Budget hearings progress, PL90 under fire
Legislators are scheduled to meet through April 5 to hear public testimony on Gov. Paul LePage's $6.3 billion budget proposal, which suspends state payments through the Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement program and through municipal revenue sharing. Legislators are expected to review portions of the budget related to state pensions and retiree health benefits, social service programs and other areas of state spending.
Crčme de la crčme
House Democratic leader Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, has proposed a tax increase for Mainers making over $250,000, a plan that carries the spirit of the tax increase advocated nationally by billionaire Warren Buffett as a way to replenish government coffers. The bill, which Berry and Democrats say helps restore fairness to the state's tax code, would impose an assessment on residents making over $250,000 if they pay less than about 11% of their income in state and local taxes. The plan comes in response to tax cuts passed in 2011 that Democrats say gave special treatment to Maine's wealthiest citizens.
PL 90 under fire
A number of bills from Democratic legislators aimed at dismantling health insurance changes under Public Law 90, passed by a Republican-led Legislature in 2011, are scheduled for their first hearing April 4. That law changed regulations for the individual and small insurance markets, which have an estimated 40,000 customers in Maine. Three bills — LD 83, LD 102 and LD 225 — seek to restore the level of state oversight to all rate increases, called rate review. The rules of PL 90 are in line with the Affordable Care Act, which says premium increases of 10% or more may be subject to regulatory review. Another bill — LD 161, which will also be reviewed by the Insurance and Financial Services Committee — aims to prohibit insurers from varying rates based on geography for individual and small group policies.
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