You’ve likely read or heard about Maine’s state budget this spring. It has significant impacts on each of our lives, like ensuring all Mainers have access to health care, investing in child care providers, and helping to keep property taxes lower than they would otherwise be by continuing 5% municipal revenue sharing and the State’s funding 55% of education.

Let me start by saying again that this was a challenging budget year. Maine does not have the levels of surplus funding that we’ve seen for the past couple budget cycles, so we had to make a lot of tough decisions. This is not a flashy budget. It does not include some things we would have liked to fund, and it includes some things that not everyone loves — including myself. Nevertheless, this budget prioritizes our state’s top needs and focuses on avoiding serious harm.

Here’s a quick recap of how the process worked this year: the Appropriations and Financial Affairs (AFA) Committee, to which I was appointed, held public hearings on a supplemental budget to adjust the previous budget. This is standard practice in Maine, as the state must maintain a balanced budget. Unfortunately, the supplemental budget, which funded critical services like MaineCare and forest pest mitigation, failed to pass with the necessary two-thirds support to take effect immediately. We instead worked to ensure those items could be funded as soon as possible in Part One of the biennial budget, which passed at the end of March. Part One of the biennial budget funded existing services at baseline levels, along with the emergency measures from the supplemental, like the funding our hospitals and health care providers needed to keep providing high-quality care to Mainers.

On June 18, we passed Part Two of the biennial budget. Some highlights include cost-of-living adjustments for direct care workers and full funding for the state’s portion of MaineCare. It also funds family planning services, support services for victims of crime, and area agencies on aging to protect and support older Mainers. We also provided further urgent funding for Maine’s homeless shelters and food assistance programs, as federal funding becomes less reliable.

The AFA Committee included funding for preserving housing stock and increasing housing production, which will be covered by a transfer tax on home sales over $1 million. Additionally, we invested in environmental protection through waste cleanup and remediation, including for oil and chemical spills in Maine waters. These investments will help make our state healthier and more affordable.

Although the Legislature is now out of session and the budgets are passed, there is still a lot of work ahead of us. The federal budget bill signed into law on July 4th may reduce the federal funding allocated to Maine, including funding for health care and food assistance. I’ll keep you updated as we learn how these cuts and changes may affect our state.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or my Senate office if you have questions about the budget or if you need help accessing state government resources. You can email me at Cameron.Reny@legislature.maine.gov or call my Senate office at (207) 287-1515. I also encourage you to sign up to receive my regular newsletter at www.mainesenate.org.