Budget sessions loom Hearings’ timing poses problems for legislators

AUGUSTA – State House hearings on Gov. Angus King’s $240 million supplemental budget package will begin the week of Oct. 7, but a special legislative session needed to approve the bill may not take place until after the Nov. 5 general election.

In that event, responsibility for crafting the mix of program cuts and tax realignments to balance the budget will fall to members of a lame duck Legislature.

“For reasons that are impossible for me to untangle – this has taken a while,” said Sen. Jill Goldthwait, a Bar Harbor independent.

Goldthwait, the Senate chairwoman of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, said she had been waiting for weeks for legislative leaders to reach some consensus on an approach to resolving the budget shortfall.

With the joint meetings with legislative policy committees beginning on Oct. 7, Goldthwait said, it will take a week to conclude public hearings on the bill and another two weeks for her panel to report the legislation out of committee. Under that timetable, she expects that the earliest a special session could be convened would be during the week of Oct. 28. But that will also be the week before the general election when campaigning in Maine reaches fever pitch.

The $240 million gap was caused mostly by stock market losses that greatly reduced capital gains tax revenues for the state.

As a result, King was forced to craft a supplemental budget bill that not only reflected the loss of revenue in the previous fiscal year but also covered a new projected decline in tax income for the current fiscal year that began July 1.

Goldthwait said the governor’s bill should be available by the middle of next week. Notice of the Appropriations Committee’s intentions to hold public hearings on the legislation will be published in Maine newspapers for the next two weekends.

Goldthwait said she was well aware that many lawmakers who are facing tough battles for re-election would prefer to be out on the campaign trail the week of Oct. 28 instead of working on the supplemental budget.

“But that decision is up to legislative leadership,” she said. “We could fit it in, but then the question becomes: Would anybody show up if they are a candidate?”

If Republicans in the House and Senate had their way, the special session would probably have been over now. Timing for initiating the event has been complicated by King’s wanting to see if cost-cutting measures he implemented in June would achieve certain savings and by his wanting to wait for the state revenue forecasting committee’s economic outlook at the end of August. The governor also insisted both parties agree on a general framework for closing the budget deficit before he would call them in for a special session.

Republicans have been calling for a special session since June while Democrats preferred to wait for more information from the revenue forecasting committee. Both parties have said it was conceivable a special session could take place before Nov. 5.

Bill Schneider, the assistant GOP House leader from Durham, said Thursday it was time for the Democrats to get on board.

“I think we need to have this session; nothing has changed,” he said. “The longer we wait, the worse the problem gets. Despite what they’ve said, I’ve seen no activity or interest from the Democrats at all. They’re abrogating their responsibility.”

Democratic leaders in the Senate were not available for comment late Thursday afternoon. Rick McCarthy, chief of staff for Senate President Pro Tempore Michael H. Michaud, D-East Millinocket, said that rather than indulge in “political statements,” Senate Democrats have taken a thoughtful approach to resolving the budget shortfall.

“We’re ready to come in at any time,” he said. “I’m sure many people would rather be campaigning and the atmosphere a week before the election would probably be difficult to reach that kind of accord, but if we have the agreement we have no objections to coming in.”

Michaud is running for the 2nd District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. John Baldacci.

Although the Legislature could call itself into session, lawmakers prefer to let King issue the order since it is the governor’s budget bill and the suggested solutions for resolving the deficit are his. King continued to insist this week that House and Senate leaders of both parties reach agreement on a general framework to remedy the budget gap before calling the Legislature to avoid a prolonged special session.

Maine Senate President Richard A. Bennett, R-Norway, said that while King has fulfilled his responsibility by offering a supplemental budget package to close the deficit, the governor has gone too far in insisting on some type of agreement between the House and Senate before calling lawmakers back to work.

“This is the same man who always likes to say that he doesn’t want to be the 187th legislator,” Bennett said. “He needs to do his job and he shouldn’t be concerned about whether people agree on anything beforehand or not.”