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1 hour ago

Mills signs bill to fund increased storm preparedness and recovery

governor mills signing LD1 Photo/ Courtesy Maine Governor's Office Gov. Janet Mills signed LD1 into law on April 22.
By Tina Fischer

Gov. Janet Mills has approved bipartisan legislation to improve how the state prepares for and responds to increasingly severe weather events. 

LD 1, “An Act to Increase Storm Preparedness For Maine's Communities, Homes & Infrastructure,” will deploy $39 million in existing fee-based funding through the Bureau of Insurance as well as federal funds to support programs in several key areas. The bill will not draw funds from the state budget. 

The Home Resiliency Program will provide grants to help homeowners strengthen roofs and floodproof basements in their primary residence, and is tiered to leverage more support for lower-income homeowners.

The legislation will also fund the Disaster Recovery Fund at the Maine Emergency Management Agency and establish a loan program which will access additional federal dollars for infrastructure rebuilding. Funding will also be allocated to update emergency communications technology and early warning systems at MEMA.

Additionally the bill will create a new State Resiliency Office which will launch a multi-pronged flood management initiative. Floods caused a significant portion of the estimated $90 million in damages in the severe storms of December 2023 and January 2024.

The legislation is based on recommendations from the Maine Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission, which released an interim report last fall. The commission is scheduled to deliver a final infrastructure resilience plan, the state’s first, in May.

LD1 builds on the $60 million the legislature approved last year to support storm recovery and rebuilding. Of that $60 million, $21.2 million in resilience grants went to help rebuild 68 working waterfronts; $25.2 million funded grants for 39 communities for recovery and infrastructure resiliency; and $10 million was awarded to businesses in need of storm-related repairs. 

The governor dedicated another $5 million to the Community Resilience Partnership to aid communities in planning for future storm-related events.

"Last year, my administration and the legislature made the largest investment in storm recovery in Maine history," Mills said, “but with our state's tight fiscal environment, and the current uncertainty around federal support for disaster recovery, LD 1 ensures that critical efforts to prepare for severe storms can continue. I appreciate the strong bipartisan support for LD 1 in the house and senate.”

"It seems like every year we get 'once in a century storms,'" said state Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Cumberland County. “With the successful passage of this bill, we are not only taking proactive steps to safeguard our communities from the increasing threat of storms but also ensuring that homeowners have the tools and resources they need to build stronger, more resilient homes." 

State Rep. Amanda Collamore, R-Pittsfield, with the Legislature's Housing and Economic Development Committee noted that the bill also directs the consolidation of offices with overlapping roles, into the new Maine Office of Community Affairs.


 

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