AARP Maine 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up

AARP MAINE 2023 LEGISLATIVE WRAP-UP: Fighting for Mainers 50-Plus and Their Families

AARP Maine advocates for what is important to our members and Mainers aged 50 and over. Strengthened by a team of dedicated volunteers, AARP Maine gives you a voice at the state and federal levels. Our volunteer advocates are nothing short of amazing! Take a look at our 2023 Legislative Honor Roll here.

With the end of the 2023 legislative session, we are pleased to share a summary of key legislative achievements. You can learn more about our 2023 Legislative Priorities here.

On July 26, 2023 the Maine state legislature adjourned sine die, which, as explained by the State of Maine Legislature Glossary of Terms, means “adjournment without day. This is the final adjournment of the session when all business has been completed.” This concludes the first regular session of the 131^st legislature.

Like many organizations, AARP Maine had a packed agenda this session, and we thank all of our lawmakers for their hard work in Augusta. We also want to especially thank our Tuesdays at the State House volunteers. These volunteers spent many hours connecting with their elected officials, testifying, and joining committee hearings — all to help make Maine an even better place to live for everyone.

At the start of 2023 we announced that we would be working on legislation establishing a Paid Family and Medical Leave program for Maine, advocating for fair and affordable utility rates, ensuring Mainers' financial well-being and addressing the lack of affordable housing. Now that the session is adjourned we want to reflect on all that was accomplished!

Establishing a Paid Family and Medical Leave Program in Maine

In a historic win for Maine’s family caregivers, on July 11, 2023 Governor Mills signed state budget legislation into law which includes language to establish a Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program in Maine. This is welcome news for Maine’s 166,000 family caregivers, many of whom work full- or part-time jobs while providing care. We advocated for PFML to help alleviate family caregivers' financial, health and emotional stress and help retain participation in the state’s labor force.

The new law allows working Mainers to take 12 weeks of paid time off to:

• Care for their own health;
• Bond with the covered individual's child during the first 12 months after the child's birth, adoption, or placement for foster care;
• Care for a family member with a serious health condition;
• Care for a covered military member/military exigency; or
• Take safe leave (most often used in cases of domestic violence).

Most workers in Maine are eligible for the PFML program which is funded by workers and employers contributing 1% of the workers total payroll, and this is split between the employee and employer.

Advocating for Fair and Affordable Utility Rates

We continue to fight to keep utility rates fair and reasonable in the state with the country’s oldest population. Maine already has electricity rates that are higher than the national average, and they have increased even further in the last twelve months. Rising utility costs, coupled with higher housing, food and medicine expenses, force many vulnerable, older adults to make tough choices. However, electricity costs are a particular concern and have increased faster than the rate of inflation.

One of the most important conversations in Augusta this session was on utility rates related to Net Energy Billing. The Net Energy Billing Program was instituted by Maine law and dictates the price paid for community solar, a price that is much higher than the actual value of the power. We were actively involved in efforts to reform (or even end) the Net Energy Billing program for large-scale solar developers. AARP Maine was involved in many important conversations that helped drive home the importance of reforming this flawed program. Eventually the legislature passed moderate reform to the Net Energy Billing program (LD 1986). We will continue to push for improvements that benefit Maine’s vulnerable consumers, particularly older adults who live on low and fixed incomes.

Fighting for Mainers' Financial Security

We worked with our volunteers and legislative leaders to pass LD 1082, "An Act to Advance the Maine Retirement Savings Program.” The Maine Retirement Investment Trust (MERIT) will allow every employee, regardless of the size of their employer’s company, to start saving for retirement. This bill set December 2024 as the goal for giving all Maine workers access to a retirement savings plan which they can take with them from job to job. MERIT will make it easier for businesses to offer employees a way to save for retirement directly from their paycheck, helping them to secure their future financial well-being.

Addressing Affordable Housing

Maine is in an affordable housing crisis. The type and location of a home can affect almost every aspect of a person’s life. Knowing this, we fought against bills that sought to limit Mainers’ access to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). As small houses or apartments that exist on the same property lot as a single-family residence, ADUs play a major role in serving a national housing need. In the last legislative session, policy-makers worked to pass a law that enabled residential property owners to become part of the solution to our housing crisis by allowing ADUs or duplexes on their single-family property. However, several bills sought to undo this innovate approach. AARP Maine advocated against these bills, and they were not passed.

Further, we advocated for funding to build affordable housing. This included advocating for the $70 million in the state budget to build more affordable housing in Maine for workers and their families through the Rural Affordable Rental Housing Program and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.

But wait there's more….

Along with all of the above, we:

• Defeated legislation that sought to limit Mainers’ access to voting by imposing voter ID restrictions that would be especially harmful to those residing in long-term care facilities. This ensured continued access to ballot drop boxes and improved access to voting [MJ1];
• Worked to pass legislation that protects homeowners from unfair agreements to exclusively list residential real estate for sale; and
• Fought for funding to support critical programs such as Maine Legal Services for the Elderly.

If you have any questions about AARP Maine’s advocacy work, please contact us at me@aarp.org.

Interested in learning more about our advocacy initiatives and how you can make a difference by volunteering with us? We would love to hear from you! Please send an email to me@aarp.org and a member of our team will get right back to you.

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