Bill would boost FAME's large business investments
Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority
Steve Levesque, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority in Brunswick, supports LD 1480, a bill that would establish the "Invest in Maine Capital Fund" within the Finance Authority of Maine.
A bill to create a capital investment fund to attract large economic investments to Maine received initial support from the Finance Authority of Maine and several other speakers during a public hearing Tuesday before the Legislature’s Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee.
The bill, LD 1480, would establish the “Invest in Maine Capital Fund” within FAME to support business developments worth at least $50 million, or that create or retain at least 250 jobs that pay at least 125% of the state average wage.
Speaking in favor of the bill were its sponsor, Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick; Steve Levesque, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority (MRRA); William Norbert, governmental affairs manager for FAME; and Steven Weems, a volunteer trustee of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and MRRA. No one testified in opposition.
The bill proposes to allow FAME to create and oversee a capital investment program that would provide loans or bond funding to qualifying major business development projects that meet the $50 million or 250 full-time job thresholds. As written, the fund would not take effect until FAME receives at least $250 million in funds for the program — but Norbert testified that it could be launched with as little as $50 million at the start.
“FAME supports the goal of making more capital available to support economic development,” Norbert stated in written testimony posted on the Legislature’s website. “This bill would allow us to help finance bigger deals to hopefully attract bigger employers to the state.”
Norbert noted the bill is similar to one considered in the first session of the 127th Legislature, which died between the House and Senate following a divided report by the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee.
Levesque, who has been spearheading the redevelopment of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station since its closure in May 2011, told the committee the bill is “game-changing legislation to make Maine more competitive without a risk to the taxpayer.”
“The Maine Capital Fund will essentially be a type of mutual fund for Maine company investments that will be capitalized by pension funds, institutional endowments, insurance companies and other types of investment instruments,” Levesque stated in his written testimony before the committee. “It is not intended to be capitalized by taxpayer dollars, unless the Legislature desires to float a future bond. Nor will it put Maine taxpayers on the hook should any investments fail.”
Levesque added that the proposed Maine Capital Investment program isn’t just to lure new large-size companies into Maine; it’s also intended “to support the large investment needs of some existing companies to remain and grow in the state.”
Weems, who told the committee he’s spent 40 years working for sustainable development in Maine, including being a commercial banker, said the proposed bill addresses a shortcoming in Maine’s existing capital investment programs.
“We need to be able to pursue vigorously the occasional large business opportunity that materializes, when it is there,” Weems stated in his written testimony. “This is especially true at Brunswick Landing, where eventually all or most of the non-airport property will be conveyed to the private sector, and MRRA will be operating an airport with major industrial facilities (hangars and other industrial buildings) on the premises. The path to success will be putting one or two large enterprises in the hangars, or possibly new structures.”
The committee is expected to hold a work session on the bill in the coming weeks.
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