MORE OBSERVATIONS FROM AUGUSTA

LEGISLATIVE BLOG # 11

If the bill gets passed to give General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works their requested $45 million state-tax subsidy, and if the bill gets passed to conform state taxes with the Federal tax giveaway to big corporations, GD/BIW will be a triple tax-cut winner. 

Protesting the Bill to give General Dynamics/ Bath Iron Works 
$3 million annually for 15 years.

My Letter to the Editor, Bangor Daily News, March 21: No Corporate Welfare

A corporate-welfare bill, LD 1781, to provide $60 million in tax breaks to General Dynamics, parent company of Bath Iron Works, is expected to pass in the Maine Legislature with bipartisan support. Supporters of this bill claim the subsidies are needed to be competitive and to protect workers’ jobs. Yet General Dynamics, a major contractor in the military-industrial complex, is making so much money at taxpayer expense they are buying back their own stock to boost the price of shares. They clearly have more than enough money to remain competitive. And the Bath shipyard still shed jobs despite their last welfare handout from the Legislature. 

Threatening job loss and competition pressure is a tactic used against the public and our legislators who are vulnerable from campaign contributions. 

In 2016, a Gallup poll found “The vast majority of those dissatisfied with the influence of major corporations want them to have less power than they do.” Vulnerable legislators in large numbers ignore opinions of most Americans when they could attend to the wishes of constituents and at the same time do the morally right thing: curb corporate power and use the money to meet pressing needs for health care, education, the environment, and infrastructure. 

The collective voices and votes of citizens are more powerful than the love of money. There is still time to contact your legislators and oppose LD 1781.

Update from Bruce Gagnon, "Organizing Notes": 

"The Progressive Caucus will meet next Tuesday to discuss LD 1781 and Taxation Committee co-chair Ryan Tipping (D-Orono) will make the case to them in favor of the bill.  This is despite the fact that he has told some of our friends in his town that he believes it is a 'bad bill' and a 'race to the bottom'.

"We are urging a large turnout of Mainers on Tuesday (March 27) from 9:30 am to noon on the 3rd floor of the capital building.  Be sure to bring a sign that says why you oppose this corporate welfare bill.  We'll also be back there on Wednesday and Thursday of next week as the legislature will be in session then as well.

"One of our advisers today shared with us that the Democrats in the legislature are quite vulnerable now as they attack Gov. LePage for his decision to insert a bill that would conform (or match) Maine with Trump's federal tax bill that recently passed in Washington.  (Of course the Dems should oppose LePage's effort to copy Trump's give-a-way to the rich and corporations.)  But for the Dems in Maine to oppose LePage's 'conformity' tax bill and then turn around and support giving $45 million to General Dynamics is the height of hypocrisy.  So the Dems in Augusta have put themselves in a real moral, ethical and political bind.

"The alternative we are told is for the Dems to try to hide (or merge) this bad corporate welfare bill for GD into another bill that is more favorable to their constituency base - like Medicaid expansion.  So keep your eyes and ears peeled for this kind of sausage making." 

___________________________________________

All 3 of the following Governor's bills, submitted as emergency legislation, have big corporate financial interests involved that are unstated and unacknowledged in the bills and in proponent's testimony: 1. Corporate tax cuts, 2. Corporate Carbon Energy producers, 3. Corporate pesticide producers. 

1. State Tax Conformity with the new Federal Tax Legislation
LD 1655, "An Act To Update References to the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986 Contained in the Maine Revised Statutes."

Thursday March 15, I attended the Public Hearing on this bill, the so-called "tax conformity bill," put forth by Governor Page. Proponents say everyone will get a welcome state tax break with this bill. Opponents say it is another big corporate tax cut.  According to Mal Leary on MPR, the legislature compromised with the governor and passed the bill in exchange for $15 million in school funding. '"I say the work is not done," says McCabe. "There is still more work to be done. I think we will continue to hear from our constituents back home that we continue not to meet our obligation for education funding."'

2. Update on LD 1810, An Act to Amend the Laws

Governing Expedited Permitting for Wind Energy Development

At Work Sessions on March 20 and March 22 the Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Technology issued a divided report on this bill that would restrict wind development in Maine. A divided report means they issue both majority and minority reports. At the Work Session I attended on March 20, the vote was 6 to 4 Ought Not to Pass, but members who are absent have a day to vote, and I don't know the final vote numbers.  

3. LD 1853 An Act to Ensure the Safe and Consistent Regulation of Pesticides throughout the State by Providing Exemptions to Municipal Ordinances that Regulate Pesticides

One more of the governor's bills, this one places restrictions on the ability of municipalities to regulate pesticide use. It "provides that municipal ordinances that regulate the use of pesticides do not apply to commercial applicators and spray contracting firms and to private applicators when the private applicators are producing agricultural or horticultural commodities."  I attended the Public Hearing and following Work Session on March 21 not intending to testify. But after listening to the proponents and many of the opponents, I decided to tell my gardening story: I attempt to keep my house lot pesticide and herbicide free, but every spring and summer I search for bees in my garden and don't find many, sometimes none.  I sometimes attempt to manually fertilize my cucumbers and squash and have not been successful with that. I begged the committee to please help save the bees and vote against the bill. I had trouble counting because of where I was sitting, but by my guesstimate the Commitee voted 8 or 9 to 2 or 3 Ought Not To Pass, and they issued a divided report.

_________________________________________________

L.D. 1874 Resolve, To Ensure the Continued Provision 

of Services to Maine Children and Families

On March 23, I attended the Public Hearing on this bill and the Work Session immediately following. Of the many bills supposed to be emergencies in this session, this is the one I have attended that I consider the truest emergency. The Department of Human and Human Services (DHHS) decided in February of this year to cut funding for the program Community Partnership for the Protection of Children (CPPC) 

This program "is a network of people who live, work, and serve in our communities. We know that life is complex, and that life’s challenges can get in the way of being the best parents we can be. Sometimes we all need help.

"We partner to support families who are experiencing the highest levels of stress, before things get out of control. And when life has already gotten complicated, we are here to walk beside each family member, to help them get back on their feet. Together, we help solve problems so parents can focus on raising safe and thriving children.

"We know that preventing child abuse is not simply a matter of parents doing a better job, but about creating communities in which doing better is easier."

Again, I did not intend to testify at this hearing; I felt I did not know enough about the program. But after hearing all the testimony in favor of restoring the funding of the program, I did testify. I was especially inspired by the testimony of the Waldo County Sheriff about his involvement as a Community Partner: "I learned about the hubs being established in each county. Very often, Deputies experience families with children who are in need of assistance in many categories, Many children live in terrible poverty and often do not have enough food to eat. Many times each winter, Deputies are in homes where children are living with no heat. Frequently, Deputies purchase food or heating fuel for the families out of their own pockets. We know there are agencies who provide services to families in need or in crisis, but in those late evening or early morning hours we do not have access to those services. My hope is that these hubs will become a local resource that my Deputies can use to assist families with children in these immediate times of need. These hubs would be staffed by folks who know what resources are available and exactly how to bring these resources to children in need when they need them. Many times Law Enforcement Agencies are not included in efforts to solve community problems. I was encouraged that the folks from CPPC included us in their efforts to help children. We are excited to help and I hope this committee helps us continue this local community effort by maintaining the funding for CPPC." 

This testimony reminded me of my son's involvement with law enforcement in early adolescence and how much I wish there could have been then a program like CPPC that recognizes the complex web of  family and community relationships and works with the entire web to solve problems. Such a program can do so much to prevent the worst effects of a developing mental illness. 

Of 28 people testifying on the bill, 27 testified in favor of it. Only DHHS testified in opposition saying that it duplicates services provided by the Child Abuse and Neglect Council (CAN). Representatives of both CPPC and CAN testified that the 2 programs coordinate and complement each other. They do not duplicate services. CAN works mostly with families who are already in DHHS services as a result of crises.  CPPC works to prevent families from getting to the extreme crisis point of intervention by DHHS. The bill was tabled until Tuesday March 27 to allow some time to see if there could be some resolution about the alleged duplication of services. 

_________________________________________________


SUIT UP MAINE

By the end of April, 2018, I will be done  with these direct Observations from Augusta, but I will keep up via Suit Up Maine which publishes ongoing information and analysis about legislative activities. This Web Site  "is an all-volunteer grassroots group of more than 5,400 Mainers who work to raise awareness of and advocate for policies and legislation that promote equity and equality in civil rights, social justice, health care, the environment, education, the economy, and other areas that affect the lives of all people. We are beholden to issues and action, not parties or politicians, and we aren’t engaged in fundraising. Suit Up Maine (SUM) fosters connection and collaboration among Maine’s other progressive groups and organizations, and offers a platform for those groups’ leaders to come together to support, educate, connect, and motivate individuals from all across Maine to rise in non-violent resistance to a regressive agenda. We support and promote the Indivisible Guide, which was circulated after our group started, and encourage everyone to read it. We believe our government works better with a more informed and engaged electorate and all our actions are designed to foster civic engagement."

MOREOBSERVATIONS FROM AUGUSTA

Legislative Blog Post # 10

If you have been following this blog and haven't yet become a follower, I invite you to do so. In the upper right hand corner of this post you will see a list of followers. If you click "Follow" below that list, you will get a box that explains what happens when you become a follower. If you click "Follow" in that box, you will be notified by email each time a new post is published, and you can just click on the link provided to get to the latest post. Full disclosure: I just discovered how to do this myself. 

2 Snow Days at the Legislature this Week

More on Tax Subsidies 

for General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works

"Bruce Gagnon is Right; 

Maine has been 'Outsourced' to Bath Iron Works " 

says Alex Nunez, reporter at this site.

A rally at the State House Thursday 

protesting LD 1781, the bill to give tax subsidies to 

General Dynamics (GD)/Bath Iron Works (BIW).

"BIW gets tax credit, but $15M less" This headline is misleading. They haven't got the credit yet: "The amendment language is currently under review by the State Revisor’s Office. It will need to be verified by the committee before going out to the full Legislature for consideration." There is still time to contact your legislators. This deal is not a reduction at all in the annual amount. $45 million over 15 years is still $3 million annually, the same annual amount they would be getting if the deal was $60 million for 20 years, and there is nothing to stop them from coming back in 15 years to ask for more.

Wind Development in Maine

Image of Mars Hill Development 

Friday, March 16, I attended the Public Hearing for LD 1810 "An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Expedited Permitting for Wind Energy Development," This is the Governor's bill to restrict wind turbine development in Maine. Specifically the bill seeks to change "from 8 miles to 40 miles the farthest distance from a proposed expedited wind energy development for which a visual impact assessment for potentially affected scenic resources of state or national significance may be required."  The "Expedited Permitting for Wind Energy Development" refers to a bill passed in the Baldacchi administration that made it possible for a "boom" in wind energy development according to an article from Bloomberg News: "Wind energy has boomed in Maine as developers have added enough turbines over the last two years to double the state’s capacity to 900 megawatts, according to the American Wind Energy Association. That’s more than all other New England states combined and enough to rival a nuclear reactor." 

The LD 1810 bill specifically defines "expedited permitting areas" as "specified places that are identified by rule and the eastern portion of Aroostook County, specifically described as the Town of St. Francis, St. John Plantation, the Town of Fort Kent, the Town of Wallagrass, the Town of Eagle Lake, Winterville Plantation, T14 R6 W.E.L.S., the Town of Portage Lake, Nashville Plantation, Garfield Plantation, T10 R6 W.E.L.S., Oxbow Plantation, the portion of Aroostook County east of those municipalities and also all municipalities in Aroostook County that are wholly located south of the northernmost extent of Penobscot County, excluding Cary Plantation and Molunkus Township." If the bill is passed these areas would no longer have expedited permitting. 

The purpose of the bill is to sharply reduce or halt the development of wind energy in Maine

James C. LaBrecque,  the Governor s Technical Advisor on Energy, began his testimony with a quotation from the governor: "Arguing about climate change is superfluous. Determining what solutions are viable is paramount." LaBrecque asked, "How many mountain tops is the state willing to allow the wind industry to blow up? What s the specific number of mountain tops that the Maine people are willing to sacrifice to wind? [. . . .] What is the plan for locating the cobweb of transmission and distribution lines necessary to move the wind to market?" He said, "When it comes to CO2, Maine is an oil state. If lawmakers are truly concerned about CO2, they should refocus their efforts on reducing oil use. This will have the additional benefit of alleviating the public s concern for the environmental impact caused by blowing up mountain tops, installing large numbers of wind turbines, and their associated cobweb of transmission and distribution lines." Listening to LaBreque's testimony could make one think the governor has evolved in his concern for the environment. 

Other proponents of the bill argued that wind turbine farms can do irreparable damage to the tourism industry, reducing the the industry by as much as half because tourists do not like the view of the turbines themselves and the blinking red lights, There are also complaints about the sound of the turbines. 

The most eloquent and persuasive proponent of the bill was Senator Paul Stearns: 'Many Mainers, including some with strong environmental leanings, have said "oh my, look how huge and out of place these things are."' "These massive wind turbines are far more intrusive and far reaching into the view-shed than ever imagined" "Southern New England has an appetite for 'green' energy. While these urban areas pour vast amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere their answer is to construct windmills hundreds of miles away and then take credit for being green." During the question period, Senator Stearns spoke of the legacy we are leaving to his grandchildren and Maine wild life. "I speak for the loons," he said.  

Opponents of the bill included representatives of the wind turbine industry, representatives of large and small landowners hoping to diversify their land use with wind power, and representatives of municipalities who like the property taxes paid each year by the wind power companies and other economic benefits to the town, and representatives of environmental groups.   

The Bloomberg article says that even with the wind power boom in Maine, "tourism, meanwhile, grew for the fifth consecutive year in 2017, according to LePage and a report from the state’s tourism office. The industry pulled in almost $6 billion in 2016, the most recent year for which numbers are available."

Dwayne Jordan said you can see turbines from Cadillac Mountain, and it hasn't reduced the number of tourists driving up to the top of the mountain to see the view.  

The Appalachian Mountain Club opposed the bill but suggested a compromise on the required visual distance: "Given the significant increase in turbine size and greater experience with their visual impact of these structures, the idea that visual impacts should be considered only out to 8 miles (as under current law) is no longer supportable. However, we believe that extending the visual impact distance to 40 miles is extreme and unnecessary. We have consistently argued that 15 miles is an appropriate distance, at least for the most significant scenic resources."

As I drive south from my home in Presque Isle, I enjoy the view of wind turbines in Mars Hill and Oakfield. I find them graceful, especially compared to the visual pollution of so much of our urban areas with oil tanks, industrial parks, neon lights, and so many advertising signs it is hard to distinguish your destination as you drive through. I do understand the problems cited by proponents of the bill, but I oppose this bill as it is currently written because I believe the benefits to the environment outweigh the problems.

  

More on Health Care for All

I didn't know about the debate between the states and the U. S. Congress over strategy for how to achieve National Improved Medicare for All (NIMA) until I read this article from health over profit. Some argue that states cannot enact single payer bill without complex Federal approval and that states' efforts to do so dilute the momentum for a Federal plan:  "Pressure is building at the federal, level where more than half the Democrats in the House have co-sponsored HR 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act. Nancy Pelosi wants that pressure relieved, so she tells activists to pass the law at the state level. She knows if pressure builds on Congress, she will be forced to say more than 'I have supported single payer since before you were born' and actually do something about passing it." 

I support both Maine's efforts to achieve a single payer plan for Maine and the Federal HR 676.  I believe that state efforts enhance rather than dilute the national effort, as it brings the local attention and understanding to the issue that is needed to achieve Federal support. 

MORE OBSERVATIONS FROM AUGUSTA

Legislative Blog Post # 9

Those new to this Blog may wish to scroll down and read up.

If you have been following this blog and haven't yet become a follower, I invite you to do so. In the upper right hand corner of this post you will see a list of followers. If you click "Follow" below that list, you will get a box that explains what happens when you become a follower. If you click "Follow" in that box, you will be notified by email each time a new post is published, and you can just click on the link provided to get to the latest post. Full disclosure: I just discovered how to do this myself.  

40 members of the public attend meeting of 

The Legislative Task Force on Health Care Coverage for All of Maine

I haven't paid as much attention to Health Care in these posts as I intended, so I will focus on it in this one. 

A public hearing for LD 386 was held on February 13. An Act To Establish Universal Health Care for Maine proposed "to establish a single-payor, universal health care system in the State."   I attended that hearing prepared to testify in support of the bill, but the sponsor, first thing, withdrew the bill in favor of the The Legislative Task Force on Health Care Coverage for All of Maine. I expressed my dismay when the Chair was about to close the meeting without hearing testimony, and they let me read mine :

Senator Brakey, Representative Hymanson, members of the Human Services Committee, thank you for this opportunity to testify in support of LD 386.

In the early 1960s, my oldest son suffered a near-fatal illness that lasted for several years and involved several lengthy hospitalizations. We were a working-class, one-income family, and we survived this crisis without medical debt with health insurance from a non-profit Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Most working-class families had high-quality affordable health insurance at that time.

Since then, corporate profit, corporate advertising, and corporate influence over legislators have entered the health-care business and created a system too expensive, too complex, too inefficient, too unaffordable, and too inaccessible to be sustainable.  Profit, not consumer health, is now the major concern of the health-care industrial complex. 

Last year, my son-in-law had heart surgery. Without the ACA, they would have been paying medical bills for that for the rest of their lives. Even with the ACA they are saddled with medical debt they have trouble paying from this procedure as well as other medical issues. The ACA has not and cannot solve problems created by profit-driven market forces.

My brother was diagnosed with cancer in Maine and received his early treatment here.  When it came time to retire, he and his wife, a Canadian citizen, moved to Canada where they could get much better quality health care at much less out-of-pocket expense.  Instead of worrying about threats to his assets by high premiums, deductions, co-pays, and possible long-term care, he could focus his final years on quality of life—time with his 4 generational family, gardening, fishing, practicing his craft of making beautiful jewelry.

Martin Luther King said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” Pope Francis says, “It is vital that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden their horizons, working to ensure that all citizens have dignified work, education and healthcare”  Worldwide wisdom supports that universal single-payer healthcare is morally the right thing to do. 

Comparisons of health costs as a percentage of GDP demonstrate that the United States spends nearly twice as much on Health Care as Canada and other industrialized countries.   Worldwide economies show that universal single-payer healthcare is economically the right thing to do. 

A PBS News Hour report shows that the United States lags behind other OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] nations in number of physicians per person, number of hospital beds per capita, life expectancy, and other indicators of health-care quality.  Worldwide experience shows that universal single-payer health care is the right thing to do for better outcomes and quality of care.

Single payer universal health care is the right thing to do, morally and economically, and it produces better quality of care and better outcomes.  You have a chance here to do the right thing. Please vote ought to pass.

There is only one other testimony about this bill posted at the Maine.gov site. This one, written by a spokes person for the Maine Heritage Policy Center, spoke in opposition to the Bill. I have been researching and testifying about Health Care problems and solutions for 7 years. Like all the other arguments opposed to any kind of single payer plan that I know about, this testimony claimed all such plans are too expensive. And it failed to consider the overwhelming evidence that single payer plans at home (such as Medicare) and abroad are less expensive than our current system and produce better outcomes.   

My big worry about this Task Force, based on what I know now, is the make up of the membership:

A. Four members of the Senate, appointed by the President of the Senate, including 2 members of the party holding the largest number of seats in the Senate and 2 members of the party holding the 2nd largest number of seats in the Senate, of whom at least one member is a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Insurance and Financial Services and at least one member is a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services;

B. Four members of the House of Representatives, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, including 2 members of the party holding the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives and 2 members of the party holding the 2nd largest number of seats in the House of Representatives, of whom at least 3 members are members of the Joint Standing Committee on Insurance and Financial Services or the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services;

C. One member representing the interests of hospitals, appointed by the President of the Senate;

D. One member representing the interests of health care providers, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

E. Two members representing the interests of health insurance carriers, one appointed by the President of the Senate and one appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

F. Two members representing the interests of consumers, one appointed by the President of the Senate and one appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

G. One member representing the interests of employers with fewer than 50 employees, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and

H. One member representing the interests of the employers with 50 or more employees, appointed by the President of the Senate.

Of 16 members only 2 represent the interest of consumers. 8 are legislators, and all other members are appointed by legislative leadership. Health-insurance industry's influence extends far beyond its 2 members on the Task Force.  Legislators are all vulnerable to their influence, not only by lobbying, but also by campaign contributions. We saw with the Affordable Care Act how the insurance lobby controlled the outcome of the proposed public option that was scrapped, how Medicaid was not expanded in Maine and many other states, how taxpayers are still facing the burden of paying for all the people who still cannot afford health care, and other issues in the Affordable Care act that make it problematic for consumers and taxpayers. I fear the outcome of this Task Force  for consumers will meet a similar fate. 

Maybe not. I haven't been able to get to either of the Task Force meetings, but I did read the report from Maine AllCare of the March 2nd meeting. Some things I was not encouraged by: 

• [Of the] the survey results from the Task Force members; only seven (out of 16) were submitted to date, and five of those said “yes” (2 said “no”) to whether ‘all Mainers should be required to have health care coverage’.
• CEO of Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Company [. . . .] gave the impression that if only these people [workers who miss work because of ill health] controlled their weight, diet, exercise, sugar, etc., they wouldn’t get sick (even cancer was mentioned). Absent was the idea that regular medical attention, such as annual physicals and comprehensive care are crucial to good health.
• "Options for a Public Model" . . . .  envisions the use of a unique and hybrid public-private collaboration. [Based on what I have observed about public-private collaboration, this leads to corporate welfare in which the public provides tax incentives and subsidies resulting in huge profits and CEO salaries for major private corporations.] 

Some things I was encouraged by:

• Public comments were the highlight of the afternoon session. Of the 15 speakers 10 people were representing Maine AllCare. 
• Retired business person Joe Lendvai urged the Task Force to recommend immediate action by the Legislature on two modest but important initiatives as a first step toward universal healthcare in Maine. First, implement universal primary care to cover every child in Maine; and secondly, expand school food programs to include breakfast, lunch and snacks free to all students. Both these actions would have immediate positive results in improving the health of Maine’s children at a relatively small cost to the state.
• Dr. Phil Caper [. . .] summarized the proposed solution advocated by Maine AllCare: We need “publicly funded healthcare coverage for all Maine residents. The system must be efficient, financially sound, politically sustainable and must provide benefits fairly distributed to all.”

On that positive note I will leave this health-care issue to be continued. 

MORE OBSERVATIONS FROM AUGUSTA

Legislative Blog Post # 8

Those new to this Blog may wish to scroll down and read up 

Bruce Gagnon with Taxation Committee co-chair Rep. Ryan Tipping 

I have been home in Presque Isle this past week, so I missed direct observation of legislative sessions, But I had updates coming at me via email. Especially about LD 1781, An Act To Encourage New Major Investments in Shipbuilding Facilities and the Preservation of Jobs.  Bruce Gagnon, Bath resident and member of Peaceworks and Global Network, emails nearly every day with updates on this bill. He has been on a hunger strike (water and juice) since February 12 to protest LD 1781, the bill to give a 60 million tax cut to Bath Iron Works owned by General Dynamics. He says, “when GD signs a contract to build ships at BIW all of their costs are covered by the tax payer funded Pentagon budget. Worker training, equipment, materials, wages, utilities and a healthy profit for the company are all included in the contract[. . .] . GD’s taxes owed to Maine are also reimbursed by the federal taxpayers under the contract” (emphasis mine). I have searched for any contradiction to Gagnon's claims and have found none. 

Protesters of the Bill showed up at the State House where the Taxation Committee held a Work Session and tabled the bill again Tuesday, February 27. Another work session is scheduled for Tuesday March 6.

This bill has bipartisan support and is expected to pass. One Democratic Candidate Representative I talked with said he will vote for it. He cited the reasons given by the bill's sponsor and by BIW Vice President Jon Fitzgerald  about supporting BIW workers, about the importance of BIW to the Maine economy, and about the threat that if BIW does not get the tax subsidy it cannot remain competitive with its costs and will lose out on contract bids. He said General Dynamics can readily buy up another ship builder with lower costs and abandon BIW.

There is push-back on these threats in the legislature as well as from concerned citizens and Global Network. LD 1781 was introduced in this special legislative session as an emergency following rules for what legislation can be introduced in the special second session. One Representative, responding by email to an inquiry about why the bill is considered emergency was enlightening to me about how corporate power works in the legislative process:

The requirements for acceptance of second session bills rests with the ten member Legislative Council (the Senate President, the Speaker of the House, and the floor leader and assistant floor leader of each major party in each chamber).  A look at their decisions shows that their interpretation of "emergency" is different from the vernacular meaning.

We have renamed a bridge, for an example of an emergency, or in our special session in October we overturned ranked choice voting.  But we have not addressed the opioid crisis. [. . .].

The courts have been very leery of intruding on legislative prerogatives and a US supreme court decision concerning recess appointments (wherein the nature of the recess was questioned) clearly showed that it is up to the legislature to determine its own rules and the interpretation of them.  The Legislative Council's executive director is a non-partisan staff member with no decision-making authority.

I think it useful to understand why the major party statehouse leadership is inclined toward supporting corporate welfare.  The leaders purchase loyalty from their caucus members through funds laundered by the leadership-PAC process, funds that mostly originate with "the lobby" which are primarily corporations.  Those members who are most loyal (and can be 'trusted' to follow instructions) become committee chairs, so it is not surprising that they are generally weak personalities.  (Remember that half of the 15 Democrats who flipped their votes to get rid of ranked choice voting were committee chairs.)

The most vulnerable statehouse leaders are those who are seeking higher elected office; the others are not accountable to anyone.

There is no emergency to warrant even considering this bill in this session.  According to MaineBiz, BIW has contracts extending at least 10 years into the future:

Bath Iron Works currently has under construction Zumwalt-class destroyers Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) and Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002), and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), Daniel Inouye (DDG 118), Carl M. Levin (DDG 120) and John Basilone (DDG 122).

[. . . . . . . . . .]

General Dynamics, a global aerospace and defense company . . .  reported $3.1 billion in earnings in 2016 (on revenue of $31.35 billion), the highest earnings in its history, an operating margin of 13.7% and a company-wide backlog of work of $59.8 billion, according to its 2017 proxy statement to its shareholders. 

The influence of big corporate money in our elections and legislative process affects every other social justice issue: the environment, health care, education, poverty, income inequality. Some argue that there is nothing we can do about this short of a constitutional amendment since the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that corporations are people and money is speech.  In the case of LD 1781, our legislature could do something now. They could refuse to be bullied into granting the corporate welfare that is requested when there is no need for it.  

The only thing more powerful than corporate power over legislators is the will of the people with their voices and votes.  There is still time to contact your legislators about LD 1781.

Mary Speiss with union representative from BIW

Cynthia Howard with Taxation Committee co-chair 

Sen. Dana Dow