Legislature to Hold Hearing on Emergency Stimulus Checks & Heating Assistance for Struggling Mainers

As heating prices soar and Mainers face a long, cold winter ahead, the Maine Legislature has scheduled an emergency public hearing on legislation that would provide heating assistance, housing support to prevent evictions and $450 relief checks that would help 92 percent of Mainers on Wednesday, December 21.

The Legislature originally voted on the relief package earlier this month, but a handful of Republican Senators blocked it and demanded that the measure go through a full public hearing process.

The heating assistance package, which would be drawn from surplus funds in the state budget, received widespread, bipartisan support in the Maine House of Representatives where lawmakers voted 125-16 to pass the package on December 2. On the same day, the Maine Senate voted 21-8 to pass the measure, but eight Republicans voted against the bill, depriving it of the two-thirds votes needed to pass it as an emergency measure. Five Republicans and one Democrat were excused for the vote.

Republican Senate leaders demanded that the measure go through a full public hearing process. Senate President Troy Jackson issued a statement the next morning expressing outrage at the cruelty of “playing politics” with people’s lives.

Following the Senate vote, House Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor & IAM Maine Lobstering Union 207 member), who supported the measure, told Maine Public, “We (House Republicans) made a commitment to workers and families, and we lived up to our commitment today.”

Rep. Sawin Millett (R-Waterford) — a longtime Republican member of the Appropriations Committee who is widely respected for his understanding of budget matters — gave a very persuasive speech urging his colleagues to support the spending package. He noted that Mainers are paying twice as much for heating fuel as they did last year and the spending is properly targeted. He said that while the bill wasn’t perfect and it didn’t go through the typical committee hearing process, it would likely take a month to go through that process. He said the bill needed to pass immediately because Maine is in a crisis.

“I’m willing to overlook the process for a moment,” he said, adding later “Do I want to go back home and say ‘I had an option to do something good and I chose to put it off’?”

The proposal would delivered $450 checks to individuals earning $100,000 or less and couples filing jointly earning $200,000 or less. In negotiations with the Mills administration, House Republicans requested that income limits be increased by $25,000 and $50,000, though Senate Republicans have expressed opposition to higher income limits in their opposition to the bill. The average family would receive $900. The package also included $50 million for home heating assistance and $21 million for emergency housing assistance to prevent evictions.

The public hearing on the bill, LD 3, will be this Wednesday December 21, 1pm before the Appropriations Committee, State House, Room 228. You can testify in person or over zoom. If you are interested in being involved contact Maine AFL-CIO Legislative Director, Adam Goode, Adam at maineaflcio dot org, 207-991-7000.