This was a busy week in Augusta. In this email, I will talk about a few of my bills and other priorities of mine including workforce issues and energy policy.

Maine’s Workforce and Economic Future 
On Monday, the Joint Select Committee on Maine’s Workforce and Economic Future unanimously voted to support LD 90, the workforce development bill. The committee has worked for over eight weeks developing a comprehensive bill to put Mainers back to work.

This is the first comprehensive approach to workforce training in recent memory, and the bill has earned broad support from labor, education, and the business community. LD 90 has fourteen parts and here are some highlights:
  • Creates a first-ever uniform and seamless credit transfer system between the University of Maine System and Maine Community College System including block credit and reverse credit transfers.
  • Creates a “training pipeline” by bringing four additional degree programs for high demand, high wage jobs to rural Maine and reduces the back log of waiting lists at Maine’s community colleges for 14 high-demand programs.
  • Supports a new college scholarship fund for “adult learners,”-students who started degree programs but have left school before earning their degree. According to recent studies, there are more than 200,000 Mainers with “some college.”
  • Supports a pilot program through Portland Adult Education, in conjunction with Lewiston Adult Education, to create a Welcome Center that will help foreign trained professionals get the training they need to use their skills here in Maine.
  • Expands the existing collaboration between Maine’s community college system, workers, and businesses to provide a worker training system for “incumbent workers.”
  • Restores funding for Maine Apprentice Program.

I am extremely proud of the work the committee has done, and I look forward to the bill coming to the floor of the Senate.

This Week’s Bills

This week, I introduced two of my bills to the committees and testified in support of a third.

Chiropractic Bill
On Wednesday, I introduced LD 1236, my bill to help patients using chiropractic services. As many of you know, chiropractors play a great role in our healthcare system and their services are inexpensive as compared to other medical options. But over the years, insurance deductibles and co-pays have gone up and up. Thus patients seeking chiropractic services, after believing they are reasonably covered, must pay all or almost all of the bill, or simply not get care because they can’t afford it. These patients have, in effect, the illusion of coverage.

LD 1236 seeks to fix this by setting limits on co-pays that insurers may set on chiropractic treatment, up to a maximum of 30 dollars. The bill also limits insurance companies to one co-pay or one deductible per visit, not both.
Employment First
On Thursday, I introduced LD 1352, my bill to help Mainers with disabilities find gainful employment.

There is no secret that it’s tough to find good paying jobs in Maine. And for those with a physical or mental disability, it is even harder finding gainful employment. And perhaps because of this, Maine people with disabilities are woefully under-represented in our workforce.

 

Almost two-thirds of the individuals living in long-term poverty are people with disabilities, and disabled people have an unemployment rate of 74%. These are people that want to work that have difficulty finding reasonable accommodations and gainful employment.

 

My bill, introduced on behalf of disability rights advocates and the Employment First Coalition, would require the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health & Human Services to coordinate their efforts to assist the disabled community and help those that want to work find a job.

Energy Efficiency
LD 1426 was sponsored by my colleague, Sen. Jim Boyle and heard with the Governor’s bill, LD 1425.

Energy efficiency has never been a partisan issue, and it shouldn’t be. All of us want to lower energy costs for Maine families and businesses. And no one wants to waste energy or throw hard-earned money out the window. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you do – it costs a lot of money to light and heat our homes and businesses. Energy efficiency conserves energy and saves people money.

Senator Boyle’s bill embraces energy efficiency and will further lower energy costs for Maine families and businesses. The Governor’s bill reduces spending on energy efficiency, and will raise energy costs on Maine people. It does this through a system of exemptions and rebates that ultimately weaken the system and will raise energy costs in Maine.

Senator Boyle’s bill is exactly the kind of initiative Maine needs, and one Democrats are proud to support. Senator Boyle recorded this past weekend’s radio address on the topic, and you can listen to it here.

Joint Resolutions

On Tuesday, the legislature passed two Joint Resolutions supporting important federal policies.

The first was a resolution calling upon Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizen’s United Supreme Court case. This case greatly weakened federal campaign finance laws and allowed millions of unaccountable special interest dollars to affect our elections. I was proud to support this.

The second was a resolution I sponsored supporting comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders and offers a path for aspiring citizens to earn the right to stay in this country.

Click here to read more from the Bangor Daily News.

Closing

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments. Please feel free to reply to this email and let me know what you think.

 

-Justin