Staff Report

AUGUSTA – Today, the Legislative Council rejected several commonsense Republican legislative requests (LRs) for the Second Regular Session of the 132nd Legislature. Among these proposals were three requests sponsored by Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart, aimed at providing property tax relief, keeping our roads safe and increasing opportunities for Maine students. Sen. Jeff Timberlake, R-Androscoggin, introduced a tax conformity submission that would deliver broad-based tax relief for all Mainers. These proposals were rejected in party-line votes.

LR 2859, sponsored by Stewart, aimed to ensure Mainers can stay in their homes amidst record-breaking property tax burdens. The proposal would simply allocate some of the state’s excess revenue to offset property tax increases. There would be no cost to implement this policy that would provide necessary tax-relief.

LR 2666 would prohibit individuals with expired tourist visas from operating motor vehicles in Maine. Recently, there were a couple of serious fatal accidents involving individuals whose tourist visas had expired. Currently, individuals present in the U.S. with temporary visas may drive with their foreign driver’s license. Sen. Stewart’s submission aimed to prohibit individuals with expired tourist visas — whose presence in the United States may no longer be lawful — from continuing to operate on Maine roads after their visa expires.

The Legislative Council also rejected a measure introduced by Sen. Stewart that would require Maine to designate its own Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). The federal Working Families Tax Cut Act establishes a new dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 per individual taxpayer for contributions made to federally recognized nonprofits that distribute educational scholarships to the parents of eligible children to attend the school of their choosing.

For Maine-based institutions to be eligible for these tax-deductible contributions, the state must designate its own (SGOs). With the rejection of this proposal by legislative Democrats, Maine families will still be able to receive the deduction, but their contributions will have to be directed out of state — providing no benefit to Maine students.

In addition to these requests introduced by Sen. Stewart, the Legislative Council also rejected a tax conformity measure brought forward by Sen. Timberlake.  Sen. Timberlake’s request was the only proposal to provide substantive, broad-based tax relief to all Mainers. Among provisions legislative Democratic leadership chose not to consider are no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and a $6,000 increase in standard deduction for senior citizens.

“Democrat leadership has made it abundantly clear — they won’t even consider the most obviously needed policy changes if they’re sponsored by Republicans,” said Sen. Trey Stewart, R-Aroostook. “I’m particularly dismayed that they refused to examine proposals, like the designation of Scholarship Granting Organizations, that have no downside and would benefit countless Maine students.”

“The opposition by legislative Democrat leadership to my proposal is an insult to Maine’s working class and seniors,” said Sen. Jeff Timberlake, R-Androscoggin. “This goes to show where the majority’s priorities are. Clearly, Mainers’ financial well-being ranks well below their legislative wish lists.”