• Impose on each licensed landfill a solid waste stabilization assessment on all solid waste, including, but not limited to, household and commercially sourced solid waste and all other material deposited at the licensed landfill;
• Deposit solid waste stabilization assessment funds in a solid waste stabilization account within the Maine Solid Waste Management Fund;
• Disburse the funds from the solid waste stabilization account through periodic payments to qualified municipalities and recycling and composting programs located in the State; and,
• Develop a process to maximize the use of existing incineration facilities in the State and increase the amount of Maine-sourced solid waste that is processed at those facilities annually and report its recommendations to the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology by January 1, 2014.

Taxation

LD 1463, An Act To Examine Best Practices Relating to Tax Expenditures. (Rep. Rotundo, D-Lewiston)  Joint Standing Committee on Taxation. This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208.  This bill proposes to direct the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation to examine best practices relating to tax expenditures. The committee will examine various approaches to tax expenditures, including but not limited to placing a cap on tax expenditures and developing expenditure budgets, in order to determine the best way to achieve the goals of tax expenditures in the most effective and efficient manner possible and to ensure transparency and accountability.

LD 1477, An Act to Impose a Temporary One Percent Sales Tax for Education and Revenue Sharing. (Rep. Gideon, D-Freeport)  Joint Standing Committee on Taxation. This bill imposes an additional 1% sales and use tax on items of personal property and taxable services currently subject to the 5% sales and use tax. The additional tax is collected and remitted and is subject to the same requirements as the 5% sales and use tax. Of the revenue generated by the 1% sales and use tax, 70% is transferred to general purpose aid for local schools and 30% is transferred to the Local Government Fund to be used for revenue sharing. If the amount of revenue generated in a fiscal year exceeds $280,000,000, the excess amount is transferred for revenue sharing.

• The additional 1% sales and use tax may be decreased to 0.5% and then eliminated if General Fund revenues for any fiscal year, as determined by the State Controller at the close of the fiscal year, exceed those of the previous fiscal year by 8% or more for that fiscal year.
• This bill requires the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over taxation matters, each time the additional sales and use tax is decreased, to examine the sales tax exemptions and determine whether those sales tax exemptions serve a purpose beneficial to the State that outweighs the cost of those sales tax exemptions.

Utilities and Energy

LD 1479, An Act To Clarify Telecommunications Regulation Reform. (Rep. Hobbins, D-Saco)  Joint Standing Committee on Utilities and Energy. This bill limits the amount of funds a provider of last resort service can receive from the state universal service fund. The bill establishes a procedure for the Public Utilities Commission to conduct an emergency rate case in response to a petition for a temporary increase in rates.This bill provides that the Public Utilities Commission may not reassign the provider of last resort service obligation without the consent of the current service provider unless that provider is unable to provide the service in accordance with state law. This bill provides that the rate charged to customers for provider of last resort service must be uniform throughout the State for a service provider, must be within 2 standard deviations of the national average and may not be set at a level that will jeopardize the receipt of federal funding to support telecommunications services. This bill amends the section of law related to the assessment to fund the Public Utilities Commission and the Office of the Public Advocate to include all utilities that were included prior to the enactment of Public Law 2011, chapter 623. It expands the assessment to include a person that provides voice over Internet protocol service over facilities that it, or an affiliated company, owns or leases, regardless of whether that service provider paid the assessment prior to March 1, 2012.

Workforce Development

LD 1489, An Act To Address Maine’s Immediate Workforce Needs. (Sen. Langley, R-Hancock for the Department of Economic and Community Development)  Joint Standing Committee on Joint Select Committee on Maine’s Workforce and Economic Future. This bill creates the Maine Skills Gap Program to address the immediate hiring needs of Maine employers. Its goal is to encourage students and qualified experienced workers to take positions with Maine companies representing industries with significant unmet demand for skilled labor by reimbursing a portion of an employee’s student debt or, in the absence of student debt, reimbursing a portion of an employee’s housing expense during the employee’s employment. The reimbursement is not subject to Maine income tax. A qualified employer will be considered eligible for reimbursement by the State under the Maine Employment Tax Increment Financing Program and will be reimbursed 50% of the qualified employer’s employment, payroll and state income tax withholding taxes paid by the qualified employer for each qualified employee. The Maine Skills Gap Program is repealed March 31, 2021.