May 22nd Update
There is a lot to talk about this week! First off, Appropriations unanimously voted out the budget early Tuesday morning. Next week, we will start voting on the budget on the floor of the house. We will also be full time, starting on Tuesday. This means morning, afternoon and evening sessions. Wish me luck!
Congressman Mike Michaud has released a Resource Guide to HR 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The guide lists helpful resources for individuals, families and small businesses. Check out the guide here. ARRA offers help for families with first time home buyer credits, tax credits, weatherization assistance, etc. It is worth a look to see if ARRA could help you or your business.
Over the past couple of weeks, I heard from quite a few state employees who were concerned about the 5% pay cut. Appropriations reconsidered the pay cut and state employees will now have shut down days. This makes more sense to me. A friend of mine who is a state employee put the situation into perspective for me. She said, “at least with the shut down days we can make money in other ways if we choose.” I am pleased that Appropriations listened to the people and reconsidered their actions.
At this time, most committees have finished their public hearings and work sessions. On the Utilities and Energy Committee we finished up our work on Wednesday. We saw many bills and worked very hard to move them through the process. One bill that we had numerous committee meetings on and that the committee is very proud of is LD 1075 An Act to Promote Community-based Energy. It is a bill to encourage communities to invest in renewable energy projects.
The work session for my LD 1300 was held. This is my head concussion bill. The bill passed as a resolve. The new title is a “Resolve, To Create a Working Group on the Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Concussive Head Injuries in Student-athletes.” The working group is already established and they will be meeting regularly. The group is made up of representatives from the Maine Principals’ Association, the Maine School Superintendents Association, the Maine School Boards Association, the Maine School Management Association, the Acquired Brain Injury Advisory Council, the medical director of health services at Colby College, sports medicine practitioners, medical providers and school athletic directors and trainers and representatives of any other stakeholder group or interested party the Education Commissioner considers appropriate. The group will be reporting back to the Education Committee on their progress next Spring.
A lot of people are still having FairPoint issues. If you are still having issues that you cannot get resolved, please call the Maine Public Utilities Commission’s Consumer Assistance Hotline at 1-800-452-4699 or you can find them online at http://www.maine.gov/mpuc/consumer/file_complaint.shtml.
That is all for this update. I will keep you posted on the progress with the budget.
