Lawmakers start work on budget bill
State lawmakers have started hearings on a supplemental budget, which Gov. Paul LePage declined to draft because the Legislature rejected his two-year proposal.
The Sun Journal reported that the legislative committee needs to find around $49.3 million in new revenue or spending cuts for 2014 and another $50.3 million for 2015. The newspaper reported suggestions made before the Legislature’s budget-writing appropriations committee have included removing the sales-tax exemption for hospitals and private nonprofit colleges, raising the state’s cigarette tax and extending a half-cent sales tax increase to certain business services.
Rep. Peggy Rotundo, House chairwoman of the committee, told the paper lawmakers will hold hearings on the supplemental budget from March 5 to March 7, with one day devoted to addressing the 2014 budget gap and two on the shortfall projected for 2015.
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