STATEHOUSE:
Panel
to peek
into
future
By Susan Cover
Kennebec Journal
AUGUSTA -- A legislative committee that will meet over the summer is charged with doing something the Legislature doesn't often do -- long-term planning.
As it is now, related issues, such as taxes and spending, get sent to different committees, which makes it hard to tackle issues that cross committee jurisdictions.
An example?
Tax reform.
Alan Caron, president of GrowSmart Maine, a Yarmouth nonprofit that promotes growth but wants to protect the character of Maine, said the new committee will have more freedom.
"It's probably a welcome opportunity to discuss the connection between the issues that get separated in the legislative process," Caron said. "Everything gets put in a separate silo."
Whether the committee performs substantial work on tax reform, or moves in a different direction, has yet to be determined, committee members said.
GrowSmart paid for a study released last year that provided an overview of the state's taxes, spending, growth, development and education. That study, by the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., will be used as the basis of the committee's work, along with four others.
The bipartisan Committee on Future Maine Prosperity will consider a range of topics, from tax reform to the environment and the economy, said House Speaker Glenn Cummings, D-Portland.
"The most important thing is we look at prosperity from multiple areas," he said. "We're often deficient in terms of looking at the broader picture of Maine's direction."
The idea is to put members from each of the Legislature's standing committees together in one room and let them trade ideas and expertise.
Although tax reform alone could take all summer, Cummings said he wouldn't rule it out as a component of the committee's work.
"At this point in Maine history, tax reform is very, very important," he said.
Cummings appointed the Taxation Committee's House Chairman, Rep. John Piotti, D-Unity, as House chairman of the new group.
Piotti said he and Cummings talked about the need for legislators to take a comprehensive look at transportation, education, economic development and land use even before the Brookings report was released.
"This is my area of greatest interest," Piotti said. "My background is in economic development."
From the other side of the aisle, Rep. Stacey Allen Fitts, R-Pittsfield, will serve as the Republican lead on the committee.
"There's a certain amount of uncertainty as to exactly what the committee's direction will be," Fitts said.
If it were up to him, Fitts said he would avoid tax reform in favor of concentrating on the state's investment strategy and economic development initiatives.
"We'll take the 30,000-foot view and refine it into things we know we can accomplish in the immediate future," he said.
Committee member Rep. Nancy Smith, D-Monmouth, said she hopes the group can continue work on tax reform and health care reform.
Both are complex, and necessary, she said.
"We'll be able to take the longer view," she said. "When we're out of session, we can just focus on the issues of that committee."
Released last fall, the Brookings report recommends many changes to the state's economic development investments, government structures and tax system.
It criticized the state's "crazy quilt" of state and local building codes, which discourages the redevelopment of old buildings.
Specific recommendations include increasing the state's lodging tax to pay for the revitalization of Maine's towns and cities, cutting waste in state government to pay for investments in research and development, and reducing K-12 administrative costs to closer to the national average.
Beyond Brookings, the committee will also be asked to review other reports that look at the state's investment in research and development, and an audit of economic development spending in Maine.
The committee's task is to report out legislation for consideration in January, Cummings said.
"They are likely to be able to create recommendations that are appealing to a broad base of legislators," he said.
The committee has not set a date for its first meeting.
Susan Cover -- 623-1056
scover@centralmaine.com
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