In light of February break, there is not a whole lot to report on this week here in Augusta. Legislators were home for the week and committees were not permitted to work. This gave our team a much-needed opportunity to plan for the months ahead and to work on other important projects. One such project was a news story with WMTW featuring the work of the Spruce Budworm lab at UMaine. Reporters also interviewed Brittany with the Maine Forest Service as well. The story is scheduled to air on Monday evening, so be sure to tune in!
Looking ahead, next week will be a busy one with some common themes. On Tuesday, both chambers are back in for session and we are hopeful that there will be some sort of resolution regarding the Supplemental Budget. As you all undoubtedly know by now, this budget contains a $2 million allocation for the implementation of the Early Intervention Strategy to control a building spruce budworm outbreak on nearly 300,000 acres of Aroostook County this spring. With this program, timing is everything, as landowners will have a small window of only a few weeks this spring to treat areas deemed as “hot spots” by branch samples processed at the UMaine Spruce Budworm Lab.
On Thursday, the Energy Utilities and Technology Committee will tackle a mountain of bills pertaining to Net Energy Billing. While the Council will testify ‘neither for nor against’ on these bills, we will take this opportunity to provide some real-life examples of how this program impacts our members, some for the better and some for the worse.
Housing and Economic Development will consider a bill to convene a stakeholder group to take a close look at the State subdivision laws. While we appreciate the sponsor’s intent to modernize subdivision laws, our landowners are keeping a close eye on this conversation to be sure that the bill doesn’t discourage development in rural areas where housing shortages contribute to workforce challenges.
The Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee will consider a few bills dealing with confidentiality, a topic that is important to us as well.
Additional information about the week ahead is included below. If you have any questions about our policy positions, or if you need help submitting testimony, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Patrick Strauch and Krysta West
Maine Forest Products Council