2025 Wrap-up

From the turbulent enactment of the FY 2026-FY 2027 biennial budget and new limits placed on concept draft legislation to conversation about home rule and the January 7, 2026, return of the Maine State Legislature, Rebecca Lambert and Amanda Campbell revisit some of the issues discussed on the Potholes & Politics podcast in 2025. 

Episode Links:

Real Estate Property Tax Relief Task Force public comment can be sent to legislative staff via this email: re.ptax.relief@legislature.maine.gov 

MMA’s Grassroots Advocacy one-page resource is HERE 

Current LPC Listing is HERE

Check out editions of the Legislative Bulletin from the first session of the 132nd Legislature HERE and contact Laura Ellis at lellis@memun.org to subscribe or update your subscription preferences!  

Transcript

Welcome everyone to Potholes & Politics, Local Maine Issues from A to Z. I'm your co-host Rebecca Lambert, and with me as always is my amazing colleague, Amanda Campbell. Hey, Amanda. 

Hello, Rebecca. Happy holidays and thanks everybody for listening. 

Yes,thank you to all of our listeners. We really appreciate your support.

Now with the winter season upon us, our last episode focused on winter safety. Dan Whittier, who's MMA's Loss Control Manager with the Risk Management Services Department, joined us to share tips on how to keep employees safe and municipal operations running smoothly throughout the colder months of the year.

If you missed that episode, please consider checking it out, and while there also consider liking and subscribing to our podcast. 

We also wanted to briefly address a question sent to us by a listener, by the way, we love getting fan mail, who wondered if the real estate property tax relief task force would be taking comments from regular taxpayers?

The answer to that is yes! While the task force is not authorized to meet during the legislative session, public comment from anyone can be submitted at any time to the task force email, and we will provide that email to you in the show transcript. So please just send away. 

And remember, if you're a municipal official listening to this episode, there are three previous episodes dedicated to the work of the task force. So, feel free to share the links to your residents so they can also stay up to date with the task force and send any comments that they may have. Thanks so much, Rebecca, for mentioning that for our listeners and folks, please feel free to send us your questions that you may have about any of the topics that we discuss.

Yes, like I said, we love getting fan mail, so we will do our best to answer your questions.

Indeed. 

And so, this week, we again will be your special guests and we're gonna go back to look at 2025 and touch on a few of the important topics as we gear up for the second legislative session in the beginning of 2026.

After some really focused episodes on housing and property tax relief, we thought it might be helpful to go back to some of the basics. 

And so for 2025 and in every legislative session, the budget certainly was front and center, so we're gonna start there. Ultimately the 132nd legislature tried and failed to pass the 2025 supplemental budget, at all period.

There wasn't one. And they failed to pass a continuing services budget as an emergency measure, meaning that those provisions couldn't take effect until 90 days after adjournment of the legislature. If the budget had passed with an emergency preamble, it would've taken effect immediately upon adjournment.

But because this particular budget included items that required funding for July 1st, the beginning of the new fiscal year, the only way to ensure that timely, effective date was for them to adjourn. And so, the legislature did adjourn their first regular session on March 21st, which began that 90 day clock, allowing the budget to take effect before the end of the fiscal year. And then after that adjournment, the governor called all the lawmakers back for the first special session of the 132nd to complete their work, which then finally concluded on June 25th.

It is worth mentioning that the same budget scenario could play out with the supplemental budget during the second session in where the legislature adjourns before the statutory adjournment date to avoid budgetary funding issues. Remember that funding for general assistance, counties, and education is all included in the supplemental budget. As long as the legislature passes the budget with enough time for enactment, it's good to go. So, fingers crossed. 

The next topic to highlight is concept drafts. A bill proposal is considered a concept draft when the bill is introduced without statutory language. Instead of a fully formed proposal, a concept draft outlines the idea or policy goal the legislator wants to pursue with a bill title and a simple summary. They're typically used as a practical tool allowing legislators to meet filing deadlines, while the policy details are still being negotiated, the data is being compiled, or stakeholder discussions are taking place. Concept drafts also give the joint standing committees flexibility to shape legislation with input from state agencies, advocates, industry groups, and members of the public.

So, historically concept drafts were much more common and usually oftentimes really vague, and that ambiguity could leave the public unclear, not just the public, but all the advocates and policy lobbyists, unclear about what a bill might ultimately do. So, in recent years, this raised concern about transparency and meaningful public participation since folks are expected to testify on a concept draft without even knowing its final wording. So, in response to those concerns in January 2025, the House and Senate adopted the 48-hour rule to assist with these transparency issues. This rule requires that concept drafts have to have a fully fleshed out proposal available to the public, at least two business days before the public hearing.

And if the language is not available by this deadline, the committee is directed to kill the bill and prevent it from moving forward. And I did see that happen in a couple of my committees. So, it was cool to see people actually following the rules they made. There's also been a broader push towards things like providing clearer bill summaries, having earlier availability of draft language and online access to amendments and testimony. And as a result of these changes, and while concept drafts are still used and allowed, they are more likely to be used at a starting point for proposals. 

I know at times we've been known to joke about the usefulness of concept drafts, but they really do have a purpose and are valuable in that they create an opportunity for flexibility and stakeholders to work together on a particular issue.

This is very true, but I think I speak for all of us when I say I am glad we won't have to worry about another 40-page amendment to a concept draft being published with only hours before a public hearing. 

Well, that is a silver lining for sure. 

Another term thrown around a lot is Home Rule, but you might wonder exactly what is that and why is it so important?

Simply put this fundamental principle grants municipalities the power to govern themselves and make decisions tailored to their unique needs, without needing state approval for every action. Home Rule is enshrined in Maine's Constitution and provides cities and towns with the ability to adopt ordinances, establish local regulations, and manage their own affairs as long as they don't conflict with state law.

The core of Home Rule lies in the idea that local governments are best positioned to understand and address the needs of their communities. This means municipalities can exercise their powers in a variety of areas such as zoning, public safety, and the delivery of public services. This type of local control is an important concept in a state as diverse as Maine, where urban and rural areas often face very different challenges.

As far as why it's important, local control empowers municipalities to tailor policies and regulations to their specific needs of their residents and helps them respond more quickly and efficiently to issues that arise within their communities without waiting for state level action. For example, a rural town may pass an ordinance related to land use that prioritizes agricultural preservation, while in a bigger city, they might create policies to support urban development and affordable housing. Home Rule also serves as an important safeguard against state overreach, ensuring municipalities retain a strong voice in decisions that directly affect their communities. And despite its importance, home rule authority is not unlimited.

Municipalities must still operate within the confines of state and federal law, and as an example, local ordinances cannot contradict state law in areas such as public health, education, or transportation. And likewise, municipalities cannot create tax systems that violate state rules. 

Essentially, Home Rule reflects the belief that the people closest to a problem are often the best equipped to solve it.

However, it's important to note that the legislature can and does disregard home rule, and as one analyst said during a work session this past year, it's only home rule until it isn't. 

Huh. As we head into a new legislative session, we also wanted to give listeners an overview of how MMA takes positions on legislation.

MMA'S advocacy work is guided by the 70-member Legislative Policy Committee or LPC for short. This committee includes two members from each of Maine's 35 Senate districts who are elected by their municipal peers every two years during even numbered election cycles. They are responsible for developing and coordinating MMA'S legislative policy process, identifying priorities and developing a legislative platform, providing direction on strategy, and taking positions on legislative proposals that affect municipalities. 

At its first meeting of the year and of a session, a newly elected LPC decides whether to advance a slate of bills known as MMA’s platform bills, or to focus solely on “protecting the core”, quote unquote, which includes priorities like revenue sharing and education funding. Regardless of whether we put forward bills or not, MMA staff are always focused on protecting the existing municipal revenue sources. Every piece of legislation that is printed is looked at by our staff to determine if it has a municipal impact, and if it does, it's put before the LPC for them to decide how staff should proceed. When a bill is put before them, they have several options to choose from. They can support the measure outright or oppose it outright. If they choose neither foreign or against, it gives staff the opportunity to explain to a committee why it does or doesn't impact municipal officials and how. We can track the bill, which means we just hang onto it and keep it in our back pocket to make sure something doesn't go crazy. And finally, the LPC can tell us to take no position at all, which means staff stays out of it all together. 

You should know that all MMA members are allowed to join the LPC meetings to listen to the discussion taking place on bills of municipal interests, but only the elected LPC members may vote. I would encourage you to contact your LPC representative to talk about their experience and consider getting involved yourself.

Even if you aren't an LPC member, your voice is still important and deserves to be heard. Any comments you may have on bills of interest to you, reach out to your LPC representatives so they can in turn share those comments at the next LPC meeting. During the discussion of that bill, we can't stress enough how important it is for you to tell the story of how a particular piece of legislation will affect your community. Not only is this important at the State House, but it's also important for staff as we're developing our testimony on bills of interest. 

In the transcript, we're gonna link a one-page document that our team created, with tips on how you can engage with legislators and things that you can do to help advocate on bills of municipal interest. We'll also include a link to the most current listing of LPC members, so you can find out who you can contact. 

Also, in 2025, MMA hosted the 89th annual convention in Bangor. This year's convention theme was From Partnership to Progress and drew more than 1000 people to the event. Based on feedback from attendees, the educational and training sessions were the top takeaway, followed by the networking opportunities with peers and vendors alike. Many thanks to all of our sponsors, vendors, and attendees, and of course the MMA staff for conducting such a successful event.

The annual convention is always a great time to network with peers, attend educational sessions, and meet with vendors. It's also always fun to meet new people and to see those you may not have seen for a while. We'd love to see you in 2026 at our 90th annual convention that will be held right here in Augusta at the Augusta Civic Center.

Finally, we'd like to touch on what to pay attention to as we approach January and the second regular session. The 132nd legislature will officially reconvene on Wednesday, January 7th. 

As we move towards that date, there are 22 bills of municipal interest that have been held by the governor. When a bill is held by the governor, it means that the legislature has passed the bill and sent it to the governor, but the governor has not yet taken a final action on it. Within the first three days of the second regular session, the governor must take action and either sign the bill, veto the bill, or let it become law without her signature. 

In addition to those held bills, there are several carryover bills that will be added to the workload for 2026. To keep on top of bills that will have an effect on municipalities, please subscribe to our Legislative Bulletin, published during the legislative session on Fridays. You can get on the distribution list by contacting Laura and we will put her email address in the transcript.

And other tips include opening a line of communication with your state legislator, and developing a relationship with your LPC reps. And always feel free to contact anyone on the advocacy staff. We are here to help. 

Yes, we are. 

Well, this wraps up not only this episode, but also the entire 2025 season of Potholes & Politics.

Thank you to all of our listeners for sticking with us. We really, truly appreciate your support. So, to cap off this year, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and wish you the best for a happy and healthy new year. 

Yes, I couldn't agree more. Thank you to all of our listeners for making this such a fun experience. And thank you to all of our guests who provided such great information for our members and our listeners. I hope everyone has a chance to take some vacation time and spend some quality time with family and friends during the holidays, and we wish you all a very Happy New Year. 

Yes, Happy New Year.