Advocacy at Work: 2009 Legislative Sucesses
Past legislative accomplishments:
GrowSmart Maine’s legislative priorities in 2008-2009 were revitalizing Maine communities and promoting economic health. Despite a difficult external economic environment, the 124th Maine Legislature shared these priorities by passing several important pieces of legislation that will continue Maine on the path to smart growth and sustainable prosperity.
The following summarizes key achievements of the 2008-2009 legislative session, places them in the context of larger recommendations made in the 2006 Brookings Institution-GrowSmart Maine report ‘Charting Maine’s Future,’ and identifies areas for future legislative and public policy action.
 Charting Maine’s Future called for Maine to invest in established cities and towns, which serve as vital regional service centers. Such cities and towns are hubs for established businesses and environments in which new businesses are created. Lively, well-cared for cities and towns are also key to attracting talented new workers to Maine and keeping enterprising young Mainers in the state. And efforts are paying off – in April 2009 Forbes Magazine rated Portland as America’s most livable city based on a range of economic growth and quality of life metrics.
Maine’s established towns and cities can also absorb much of the new population growth that is currently occurring in the state. Analysis conducted at the time of the Charting Maine’s Future report found that “Maine’s regional hubs are far from ‘built-out’ and hold out substantial capacity to absorb development that currently goes elsewhere. In fact, currently undeveloped land in regional centers – combined with existing regulations that allow and encourage denser in-fill and redevelopment projects – could absorb all or most of their regions’ future residential, commercial, and industrial growth in every one of the examined regions, from Sanford to Presque Isle and all those in between.”
The bond package that emerged from the legislative session includes $5 million of new funding for a Communities for Maine’s Future fund, which will match state funds with local government and private funds to make major new investments in the state’s Main Streets, downtowns and local economies. This bond issue will go to voters in June, 2010. The bond package also contains funding for other “quality places” programs like Land for Maine’s Future and a working waterfront preservation program.
Learn more on our Communities for Maine's Future web page.
Standish Model Town
 Even as GrowSmart Maine focused on state-level efforts to revitalize communities, our staff continued to work more closely with one Maine community seeking to craft a growth and development plan. As we had traveled across Maine in recent years, presenting the 2006 Charting Maine’s Future report and speaking with a wide variety of Mainers about their hopes and aspirations for the state, we learned that residents of many towns feel unprepared to deal with increasing growth pressures in ways that are both effective and fair. Thus was born the Model Town Community Project, which sought to help provide one town with the tools and advice that it needed to take an informed approach to shaping its future. In 2007 Standish was chosen as the first Model Town Project community.
The project has taken advantage of innovative technologies and trained urban planners to help town residents to envision the kind of community that they want to have in about 20 years. Using aerial and street-level photo simulations of Standish Village (such as the ones at left), the GrowSmart Maine team helped residents to visualize the shape and layout of the town that they want to create and inhabit. Standish residents have opted for a more walkable, human-scaled town center in keeping with the town’s historic architecture and layout. Urban planners are now working with residents and elected town officials to craft municipal policies and ordinances that will achieve this outcome.
“We couldn’t be anywhere near as advanced in implementing our comprehensive plan if they had not been with us,” Standish Town Manager Gordon Billington was recently quoted in the Portland Press Herald as saying. “So we’re extremely pleased with what they have done.”
Learn more on the Standish Model Town web site.
Transit-Oriented Development
There is a clear link between transportation access and economic growth. In 2009, GrowSmart Maine worked in the legislature's Taxation Committee to pass LD 1392, a bill authorizing Tax Increment Financing tools to invest in new sustainable transportation infrastructure.
Tax increment financing would allow towns to capture some of the new revenues from the development attracted by new transit services within defined districts. For instance, if a community would like to build a new bus station, it might partner with a developer to plan a mixed-use private development nearby. The town or city could then use the new property tax revenue from the new transit-oriented development to pay off the new station's construction debt and some of its operational costs.
Leaders in South Portland and other Maine communities have expressed interest in using this approach to fund transit and encourage new development, and GrowSmart Maine is looking forward to helping communities make use of this new tool.
Preserving Past Accomplishments
Statewide Building Code: In 2008 the Maine Legislature, supported by GrowSmart Maine, passed legislation creating a uniform, statewide building and energy code, with statewide enforcement. GrowSmart Maine guarded this important new legislation against some challenges in this year's legislature, and the new code will go into effect according to schedule on January 1, 2010, streamlining and simplifying development and directing new investments into our communities.
Historic preservation tax credit: Given Maine’s large stock of historic buildings, the 2006 report argued that it was critical to put policies in place that would encourage reuse of these buildings. In 2008 the Maine Legislature passed an expansion of the historic preservation tax credit, which gives developers a financial incentive to redevelop historic buildings. Historic development projects are now being rolled out across the state, generating dozens, if not hundreds of design and construction jobs thanks to the improved tax credit.
Reducing taxes, growing the economy
Tax structure: The Charting Maine’s Future called for Maine to lower its high income tax rates (and property tax rates) by increasing the comparatively low sales tax and particularly by broadening sales tax to include services such frequently used by Maine’s millions of out-of-state visitors and tourists. This would enable the state to “export” some of its tax burden to non-residents. LD 1088, which was signed into law by Governor Baldacci, reduces the top income tax rate from 8.5% to 6.5% and exports more taxes to visitors by raising the meals and lodging tax rate, the car rental tax rate and taxes on real estate sales worth more than $500,000. While LD 1088 is not a perfect bill, it does represent a significant step in the direction of reforming Maine’s tax code to better position the state to attract and retain dynamic workers and companies.
GrowSmart Maine recognizes that this was an extremely challenging year due to an unfavorable external economic environment. The Maine Legislature should be commended for addressing significant revenue shortfalls and budgetary gaps in a bipartisan manner. Yet our 2006 report made explicit the link between reducing state spending through an independent “government streamlining” commission and then using the resulting savings to invest in research and development and to lower income tax rates. We would like to see Augusta take the second part of this recommendation seriously and create an independent commission tasked with lowering costs and improving service delivery by streamlining state government.
Research and development funding: As Maine continues to transition from a resource-based economy to a knowledge economy, investment in research and development is critical to creating exciting new companies and high-paying jobs. Thanks to a major new R&D investment supported by GrowSmart Maine and passed by voters in 2007, innovation and job creation in Maine technology sectors has continued through the current recession. The latest round of Maine Technology Institute grants, announced on June 9, matches $25 million of state funds with $40.5 million of private investment to support companies active in fields ranging from composite materials to biotechnology to marine industries. Further R&D funding has been included in the bond package that will go to voters in June 2010.
Grassroots support made it possible
Thanks for all of your support and participation this year. The response from Maine people, businesses, organizations and communities around the state has been phenomenal. These accomplishments could not have happened without the hundreds of letters and phone calls our supporters made to their Augusta representatives on these issues, or without the financial support of our members.
Please stay tuned as we continue to work together toward a prosperous future for all of us.
Your contributions keep GrowSmart going. Follow this link to our secure web pages to make a donation today.
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