This week marks a change in focus for the Legislature. Almost all bills have been voted on in their respective committees and many have gone through their final language reviews and will be making their way to the House and Senate chambers. Bills sponsored by senators begin in the Senate and those introduced by representatives begin in the House. If a bill has a fiscal note, indicating that there is something in the bill that needs state funding, the bill will end in the Senate so it can be placed on the Special Appropriations Table where it waits to be funded.
A few committees will continue to meet as finalized language and fiscal notes return from the Office of the Revisor over the next few weeks, but the majority of the movement will be in the full chambers. In addition, the supplemental budget is likely to be taken up within the next two weeks.
For those of you keeping score at home, you can see the bills on which we took a position on our updated bill list. On this list you can see our testimony and by clicking on the bill link, you can check the current status of the bill.
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On Tuesday, the Judiciary Committee took up LD 395, “An Act to Restore Access to Federal Laws Beneficial to the Wabanaki Nations” and LD 785, “An Act to Enact the Remaining Recommendations of the Task Force on Changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act.” Both bills were significantly amended from the original bills and no longer include areas where MFPC has concern.
MFPC’s concerns around tribal sovereignty remain narrowly focused on the impact of environmental regulatory regimes and we are not opposed to the bills as amended.
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On Wednesday, the IFW Committee held language reviews on LD 350, “An Act Regarding The Operations Of The Department Of Inland Fisheries And Wildlife.,” LD 276 “An Act Regarding Inland Fisheries and Wildlife,” and LD 19, “An Act To Change The Definition Of “Oversized ATV” In The Laws Governing The Registration Of All-terrain Vehicles.”
Throughout the many discussions about Maine’s ATV trails, it has become apparent that our existing network has grown significantly beyond what is sustainable. MFPC will continue to advocate for the recommendations presented within the Public Access to Private Land report, many of which are included in the minority report of LD 19 (CA-B).
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Finally, the Taxation Committee discussed a committee bill to instruct the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services and the Bureau of Maine Revenue Services to convene a working group, as part of the Real Estate Property Tax Relief Task Force, to study the Tree Growth Tax Law program. As the bill had no LD number and did not receive a public hearing, MFPC submitted written comments to the committee for their consideration. Primarily, we emphasized the importance of this program to Maine’s forest landowners and fiber supply. While compliance within the program should be enforced, this program with 11.2 million acres enrolled across the state has been studied time and time again, most recently in 2017.
On Thursday, the committee changed the language of the bill to direct the Maine Revenue Service (MRS) to conduct a survey of tax assessors to determine their concerns with the Tree Growth Tax Law program. Maine Revenue Service is instructed to create and conduct the survey in consultation with the Maine Forest Service, landowners, foresters, municipal officials, and the University of Maine to assess the “fairness” of the Tree Growth Tax Law program, as well as the ease of implementation and effectiveness of achieving the goals of the program. The bill directs MRS to report back to the next Legislature, indicating if there is a need for MFS to do a repeat audit of the program. Since the bill has no LD number, it never received a public hearing or official committee vote and it will be reported directly to the floor of the chambers for consideration by the full Legislature. We will continue to engage on this bill as it moves through the process.
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Next week, we will monitor calendars closely to watch for movement on a number of bills that are important to our industry. Watch your inboxes closely, as we may reach out at any time to ask our members to engage.
As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you all for lending your help and expertise so far this session.