12-1 budget vote raises state hopes Support for compromise expected

AUGUSTA – High hopes abounded Tuesday for the swift enactment of a $160 million supplemental budget package that received a 12-1 vote of approval late Monday night by members of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Angus S. King expect the budget bill to reach the House floor for an initial vote Friday or Monday.

Lawmakers hope to move the bill along through both House and Senate as soon as possible, realizing many members may well be making plans next week for holiday observances. Passover begins at sundown March 27 and Good Friday falls on March 29. The Legislature plans to adjourn the evening of March 27 until April 1 to provide lawmakers with a long Easter holiday weekend.

After spending most of Monday tightening up some of the technical language in the supplemental budget, the Appropriations Committee voted 12-1 shortly after 11:30 p.m. in favor of a compromise proposal crafted by Sen. Jill Goldthwait, a Bar Harbor independent who also serves as Senate chairman of the committee.

Goldthwait said her compromise package pivoted on Democratic requests for fewer program cuts and for more money for local education – $731 million as opposed to King’s initial offer of $720 million. Republicans on the panel were pleased the bill conforms state tax laws to newly approved federal tax laws at a cost of about $37 million.

Additionally, the new budget, bolstered last month by rosier revenue projections in the coming year, will retain $25 million for the governor’s laptop computer program and reinstates most of the funding for social service programs that were targeted for cuts by the King administration in January. The compromise budget also reduces the amount being cut from $15 million to only $2 million for the Fund for a Healthy Maine, which provides health care services for poor Mainers.

The state’s $100 million Rainy Day Fund took an $85 million hit under the new budget bill as opposed to a $65 million withdrawal proposed for the reserve fund by the governor.

The proposed budget also leaves barely more than $1 million to cover the costs of any new spending bills left to be voted on at the end of the legislative session.

Goldthwait said she is hopeful lawmakers in the House and Senate will give the budget bill two-thirds support to allow the bill to become law immediately. After April 1, lawmakers can enact the budget with a simple majority vote, but technical language changes would have to be made to prevent any interruption in state services when the current fiscal year ends June 30.

“We’re hoping for a two-thirds [vote], we’ve got a 12-1 vote and the support of leadership and I don’t know why we shouldn’t be talking about a two-thirds budget here,” Goldthwait said.

Rep. Tom Winsor, the Norway Republican on the Appropriations Committee who cast the lone dissenting vote on the budget bill, said he would not be presenting a minority report because he knew it “would never pass.” Winsor said there was a lot to like about the committee’s budget, but he could not vote for it because it did not make enough cuts in existing state programs.

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t have the political will to reduce spending to match our expected income,” he said. “We’ve really paid for programs with the cash we have in the cupboard that’s not going to be there in two years.”

Gov. King said the committee’s budget bill “met the needs” of the state while increasing money for local education, restoring the Healthy Maine Fund, and bringing Maine into conformance with federal tax laws.

“Overall, I think its well-balanced, again, it’s not exactly what we would have proposed or what we did propose,” King said. “But around here, we like to quote one of my favorite philosophers, Mick Jagger, who once said: ‘You can’t always get what you want; but if you try some time, you just might find – you’ll get what you need.'”

Over in the Maine Senate, leaders were not sure whether the committee’s budget would get two-thirds approval, but they were fairly confident that enactment by a majority of the legislators would be easy to attain.

“We’re still in the process of acquainting our members with it,” said Senate Majority Leader Beverly Daggett, D-Augusta. “There are some issues regarding the education money and how it’s distributed. There’s some in the House who feel the same way and there might even be some amendments that might be agreeable to both. But that will all be in the wash.”

Maine Senate President Rick Bennett, R-Norway, said Senate Republicans will want to look at the details of the budget which he hopes will be debated by Friday.

“I’m hopeful that people will realize it’s a better budget agreement than the alternative,” he said.

Any number of amendments could be added to the Appropriations Committee’s budget bill, each of which would have to be acted upon by the House and Senate. There were already legislative rumblings Tuesday by Portland-area lawmakers, who were looking for more than the $4 million allocated for a so-called cushion for communities such as Portland and South Portland facing steep decreases in state aid next year under the state’s school funding formula. Still, House Speaker Michael V. Saxl, D-Portland, said those or other issues that arise should not compromise leadership’s goal of passing the budget by a supermajority in the House.

“Our hope is that this budget will receive a two-thirds vote,” he said. “There’s something for everybody to love and something for everybody to hate.”