Happy New Year! On Tuesday, January 8th, I took to the rostrum and opened the first day of session for the 126th Maine State Senate. Now we begin the work of governing, and over the next week, almost 2,000 bills will be introduced.

Community Event

Yesterday, I was joined by Mayor of Biddeford and State Representative Alan Casavant at LearningWorks when they announced they received a $2.4 million Department of Education grant. With this money, LearningWorks will be able to serve 1400 elementary students in Portland and Biddeford. I spoke about how important extended learning opportunities, like afterschool and summer programs, are to educational success. This is a huge opportunity for these students, and Executive Director Ethan Strimling and Education Commissioner Steve Bowen deserve thanks for their efforts to secure these funds.

Click here to read more from the Portland Press Herald. 

Last week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with the Director of Strive U, an organization dedicated to helping the developmentally disabled gain housing, employment and community skills they need to live independent lives. They do incredible work, and it was great to see their efforts are making a difference.

Inside Augusta

Democratic Agenda
Yesterday morning, House Speaker Mark Eves and I were joined by a number of our Democratic colleagues as we announced our priorities for the upcoming legislativesession. Our goal is to strengthen Maine’s economy and grow our middle class. We aim to do this by developing our workforce to address the “skills gap,” strengthening Maine’s public schools and early childhood education, lowering healthcare and energy costs for more Maine families and small businesses, and investing in Maine’s future through research and development and roads and bridges.

As bills are introduced and our committees get to work, I will update you about our progress.

Click here to read more.

Curtailment/Supplemental Budget/Biennial Budgets
The revenue forecasting committee met in November and identified revenues lower than forecasted. The Governor then issued a $35.5 million curtailment of the 2012-13 Budget. The curtailment will be sent to the Appropriations Committee, the committee that deals with the budget. They have already held public meetings to discuss the curtailment and shortfall with Finance Commissioner Sawin Millett.

Our Senate Chair of Appropriations, Dawn Hill, spoke about these cuts in the Democratic weekly radio address. In her remarks, she spoke of the need forlegislators to carefully review the proposals, and make changes so that any plan is balanced and creates as little pain as possible for the most vulnerable people in society. The audio and text of the address are available here.

On Friday, January 11th, the Governor will release the supplemental budget to close the 2013 fiscal year. It appears that there is a $135 million shortfall (that includes the $35.5 million curtailment). Also, this Friday, the Governor will release his 2014-2015 Biennial budget that is projected to have an $800 million shortfall. When I receive these, I will make sure to pass them on.

Click here to read more from MPBN.

Closing

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the work ahead of us.

 

-Justin