Mills Uses Odd State of the State Speech to Lash Out at Feds, Pitch New Checks, and Demand “Universal Healthcare”

AUGUSTA, Maine – Governor Janet Mills (D) used her State of the State address to deliver a sweeping political message that blended self-congratulation, attacks on federal law enforcement, and a new proposal to send checks to Mainers, all while Maine families remain squeezed by housing costs, utility bills, and grocery prices.

Mills framed her speech as a final capstone moment, telling lawmakers it was her “eighth and final” time addressing a joint session. But the tone shifted quickly from a traditional state-policy recap into a combative, nationalized argument about federal authority and immigration enforcement.

“It is an instinct that is as important as ever in this very moment,” Mills said, claiming Mainers are “speaking with moral clarity to protect their neighbors and their communities against federal agents who seek to intimidate in silence us.”

“We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced,” she added.

Mills escalated the rhetoric further: “And anyone outside these halls, including any federal officials I say if you seek to harm Maine people, you will have to go through me first.”

Another round of checks — Mills says don’t “reinvent the wheel”

With affordability front and center, Mills proposed sending what she called an “affordability relief check” of $300 to eligible Mainers, paid for by drawing from the state’s rainy-day fund.

Mills explicitly signaled she wants the money pushed out through existing channels rather than building a new program from scratch.

“We asked ourselves again and again how we can help people in the fastest, most direct most meaningful way,” she said. “We thought well why reinvent the wheel why and create a new process, new hoops to jump through.”

Under Mills’ proposal, 725,000 people would be eligible, with income caps she described as $75,000 for single filers, $112,000 for heads of household, and $150,000 for joint filers. The checks would be drawn from what she described as a rainy-day fund at its “legal maximum” of more than $1 billion.

“We’re putting tax dollars back in your pockets,” Mills said. “And you will have a freedom to decide what to do with it. You’re welcome.”

Mills also pointed to earlier rounds of checks her administration issued, including $285 disaster relief payments, inflation relief checks, and energy relief checks, describing them as “helping people breathe.”

Housing: $70 million “American dream” pitch as prices soar

Mills acknowledged the state’s housing crunch and said the median home price in Maine is $405,000, describing the American dream as “out of reach for many.”

She announced a $70 million “American dream” proposal that she said would result in 825 new homes statewide, including two new pilot programs she said would produce 530 homes and apartments.

Mills touted state-backed housing projects and highlighted mobile home park purchases under a “right of first refusal” approach, including a resident who said, “we are now in charge of our destinies here.”

“You’re welcome,” Mills said again.

Education: permanent free community college, cell phone ban

Mills urged lawmakers to make free community college permanent, saying she was “taking another swing at it.”

She also proposed a statewide ban on cell phone use during the school day, saying, “it’s time to get cell phones out of our classrooms.”

Energy: CMP bills, fossil fuels, and more state interventions

Mills acknowledged consumer frustration over electric bills, “it’s not fun to open”, and said her administration opposed a rate hike request from CMP that was rejected.

But she pushed back on Republican claims about renewable energy, arguing prices are driven by reliance on fossil fuels, “primarily natural gas,” and promoted wind, solar, Canadian hydro, and efficiency rebates as the solution.

Healthcare: Mills warns “people will die,” calls for “universal healthcare”

Mills claimed federal actions could mean Maine loses billions in health-care funding over a decade and that tens of thousands could lose access to coverage. She told lawmakers flatly: “People will die because of this.”

She went even further, declaring the current approach unacceptable: “Nothing short of universal healthcare is acceptable. ‘The time has come.”

Mills also proposed a one-time state appropriation of $2.25 million to replace funding she said had been cut for Planned Parenthood and Maine Family Planning services.

“We’re not backing down,” she said. “You’re welcome.”

Republicans walk out

Republicans responded to Gov. Janet Mills’ final State of the State address with a mid-speech walkout. More than a dozen GOP lawmakers left the House chamber as Mills talked about health care spending and,in a pointed aside aimed at Republicans backing restrictions on transgender athletes, argued that “protect[ing] women and girls” should mean fully funding women’s health care, domestic-violence shelters and sexual-assault services.

State Sen. Jeff Timberlake, one of the lawmakers who walked out, said the exit wasn’t planned but came after what he described as a barrage of new spending proposals he couldn’t support. After the speech, House Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham and Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart delivered a taped official Republican response, arguing that after years of Democratic control Maine is less affordable, taxes are too high, and schools are slipping, casting Mills’ affordability package (including relief checks and free community college) as politics and warning it would come at taxpayers’ expense.

Republicans also blasted Mills’ proposal to increase state funding for Planned Parenthood and other family-planning providers, an added $2.25 million she said would backfill federal cuts.

Afterward, Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart said Democrats would “write a bill or run it in the budget…to funnel money to Planned Parenthood,” accusing the organization of “kill[ing] babies and fund[ing] Democratic campaigns in Maine.”

A partisan finale dressed up as a legacy speech

Mills repeatedly framed her record as crisis leadership, from the pandemic to violent crime to storms, while leaning hard into national political themes. Near the end, she argued the country is in “a dangerous moment,” accused the federal government of using power “to intimidate to punish to silence,” and warned of what happens when government decides “you” are the enemy.

Mills made no mention of the Gateway Community Services scandal, which is currently under investigation by the House congressional Oversite Committee.

Mills ,also said nothing about that the federal government is demanding a $28.7 million refund from Maine as an audit uncovered a rampant documentation of failures in Autism rehabilitative and community support services.

For a sitting governor using her biggest annual platform, the speech read less like a unifying State of the State and more like a political manifesto. Heavy on grand rhetoric, light on accountability for a cost-of-living crisis that Mills herself admitted is crushing Mainers.