November 15, 2024
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New talks possible on budget plan Maine GOP starts petitions to put proposal on ballot

AUGUSTA – Nearly a month after Republicans and Democrats divided over a $450 million borrowing plan to balance the state budget, the governor and legislative leaders were weighing the possibility of restarting talks on alternative funding proposals.

The developments took place Tuesday, shortly after GOP lawmakers began distributing hot-off-the-press state petitions with the goal of placing a people’s veto of the budget borrowing proposal on the ballot this year. Republicans must collect a minimum of 50,519 signatures by June 28 in order to send the budget question out to the voters.

Later in the day, Gov. John E. Baldacci sent a letter to Republican leaders, welcoming their cooperation in crafting the Part 2 budget which reflects priorities that historically have been limited to new or expanded state programs and services. Late Tuesday morning, the governor said he was open to discussing any GOP alternatives to the borrowing proposal contained in the recently passed Part 1, or current services budget, in the next round of budget hearings planned by the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee.

“The budget is an ongoing discussion,” Baldacci said. “The Part 2 is connected to the Part 1. That’s the process and [Republicans] are free to bring up those issues.”

Further budget discussions were held Tuesday afternoon by the Appropriations Committee after Rep. Jeremy Fischer, a two-term Democrat from Presque Isle, questioned whether the $450 million budget-balancing loan could be reconsidered in the Part 2 discussions. Several Democrats on the committee said they would be interested in hearing any Republican proposals to reduce or eliminate the borrowing plan proposed in the budget. Senate Chairman Dorothy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, House Chairman Joe Brannigan, D-Portland, and leading GOP committee members met privately and ultimately agreed to take the proposal to legislative leaders for a final recommendation.

The eagerness to embrace a new round of talks is fueled partially by the desire of both parties to reinvigorate a fairly cooperative working relationship that had typified much of the session. Republicans suspect that, to a lesser extent, Democrats are concerned about the people’s veto threat and the possibility that the GOP may have effectively portrayed the Democratic majority Part 1 budget in an unflattering light.

Last month, minority Republicans in the House and Senate were unable to pass an amendment striking the borrowing provision from the subsequently enacted two-year state budget. That provision allows Maine to borrow more than $400 million to fund ongoing government expenses without voter approval.

Republicans argued that the state could not afford to borrow such a large amount of money for current costs without making some effort to trim government expenses through the elimination of state employee positions and program reductions. Democrats maintained that the budget was responsible and that it reduced the state retirement system debt while providing $250 million in property tax relief through increased education funding without imposing new broad-based taxes.

Talks between the parties broke down after Republicans failed to provide a competing minority report detailing how they would balance the state budget for the next two years. Republicans maintained they had the framework of a plan for eliminating at least $215 million from the budget.

Since then, Republican and Democratic state party officials have fought a low-profile, but intense, public relations campaign with Republicans pushing the people’s veto plan and characterizing the majority budget as “irresponsible.” Democrats countered that Republicans had no budget plan and were using the people’s veto process to win what they lacked the votes to achieve in the Legislature.

Fischer said he has learned through newspaper columns penned by GOP leaders that Republicans now are saying they do have a real plan for cutting state expenses. Even though the proposal was not presented in detail a month ago, the Aroostook County lawmaker reasoned it still might not be too late.

“Maybe we could get somewhere if we had something concrete to look at and to work with,” he said.

Sen. Richard Nass, R-Acton, and Rotundo said whether negotiations over the $400 million borrowing proposal are reopened will depend entirely on the opinions of Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate.

“For many Democrats, it’s about wanting to see the specifics of the Republicans’ proposal and feeling that we’ve been criticized for not dealing with those specifics [even though] those specifics were never presented,” Rotundo said.

Nass said Republicans on the panel “can see the possibilities” of reopening talks, but not before “checking to see if our leaders agree with us.”


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