Last week, all non-emergency measures approved by the Legislature during the most recent session went into effect, including the $500 million supplemental budget.
While lawmakers in the House were divided along strict partisan lines, one Democrat in the Senate, Sen. Nicole Grohoski (D-Hancock), broke ranks to join the Republicans in opposition to the measure.
Among the provisions included in the final version of the budget are a new tax on Mainers earning over $1 million, free community college, funding for “reproductive health care” providers, as well as a plan to send $300 checks to many Maine residents, among other things.
The free community college program makes permanent a COVID-era initiative allowing high school graduates to attend tuition-free for a limited period of time.
During the first wave of the program, approximately 6,400 students took advantage of these benefits.
Last year, lawmakers considered a bill that would have solidified this program in state law, but the measure was unanimously rejected in committee before ever making it to the chamber floor.
To be eligible under the program, students must have established a primary residence in Maine for at least twelve consecutive months prior to their date of admission.
Students would retain access to the scholarship for 150 percent of the time it takes to complete a degree. In other words, students will have three years to complete a two-year degree.
As a “last-dollar” scholarship, students are required to accept all available state and federal aid before the funds from this program would be applied.
According to the governor, roughly 23,000 students have participated in the pandemic-era program, 2,000 of whom have gone on to study at four-year institutions.
[RELATED: Free Community College Made Permanent in Maine]
Also under the newly effective supplemental budget, Mainers earning over $1 million annually will be charged an extra two percent tax on every dollar of income over that threshold.
Maine’s current highest tax bracket caps out at 7.15 percent, the wealthiest Mainers may soon be subject to a total of 9.15 percent income tax on a portion of their earnings.
The threshold at which this surcharge applies would be $1.5 million for heads of household and those filing jointly.
A similar idea had previously been floated by lawmakers this past summer under LD 1089, sponsored by Rep. Cheryl A. Golek (D-Harpswell). That proposal would have seen the imposition of a 4 percent added tax, the revenue from which would have been set aside to fund public pre-kindergarten through grade 12 education.
Republicans at the State House accused their Democratic counterparts of moving “under the cloak of darkness” to push this and other amendments through as part of the supplemental budget.
“This is the same sort of craziness that you’re seeing in places like Washington that are literally causing people to flee those states in droves,” Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart said previously.
[RELATED: New Millionaire Tax Included in Maine’s Proposed Supplemental Budget]
Also in the supplemental budget that has now taken effect is a provision establishing millions of dollars in ongoing funding for “reproductive health care and family planning” providers.
Gov. Janet Mills (D) announced her intention to support such a measure in January, explaining that she wanted to “offset the impacts of Federal funding cuts implemented by the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans.”
The language included in Part Z of the amended supplemental budget would substitute state funding for Title X grant recipients in the event that federal money should be restricted or rescinded, as well as if the grantee withdraws from the program due to the “imposition of conditions attached to the funding.”
Title X is a federal grant program dedicated to supporting and improving access to family planning services, particularly for low-income individuals and was signed into law by former President Richard Nixon in 1970.
As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump (R) last year, facilities associated with Planned Parenthood, one of the nation’s most prominent abortion providers, were blocked from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for any of their services.
Last summer, Maine’s Attorney General Aaron Frey joined a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over this provision, arguing that the policy represented a constitutional violation.
A federal judge in Boston agreed with this interpretation and temporarily blocked enforcement of the measure.
[RELATED: Supplemental Budget Includes $5M for “Reproductive Health Care” and “Family Planning” Providers]
While Democratic lawmakers have praised the bill, Republicans have criticized it on several counts, including for dipping into the state’s emergency fund, also known as the Rainy Day Fund, to cover the cost of some of these initiatives.
During debate on the chamber floor, numerous Republican-backed amendments were raised and rejected before the final version of the legislation was passed to be enacted and sent to the governor’s desk for a signature.
“The Democrats just passed, on a total party line basis, the largest tax increase in my lifetime. They did so largely under the cloak of darkness running these votes literally at midnight Wednesday night,” Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook) said in response to the budget’s passage.
Gov. Mills shared a statement at the time celebrating the supplemental budget’s passage, drawing attention to federal policies in the process.
“This budget will deliver significant relief to Maine people facing rising prices because of the shortsighted actions of the Trump Administration,” Gov. Mills said.
“The supplemental budget gives money directly back to the people of Maine, it builds on my administration’s historic investments in housing, it makes Free Community College permanent, it delivers more property tax relief and funding for childcare and importantly, preserves critical funding for schools and health care for the coming years,” said Mills.
Mills signed the supplemental budget into law at an automotive technology center, placing emphasis on the new free community college program.
