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CONFIRMATION HEARING SCHEDULED FOR MAINE PUBLIC ADVOCATE NOMINEE
The Maine Legislature returns to Augusta on Wednesday. Although Democrats remain in control of both chambers, they have narrower margins in both the House and the Senate.
What can we expect?
We have heard a lot of talk about various issues facing Maine families including: skyrocketing electricity bills, expensive housing and childcare costs, endless property tax increases, and signs of budget trouble (we saw that one coming)!
The Legislature will waste no time getting to work, as one of the first orders of business will be the confirmation hearing for Governor Mills’ far-left nominee for the Public Advocate position, Heather Sanborn.
A confirmation hearing has been scheduled by the Energy, Utilities & Technology Committee on January 14th. As many of you know, Public Advocate Bill Harwood will be retiring at the end of his term.
Why should you care?
The job of Maine’s Public Advocate is to represent the interests of utility consumers and advocate for Maine ratepayers. Bill Harwood bucked progressives in Augusta and called for reform to Maine’s out-of-control solar subsidy program. This program is costing Maine families hundreds of millions of dollars a year in stranded costs, driving up the cost of our electricity bills.
This confirmation hearing will give us the first glimpse of whether Sanborn is truly committed to reducing electricity costs for Maine families and small businesses. In the past, although Governor Mills and progressive politicians in Augusta have made public statements suggesting concern about high electricity costs, they have largely rejected any significant action to address the crisis.
We will be listening to the confirmation hearing and will keep you posted on any developments as this moves through the legislative process.
Aside from electricity prices, we are hoping to see reductions in spending in the state budget, a full repeal of the NEW 1% PAYROLL TAX on small businesses and employees, and free-market solutions to address the high cost of housing and childcare costs.
In the coming weeks, we will see a flurry of news around these topics and many other legislative priorities for state lawmakers.
We will keep you posted on what’s happening under the dome.
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