Community Event

On Monday, I joined 200 people marching and rallying in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Thoughtful leaders from Portland remembered the life and works of one of America’s greatest civil rights leaders. Additionally, many speakers urged Governor LePage to work with all of Maine’s diverse communities that make our state great. I was blown away that so many people came to celebrate and be unified on Monday afternoon, when the temperature did not break 20 degrees. It was a great event and a wonderful way to honor Dr. King.

Update from Augusta

On January 11th, I met with Governor LePage for the first time. He invited the four Democratic leaders (Sen. Barry Hobbins, Rep. Emily Cain, Rep. Terry Hayes and myself) to breakfast and we discussed the coming legislative session.

Governor LePage focused our entire breakfast on Maine’s families, jobs, economy and education. He spoke with passion, was lively, and full of life experiences on all four subjects. More specifically, he talked about vocational education becoming mainstream in our public schools. He wants to create charter schools focused on farming, fishing and forestry. He’s very concerned about the dropout rate and spoke about his five-year high school plan. On the economy and jobs, he spoke of reducing the cost of business and regulations. He said that many businesses have told him they would not locate in Maine because of these issues. He’s committed to creating economic opportunities for the fourteen counties that are falling behind and reducing any/all regulations that exceed federal guidelines.

Last week, I boarded one of two chartered buses (in the snowstorm) for the Maine Development’s Foundations Bus Tour. Over 60 colleagues of mine from the Legislature joined MDF on their themed economic bus tour called “Unleashing Maine’s Potential: Making Maine Work: Critical Investments for Maine Economy.” MDF picked strategic companies and educational institutions in Washington, Kennebec, Hancock and Penobscot counties to look at the cost of health care, energy costs, state regulations, education and quality of place. Highlight stops were: Verso Paper in Bucksport, Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research in Franklin, and Port and Economic Development Opportunities in Eastport.

The tour was excellent. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to see parts of Maine that I have only visited as a tourist. It was great meeting the business owners, City Managers, and other spokespersons for industries. I learned a lot about economic development opportunities across the state: aquaculture in mussels and oysters, dairy cattle being exported to Turkey, and pulp heading to China. I am encouraged that our state’s investments are creating big returns. In Eastport, the State’s bond package provided millions of dollars for their upgraded port facility. Additionally, the folks at Verso Paper went out of their way to share how Maine’s regulatory agencies worked well to ensure their new $40 million biomass fire-steamed generator started on time!

Bills Submitted

Last week, I went in-depth on two bills I introduced for the session. This week, I’ll review two more, one relating to student lunches and another focusing on a virtual school for Maine.

“An Act To Reduce Hunger and Increase Student Performance”
This bill would require school districts to set up a summer lunch program when at least 40% of their students receive free or reduced lunch. In poor communities, many families rely on their children being fed at school, and then have difficulty feeding them during the summer. This leads to either children going hungry or families struggling even more to scrape by.

“An Act To Create a Virtual Learning Academy for Maine Students”
This bill is will allow any K-12 student enrolled in a public school to enroll in an online course or program offered by any school in the state on a tuition basis. This will allow students in districts that do not have robust virtual courses to find another school system that does. Additionally, this bill creates a stakeholders group to look at creating one virtual learning academy for the entire state.

Closing

Next week, I’m off to the first of seven town hall meetings for the Joint Select Committee on Regulatory Fairness and Reform. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what state regulations are holding your business back. Which regulations need to be removed or fixed?

-Justin