Today, Governor Janet Mills signed the 2022 supplemental budget into law. The budget, which garnered overwhelming bipartisan support in the legislature, addresses rising costs for Maine people including $850 direct relief checks for Maine people, one of the strongest financial relief proposals in the country. It also includes funding for new initiatives such as two years of free community college for pandemic-impacted students, increasing pay for child care workers, and fully funding free school meals. Read a full list of the provisions in the historic budget here.
Mills’ success at working across the aisle to swiftly solve the problems Mainers are facing stands in stark contrast to her predecessor, Paul LePage, who spent eight years as Governor fighting with the legislature and repeatedly blocking bipartisan budgets. In both 2013 and 2015, LePage vetoed overwhelmingly bipartisan budget proposals, forcing the legislature to override his vetoes in order to prevent government shutdowns. In 2017, LePage forced the first government shutdown in more than two decades after he led the push to strip a voter-approved increase in education funding from the budget.
“Today’s signing of the bipartisan supplemental budget is a triumph for Maine people, who deserve this financial relief as they are facing rising costs,” said Drew Gattine, Chair of the Maine Democratic Party. “It’s just another example of Governor Mills working across the aisle to deliver solutions for Maine people. We can’t let Paul LePage return us to a time when the governor fought against the legislature, rather than working with it to address the problems Mainers are facing.”
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