people needed immediate help with heating and housing assistance and with this bill, we delivered,” Speaker of the House Rachel Talbot Ross said in a statement after the vote. “Direct financial relief will be in Mainers mailboxes by the end of the month and vital emergency housing funds will be distributed to municipalities to prevent evictions during our coldest months.”

She added, “When we truly work together and put the needs of Maine people before partisanship, this is the progress that we can achieve. It is my full intention this upcoming session to build upon these results and continue to deliver for all Maine families.”

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