This marked another busy week with our team scrambling to to communicate hearings scheduled with short notice to impacted members. Committees are working hard to meet deadlines, and hundreds of bills are yet to be printed. Please watch your inboxes closely, as we will continue to work hard to keep our members fully engaged in the process.
On Monday, we testified before the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee in opposition to LD 1441, “Resolve, to Establish the Commission to Study the Future of Recreational Access in Maine.” While our members continue to be dedicated to Maine’s unique open access tradition, the makeup of this proposed commission, along with the emphasis on the unorganized territory, is concerning to our members. Instead, we urged the Committee to utilized LD 1308, “Resolve, Directing the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to Establish a Working Group to Explore Opportunities to Maintain Public Access of Land” as the vehicle to further this important discussion.
While it has not yet been scheduled, we expect the Committee to work both bills on this coming Wednesday. Our testimony can be found here.
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Tuesday was a busy day with multiple bills of interest being worked at the same time. In Taxation, the Committee worked two bills to create an employer tax credit for child care that were based off of our bill from last session. The Committee voted against LD 203, opting to utilize LD 1555 as the vehicle with an 8 OTPA- 3 ONTP report.
We would like to thank Senator Trey Stewart and Representative Tavis Hasenfus for sponsoring these important bills. As you can see in our testimony, our members continue to struggle with workforce shortages, especially in rural Maine. Access to affordable child care is a big part of that challenge, so we are very pleased to see this concept supported this session.
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While the Taxation Committee was discussing child care, the ACF Committee was working on two bills that MFPC weighed in on. The first was LD 870, “An Act Regarding the Membership of the Maine Land Use Planning Commission.” The Council testified in strong opposition to this bill along with a number of County Commissioners and Representative Liz Caruso.
After hearing from a few members of the public, including MFPC Vice President Chris Fife of Weyerhaeuser, the committee unfortunately voted along party lines in favor of an amendment presented by AMC. The amendment increases the number of seats by two, with one seat designated by the tribes and another by the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House. The new legislative appointee is not required to connected to region that LUPC is tasked with planning for.
While the Council is not opposed to the tribal appointment, we are concerned with growing the commission, and removing residency or work requirements. Advocates of LD 870 have repeatedly failed to prove that the current LUPC is lacking, and we perceive this as a blatant attempt to stack the deck ahead of the comprehensive land use planning process. We are disappointed with this outcome and will continue to vocalize opposition to this bill.
Next, the ACF Committee held a work session on LD 402, a bill to move the Natural Areas Program from DACF to DIFW. The Council supports this effort, so long as the scope and purpose of MNAP remains the same. The majority report achieves that outcome.
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Wednesday was an exciting day in the ENR Committee with MFPC leading the effort to make targeted changes to the Extended Producer Responsibility Program with an amended version of LD 1423, “An Act to Improve Recycling by Updating the Stewardship Program for Packaging.” As presented, this bill contains variety of different priorities from our group and others, and it lacks the support that is necessary to get it over the finish line.
The Council worked hard to overcome the initial opposition to this bill, and we brought together a wide variety of stakeholders to help inform an amendment that is of the utmost importance to mills and manufacturers that invest in Maine. Thanks to our members that answered our call for support (along with many others), we were able to present the Committee with a truly diverse list of amendment supporters including Maine businesses, environmental organizations, municipalities, legislators, program advocates and more.
It has been encouraging to see such a broad coalition rally around targeted changes that support our industry.
The sign-on form remains open for anyone who wants to continue to support these efforts. PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM HERE.
The ENR Committee voted 11 OTP/A – 2 OTP/A with both reports containing MFPC’s priorities. We are incredibly thankful for the Committee’s support, and we continue to urge legislators to support the majority report for LD 1423.
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That’s all for this week. Next week will be another busy one with a schedule that is sure to continue to evolve. As you will see below, the ENR Committee will hold a public hearing on LD 1882, a resolve directing DEP to conduct rulemaking regarding significant vernal pools on Monday.
This bill was just printed yesterday, and we are currently in the process of analyzing the bill to arrive at a position.
That’s all for now. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Best,
Patrick Strauch and Krysta West
Maine Forest Products Council