Welcome Note

On August 19th, Rachael and I welcomed Jacoby Loring Alfond into our family. He was born 7 pounds, 2 ounces and 20.5 inches long. Rachael and I are overjoyed to have our first child, and boy is the little guy keeping us busy!

A ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Ocean Avenue Elementary School will take place this Thursday, September 1st at 4:30 p.m.at 150 Ocean Avenue. The ceremony will include brief remarks by Mayor Nick Mavodones, Portland Superintendent James C. Morse, Sr., Portland School Board Chair Kate Snyder and Portland City Councilor Cheryl Leeman.

Students, families, staff and community members are invited to attend. For more information, please call 874-8180.

Students from the former Clifford Elementary School moved into Ocean Avenue Elementary School last February. Beginning in September, the school will fully open to students from the Back Cove neighborhood.

Circuit Breaker Rebate
Applications for the Maine Property Tax and Rent Refund program, also known as “Circuit Breaker,” are now available.

Nearly 200,000 Maine households qualify for a partial refund of property tax assessed and/or rent paid in 2010. The maximum refund available is $1,600.

Redistricting Update
On Tuesday, August 30th the bipartisan Congressional Redistricting Commission voted on a final plan for Maine’s two Congressional Districts. The process was long and contentious, but in the end, the Commission 8-7 to approve the Democrats’ plan. The approved plan moves seven communities between the two congressional districts while achieving a deviation of one of total voter (the difference between Congressional District 1 and District 2). To see the maps, click here.

From here, the plan goes to the full Legislature on September 27th, where it must receive a two-thirds vote in both houses of the legislature to become law. If a plan fails to pass the legislature, it then goes to the courts to decide where the boundaries should lie. Some members of the majority party, however, are considering changing the law to only require a simple majority in both houses. What do you think of the plan and process?

“Zero-Base” Budgeting
Last week, the Governor announced that moving forward, the state will begin using “zero-base” budgeting, which will require all state departments to make a case for all expenditures within their department. Currently, departments are required to justify increases or decreases in program spending.

What do you think of this new approach?

Cloture
One of my responsibilities in leadership is sitting on the legislative council. The legislative council includes ten members (6 Republican leaders and 4 Democratic leaders), and last Thursday, August 25th we met to prepare for the second session, which starts on January 4th. One piece of that schedule is cloture, which is the final day to introduce bills, and cloture for the second session of the 125th Legislature is September 30th. If you have any bills or ideas for bills you would like me to submit, please reply to this email and let me know.

Closing
As Labor Day approaches, I’d like to recognize and applaud the hard work of our country’s past and current workers. Also, I wish you an enjoyable end to the summer and a great start to the school year!

-Justin