GOP legislators move to protect laid-off workers from taxes

House & Senate Republican Office
_______________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information:
March 25, 2009 Jay Finegan, 297-1445

GOP legislators move to protect laid-off workers from taxes

AUGUSTA – State Rep. Kathy Chase and State Sen. Richard Nass announced today that the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation has approved an emergency provision to a bill that would exempt severance pay from the Maine income tax. The emergency preamble to the legislation means that it would take effect immediately after being enacted by the Legislature and signed by the governor.

Ordinarily, a new law goes into effect 90 days following the recess of the legislative session, which is scheduled this year for June 16. Without the emergency provision, the bill wouldn’t take effect until September. “That’s not fast enough,” said Sen. Nass (R-York). “When you have to pay a mortgage and provide food for your family, you need relief immediately.”

.”In this current recession, with so many families losing their incomes, there is no time to waste,” said Rep. Chase (R-Wells), the ranking Republican on the Taxation Committee.
“We expect this bill to pass, and we want it to take effect right away. With the closing of the RR Donnelley plant, 374 employees will be out of work. I just find it unacceptable that the state would move in and take a big chunk of a severance check, which might be the only money left to support a family.”

The bill, LD 197, is entitled “An Act to Provide Tax Relief to Workers Who Lose their Jobs Due to Business Closure.” It is sponsored by Rep. Gary Knight (R-Livermore Falls) and designed to shield severance pay from Maine’s 8.5 percent income tax. The bill, complete with the emergency preamble, passed the Taxation Committee unanimously on March 24. The committee added an amendment to limit the income tax deduction to three years.

Rep. Chase and Sen. Nass attended a meeting in Wells with Governor Baldacci and Wells town officials after the shocking announcement of RR Donnelley’s planned permanent closing of its Wells plant. Sen. Nass represents Wells as well as surrounding towns where some of the employees of RR Donnelley reside.

“Every person losing their job at RR Donnelley wants another job,” said Rep. Chase. “These are not folks who want to rely on the government for support. Yet it is during difficult times when the Legislature must step in and be sure that we support hard-working Maine people who need help until they find employment. I am confident that the full Legislature will move swiftly to pass this legislation to help folks who find themselves out of work through no fault of their own.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2009
For more information: Jay Finegan, 297-1445

Medicaid Bombshell Rocks State House

Medicaid Bombshell Rocks State House

By Rep. Kathy Chase

On the night of March 10, I watched in the House Chamber as Governor John Baldacci delivered his State of the State address. The governor tried to sound an uplifting note, predicting a brighter future for Maine. He never uttered a word about a ticking time bomb in the MaineCare program, the state’s name for Medicaid.

Three days later, on Friday the 13th, the bomb went off. Baldacci administration officials told key legislative committees that MaineCare was running a $235 million deficit for fiscal 2009, which ends June 30.

The news sent shock waves through the State House. Legislators are already dealing with an $800 million shortfall in the upcoming 2010-2011 budget. A giant leak in MaineCare posed a huge problem. And that wasn’t all. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) forecasts more MaineCare overruns for the next two years, to the tune of $90 million in 2010 and $65 million in 2011. These are simply guesses, of course. If Maine’s economy continues to deteriorate, the real numbers could be even worse.

Once the dust settled on March 13, the inevitable questions began to surface. What did the governor know and when did he know it? If the problem had been building for months, why were legislators not told in late January, when we passed a supplemental budget that cut spending by $140 million? Did the governor and his minions conceal the bad news until after his State of the State address?

In the immediate aftermath of the bombshell, administration staffers scrambled to downplay the damage. What’s the big deal, they seemed to say – it will all be covered with stimulus cash. They also intimated that DHHS had hinted for weeks that MaineCare usage was on the rise. But certainly no Republicans on the budget-writing Appropriations Committee had gotten the word that MaineCare had spun completely out of hand; nor had Republican leaders in the House and Senate.

State Senator Kevin Raye, leader of the Senate Republicans, was incredulous. “It’s doubtful the administration became aware of a $235 million hole only in the last few hours,” he said that night. Rep. Josh Tardy, leader of the House Republicans, was equally skeptical. “It’s hard to believe the administration did not know we were $235 million out of balance,” he noted, “with just three months to go in the fiscal year.”

Republican Senator Richard Rosen, a thoughtful member of the Appropriations Committee, said he expected a MaineCare shortfall in the $10 million range, because demand for the service rises in a sinking economy. But nobody was remotely expecting $235 million.

If the Baldacci administration deliberately misled Republican legislators, it is no small thing. The watchword around the State House this session is transparency. Everything is supposed to be out in the open – the good and the bad – so we can work together to solve the budget crisis. Judging by the reaction of legislators on my side of the aisle, any sense of trust has been badly damaged.

The task now is getting control of MaineCare before it wrecks the state’s finances. It’s true that the stimulus windfall will pay for this mess. Maine will take $65 million in stimulus money and use that to leverage a federal match of $170 million. Stimulus money also will help cover shortfalls in the next two years. But the stimulus bonanza ends in 2011, and the problem of an extremely costly MaineCare system will remain.

MaineCare is an entitlement program, funded with a combination of state and federal money. It provides free medical and dental care to low-income residents. Approximately 270,000 Maine citizens are enrolled in the program, making MaineCare the second largest Medicaid program in the country as a percentage of population. It also is very lenient. Those on MaineCare can make much more money than people in other states and still qualify for full benefits.

None of this comes cheap. MaineCare runs on an annual budget of about $2.4 billion. It absorbs 20 percent of the state budget, costing Maine taxpayers more than $1.2 billion every budget cycle.

The most stunning fact is that MaineCare recipients, on average, rack up more than $8,800 in medical charges every year. That’s 90 percent above the national average for Medicaid spending. We cover virtually everything, even rides to a doctor’s office. We hear anecdotally of recipients who see doctors 100 times a year or more, and of people moving to Maine temporarily for costly medical procedures not covered by Medicaid in their home states.

If MaineCare operated at the national average in cost per recipient, we could retain all 270,000 people and still save about $1 billion a year. With the state-federal formula, Maine taxpayers would save some $340 million. That would provide a stimulus program that really could work.
We cannot afford a “Cadillac” Medicaid system any longer. It is squeezing out many other critical state needs, including road maintenance and higher education.

The huge MaineCare cost overrun was a wake-up call. In the interest of fiscal sanity, the Baldacci administration needs to work with legislators to curb this runaway program. Only by reforming MaineCare can we assure services for those most in need, at a cost Maine taxpayers can afford.

Rep. Kathy Chase (R-Wells) is the ranking Republican on the Taxation Committee

LD 661-- "Resolve, to Provide Equitable Tolls on the Maine Turnpike"

Representative Kathy Chase has sponsored the following bill slated for public hearing on March 20th with the Transportation Committee at 10 a.m. in room 126 at the State House.

LD 661-- "Resolve, to Provide Equitable Tolls on the Maine Turnpike".

Sec. 1 Equal cost per mile for commuter pass users. Resolved: That, beginning January 1, 2010, the Maine Turnpike Authority shall implement a method of toll collecting that levies a standard and equal cost per mile for the miles driven on the Maine Turnpike by drivers using a commuter pass, also known as an E-Z Pass. Failure to do so will result in the rollback of turnpike tolls to the schedules used in fiscal year 2007-08, which must remain in effect until such time as the Maine Turnpike Authority demonstrates to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over transportation matters that the standard and equal cost per mile driven rate for drivers using a commuter pass has been implemented.

SUMMARY
This resolve requires the Maine Turnpike Authority, beginning January 1, 2010, to implement a method of toll collecting that levies a standard and equal cost per mile for the miles driven on the Maine Turnpike by drivers using a commuter pass, also known as an E-Z Pass. Failure to do so will result in the rollback of turnpike tolls to the schedules used in fiscal year 2007-08, which must remain in effect until such time as the Maine Turnpike Authority demonstrates to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over transportation matters that the standard and equal cost per mile driven rate for drivers using a commuter pass has been implemented.

Our current tolling system is inequitable. We in the southern Maine area pay a much higher cost per mile then other areas in Maine. This bill will require the tolls to be the same price per mile for those with E-Z pass, regardless of how far or where or what direction someone travels. Right now the cost per mile to travel the entire length of the Turnpike (Wells to Exit 102) is about 70% per mile cheaper than it is to travel from Wells to York. And the cash price to travel from Wells to Exit 102 is the same cost as it is for the E-Z pass ($4). So anyone can travel whether cash or E-Z pass the entire length from Wells to Exit 102 for 70% of the cost per mile it would be to travel from Wells to York with the E-Z pass discount.

End bill summary.

Everyone’s help is needed to get this bill passed. Together we can get equity in our tolls through the E-Z pass system. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Please pass on to anyone who may be interested.

* Contact me if you would be willing to testify: 468-0747 or email kathydhchase@hotmail.com <mailto:kathydhchase@hotmail.com>

* Write a letter of support that I can read when I testify. It does not have to be fancy, just why you believe we should have equitable tolls.

* EMAIL THE MEMBERS OF THE TRANSPORTATION COMMT WITH YOUR COMMENTS. To: kathie.bilodeau@legislature.maine.gov <mailto:kathie.bilodeau@legislature.maine.gov>
Transportation Committee Clerk: Kathie Bilodeau kathie.bilodeau@legislature.maine.gov <mailto:kathie.bilodeau@legislature.maine.gov>
Senator Dennis S. Damon (D-Hancock), Chair <http://www.maine.gov/legis/senate/senators/bios/bio28s.htm>
Senator Joseph C. Perry (D-Penobscot) <http://www.maine.gov/legis/senate/senators/bios/bio32s.htm>
Senator Walter R. Gooley (R-Franklin) <http://www.maine.gov/legis/senate/senators/bios/bio18s.htm>
Representative Edward J. Mazurek (D-Rockland), Chair <http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hsebios/mazuej.htm>
Representative George Hogan (D-Old Orchard Beach) <http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hsebios/hogagw.htm>
Representative Ann E. Peoples (D-Westbrook) <http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hsebios/peopae.htm>
Representative Charles Kenneth Theriault (D-Madawaska) <http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hsebios/therck.htm>
Representative Charles W. Harlow (D-Portland) <http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hsebios/harlcw.htm>
Representative Michael E. Carey (D-Lewiston) <http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hsebios/careme.htm>
Representative William P. Browne (R-Vassalboro)* <http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hsebios/browwp.htm>
Representative Douglas A. Thomas (R-Ripley) <http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hsebios/thomda.htm>
Representative Richard M. Cebra (R-Naples) <http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hsebios/cebrrm.htm>
Representative Kimberley C. Rosen (R-Bucksport) <http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hsebios/rosekc.htm>

Rep. Kathy Chase takes lead role on Taxation Committee

York County Coast Star
March 05, 2009 6:00 AM
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090305-NEWS-903050375

Rep. Kathy Chase takes lead role on Taxation Committee

AUGUSTA — State Rep. Kathy Chase, R-Wells, has been named the Republican lead on the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation for the 124th state Legislature, which puts her in a position to help shape tax policy.

"I am pleased to be returning to Taxation," said Chase in a news release. "As we work to restore prosperity to our state, it is vital that we not impede our recovery with higher taxes. I look forward to working with my colleagues to ease the tax burden on all Mainers."

The Maine Legislature has 17 joint standing committees, each composed of 13 members — three senators and 10 members of the House. Every committee has jurisdiction over clearly defined parts of state government.

The Committee on Taxation has jurisdiction over the Bureau of Revenue Services, the Maine Residents Property Tax Program, and a broad range of related issues. The committee also has jurisdiction over tax exemptions and credits, property valuation and assessment, tax increment financing, municipal revenue sharing, and unorganized territories and tree growth tax issues.

Rep. Chase is a second-term legislator representing House District 147, which includes part of Wells.