Our budget provides a stark contrast to the proposal introduced by Gov. Paul LePage in January. I’ve looked over the governor’s budget and found a plan that puts too many Mainers further behind. His proposal cuts funding for our schools. It needlessly takes health insurance away from thousands of vulnerable families. It pushes property taxes higher and higher, at a time when skyrocketing mil rates are pushing seniors and families closer to the edge.
 
All of these painful cuts are used to fund a tax cut that primarily benefits the very wealthiest Mainers. In fact, the governor’s plan would actually raise taxes for the bottom 80 percent of earners in Maine.
 
The governor's budget is a great deal for the lucky few. The Opportunity Agenda is a budget for the rest of us. ​

​Below is the information regarding the Governor's recent release of his 2018-2019 state budget costing over $6.8 billion. The documents below are from the Maine Bureau of the Budget and does not include my own analysis or targeted summaries for each section. I feel it's important for you to get the documents I receive for your own review. Contact me if you have any concerns, suggestions, or opinions on the state budget proposed below.

• Governor LePage's Press Packet for 2018-2019 Biennial Budget Briefing: PDF

• Governor’s 2018-2019 Biennial Budget Overview: PDF
• General Fund Proposed Biennial Budget 2018-2019:
  • Fiscal Note: :  PDF
  • Part A: PDF
  • Part B: PDF
  • Final Document: PDF

• Highway Fund Proposed Biennial Budget 2018-2019:
  • Fiscal Note:  PDF
  • Part A:   PDF
  • Part B:  PDF
  • Final Document: PDF
  General Fund Proposed Supplemental Budget 2017

• • Fiscal Note: PDF
  • Part A: PDF
  • Part B:  PDF
  • Final Document: PDF

• Highway Fund Proposed Supplemental Budget 2017
  • Fiscal Note:  PDF
  • Part A  :PDF
  • Final Document:  PDF

Details of the final compromise between Senate Democrats, House Democrats, Senate Republicans, and House Republicans on the $6.7 billion state budget this session. 

In the House, the original budget out of the Appropriations Committee, LD 1019, passed 101 to 47. The final budget compromise that made changes to that report and finalized by leadership on both sides and in both chambers, passed unanimously during it's first vote avoiding a state government shutdown if the votes hold upon almost certain veto from the Governor. 

Below are some of the key elements to the plan:

Below is the first two weeks of public hearings in Appropriations regarding the Governor's proposed 2 year budget. 

Due to the $100 million DHHS shortfall and $35 million in revenue reprojection and additional funding requests, a supplemental budget is needed. A supplemental budget is a bill that is intended to bring the state budget into balance within a biennium. With that being said the following are a few key points you need to know that Appropriations weighed in on for the final draft of the supplemental budget.

• Rejected a proposal to eliminate the Reserve for Retirement Costs and remove it from the year end cascade along with the elimination of potential Cost of Living Adjustment increases for retirees for the next two years.
• Transfers $40 million from rainy day find into the General Fund.
• Reduces funding for grants from the Maine Technology Institute 
• Transfers $1 million from the Tourism Marketing Promotion Fund to General Fund
• Reduces General Purpose Aid to local education by $12.6 million
• Rejected a proposal to eliminate the parental choice option of an additional year of Child Development Services in lieu of kindergarten
• Reduces funding for High Education including the Maine Community College System by $724,451, the Maine Maritime Academy by $112,696, University of Maine System by $2.5 million, and student grants via the Finance Authority of Maine by $143,401.
• Rejected a proposal to eliminate the Drugs for the Elderly Program
• Reduces funding for child adoption subsidies by half
• Rejected a proposal to cap General Fund expenditures on General Assistance at $10.2 million