Maine legislature praised for farsighted initiatives

In what is becoming a familiar annual ritual, the struggle to fill the state’s $200 million shortfall dominated news headlines from Augusta this winter. To their credit, the governor and Legislature were able to meet that shortfall without increasing broad-based taxes, tapping into the state’s rainy-day fund, or resorting to other timeworn gimmicks. In many ways, it was an extraordinary achievement made possible by an emerging bipartisan majority in Augusta that understands that taxes and spending matter, particularly if we’re going to have the resources we need to grow the economy.

Unfortunately, the eleventh-hour decision to place new taxes on beverages to pay for the state’s health program threatens to become the lasting hallmark of an otherwise extraordinarily productive legislative session. Whatever the merits of the new taxes – and they are noteworthy – criticism over how those decisions were made certainly has merit. Ideally, taxation and spending decisions ought to be made deliberately and openly, with a farsighted perspective, and not in the political pressure cooker that the State House becomes in the final days of each session.

Overall, though, it would be a mistake to let that controversy overshadow the good work that the governor and legislators from both parties did this year. Besides neutralizing a difficult budget shortfall, they also supported a number of initiatives that will streamline spending and help Maine prosper in the future, including many called for in the GrowSmart-Brookings report, “Charting Maine’s Future.”

Here are some of those achievements:

The Governor held the line on attempts to unravel the long-overdue consolidation of school district administration.

State and county governments cooperated on a plan to streamline and consolidate Maine’s corrections systems and produce a plan that will lead to real savings and improvements in the corrections system over time.

A bipartisan majority of the Legislature passed a major expansion of the historic tax credit that will help save and renew Maine’s special older and historic buildings, and bring new energy into our towns and cities, just as people are flocking back to town to avoid rising gas prices.

New energy-efficiency building standards were adopted that will save Maine people money while energy costs skyrocket and will also help reduce environmental and climate impacts from our homes and businesses.

The state dramatically simplified its building regulations by replacing what the Brookings Institution had identified as a “cluttered, confusing building-code regime,” in which every town maintained its own rules with a single building code and enforcement standard for the entire state.

These important steps toward protecting the Maine we love, in order to build the Maine we need, will more than pay for themselves as Maine government slowly becomes more streamlined and cost-effective, communities are revitalized, new homes and businesses re-occupy historic structures throughout the state, and Maine strengthens its unique “quality of place.”

The effort to fill this year’s budget shortfall was a commendable achievement, but legislators who served in this last session should be most remembered for their farsighted initiatives to streamline government and promote prosperous and sustainable communities for the long term. Although there is much more work to be done in Augusta, Maine can look forward to enjoying the benefits of these accomplishments for decades to come.

Alan Caron is president of GrowSmart Maine.