AUGUSTA, Maine – The Maine State Chamber of Commerce held its annual meeting and dinner on Wednesday, October 30, 2024, at the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta. In addition to hosting a U.S. Senate debate in partnership with NEWS CENTER Maine, the Chamber presented a leadership award to retiring Thomas College President Laurie G. Lachance and honored the Lewiston-Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce for their leadership and efforts following the October 2023 mass shooting tragedy in Lewiston. More than 400 people attended the Wednesday event. 

The U.S. Senate debate was televised and streamed live and was moderated by NEWS CENTER Maine reporter and anchor Rob Caldwell. The four candidates for the U.S. Senate – incumbent U.S. Senator Angus King, Demi Kouzounas, David Costello, and Jason Cherry - participated. 

Lachance received the Chamber’s “Dirigo Award” for her visionary leadership and decades of contributions and service to Maine. From 2012 to 2024, Lachance served as President of Thomas College in Waterville as the college’s 5th President and the first female and alumna to lead the college. From 2004-2012, Lachance was president and CEO of the Maine Development Foundation. Prior to MDF, she served three governors as Maine State Economist. Before joining state government, Lachance was the Corporate Economist at Central Maine Power Company. Lachance joins several Maine Governors, U.S. Senators, and Maine business leaders in receiving the Maine State Chamber’s “Dirigo Award.” 

The Maine State Chamber recognized the Lewiston-Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce as the 2024 “Dana F. Connors Chamber of the Year” for their leadership, resilience, and commitment to rebuilding and revitalizing the Lewiston-Auburn community in response to the mass shooting tragedy that took place on October 25, 2023, claiming 18 lives and impacting hundreds of people and businesses in the Lewiston-Auburn region and beyond. 

Maine State Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Patrick Woodcock said, “The Maine State Chamber is honored to pay tribute to Laurie Lachance for her invaluable leadership and contributions to Maine. Laurie’s career and leadership are a testament to her core belief in Maine and Maine people, and her commitment to achieving success through education opportunities. The Chamber is also honored to recognize the Lewiston-Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce for their leadership at the forefront of confronting a tragedy, organizing relief, and inspiring a community to find resilience.”  

Woodcock added, “We appreciate the partnership with NEWS CENTER Maine in hosting the U.S. Senate debate before an audience of Chamber members and state and federal leaders and elected officials. We thank the four candidates for participating and sharing their views and priorities to address the major challenges Maine and the nation face.” 

The Maine State Chamber also debuted its 2024 edition of OneVoice Maine magazine Wednesday, which pays tribute to Lachance with feature articles about Lachance’s life, career, impact, and legacy, and perspectives from her family, friends, and colleagues, including Governor Janet T. Mills and U.S. Senator Susan Collins. 
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To view the 2024 edition of OneVoice Maine magazine, please click here or visit https://issuu.com/mainestatechamber/docs/onevoicemaine2024.​

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AUGUSTA, Maine (Thursday, October 24, 2024) -- The Maine State Chamber of Commerce issued the following statement recognizing the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting tragedy that took place on October 25, 2023, in Lewiston, Maine:

​​“On the one-year anniversary of the mass shootings in Lewiston, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce joins Mainers across our state in remembering, honoring, and mourning the 18 lives lost and all those injured and impacted by the violence of that tragic day. We also honor the extraordinary resilience of Lewiston-Auburn, and the individuals, businesses, and organizations whose leadership has illustrated how to build community strength in the aftermath of a tragedy.” -- Maine State Chamber of Commerce

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​AUGUSTA, Maine (Friday, October 18, 2024) -- The Maine Economic Research Institute (MERI), today released its 2024 Roll Call publication, a scorecard and analysis of the 131st Maine State Legislature’s performance and individual state legislators’ votes on bills and initiatives impacting Maine’s businesses and economy. The 131st Legislature received an overall performance ranking, or average of every individual legislator’s score, of 44.5 percent, while individual legislators’ scores ranged from a high score of 98 and a low of zero. Of the 101 bills MERI tracked, only three of the 33 bills MERI supported were enacted through Roll Call votes.
 
“MERI is a crucial tool for holding our state legislators accountable for their votes on business and economic issues,” said MERI President Simon West. “MERI’s latest Roll Call analysis portends a challenging business and economic environment. Significantly stronger support for legislation and initiatives that will grow, not hinder, Maine’s economy must increase for Maine’s economy to compete and succeed.”
 
“Legislator voting records and MERI scores matter,” said Maine State Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Patrick Woodcock. “For Maine and Maine people to reach our full economic potential, it is critical to support candidates who are committed to shifting Maine to an environment where businesses add employees, make capital investments, and ultimately expand their businesses here in Maine. MERI is key to helping all Maine voters make informed decisions this election season that are based on candidates’ voting records on the issues critical to Maine’s business and economic future.”
 
During each legislative session, MERI tracks legislators’ votes on a set of “Watch List” bills. After each session concludes, MERI analyzes legislator votes and publishes their scores and rankings in Roll Call. A vote supporting MERI’s position on a bill is a positive mark on a legislator’s score.
 
This year, MERI recognized Senate President Troy Jackson (Aroostook) as its “Policy Champ” for being the top sponsor of pro-MERI bills in the 131st Legislature. Senator Michael Tipping (Penobscot) earned MERI’s “Policy Flop” designation for sponsoring the most bills MERI opposed. Representative Timothy Guerrette of House District 4 (Caribou) earned MERI’s highest score (98 percent). Representative Laura Supica of House District 22 (Bangor) earned the lowest score (0 percent).
 
Since 1999, MERI has provided objective, research-based analyses of state legislator votes that impact Maine’s business community, economy, and economic competitiveness. Legislation selected for tracking is driven by what Maine employers of all sizes and sectors across Maine indicate will be critical to their success and growing Maine’s economy.
 
MERI uses criteria from Maine’s 10-year Economic Development Strategy and the Making Maine Work and Measures of Growth reports and takes into account Maine’s current and future needs in areas including education attainment, energy costs, wage growth, tax burden, R&D investment, talent attraction, housing, and more to provide objective and transparent ratings about legislators’ support for efforts to meet Maine’s future goals and keep Maine competitive. MERI’s Roll Call provides Maine voters with an understanding of where their legislators stand with the business community.
 
For MERI’s full Roll Call report of legislator scores and rankings, please click here or visit www.me-ri.org/roll-call. MERI’s “Watch List” of bills in both the first and second regular sessions of the 131st Legislature covered taxation, innovation, research and development, energy, the environment, labor, and education. The full “Watch List” can be found here or at www.me-ri.org/watch-list.

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​AUGUSTA, Maine (Tuesday, October 8, 2024) - The Maine State Chamber of Commerce today announced responses to a questionnaire asking all candidates for the Maine House and Senate where they stand on transparency in the legislative process. The Maine State Chamber, a longtime advocate for greater transparency at the Maine State Legislature, is encouraged by state legislative candidates’ broad support for and commitment to greater transparency and consistency in the legislative process, with 95% of respondents indicating they would support legislative rule changes to increase public participation in lawmaking.
 
In late July 2024, the Maine State Chamber sent a questionnaire to 347 candidates for the Maine State Legislature seeking to measure candidates’ commitment to transparency and increasing the public’s ability to participate in lawmaking. More than half (177) of the 347 recipients responded to the questionnaire.
 
“The Maine Legislature should be a transparent legislative body where the public can follow the process and understand the public policy implications of proposals prior to hearings, work sessions, and votes,” said Patrick Woodcock, president and CEO of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. “As we approach the start of the next legislative session, these questionnaire responses illustrate that the majority of those running for office believe it is time for a new model for the Legislature. As I have said before, the Maine State Legislature has developed a transparency problem that must be addressed prior to the convening of the next Legislature. The Maine State Chamber looks forward to partnering with lawmakers to take action.”
 
Of the 177 candidates who responded to the Maine State Chamber’s questionnaire:

• 95% responded they believe it is important that the legislative process is consistent and transparent to members of the public.
• 95% responded they would support a legislative rule change requiring that legislation and amendments be publicly available at least 24 hours prior to a public hearing and/or work session. (Please click here for a list of the candidates who responded they would support this rule change.)
• 92% responded they would support legislative rules requiring that the legislative committee process be consistent across all legislative committees.
• 54% of respondents are Republican, 40% are Democrats, and 6% are Unenrolled.
• 37 respondents (21%) are candidates for the Maine State Senate.
• 140 (79%) respondents are candidates for the Maine House of Representatives.

 
The Maine State Chamber has raised concerns over the last several years about the increasing erosion of transparency in the legislative process, particularly the increasing number of “concept drafts,” which are vague placeholder bill proposals absent of detailed language, and the lack of advance language on bill amendments as they go before legislative committees.
 
The Maine State Chamber recently testified on the need for greater transparency at the Maine State Legislature’s Joint Rules Committee hearing on July 18, 2024. During the 131st Legislature, in an April 3, 2024, letter to legislative leaders, the Maine State Chamber urged reforms to the legislative rules to make public policymaking more transparent to and inclusive of the public.
 
Please click here to read the Maine State Chamber’s July 31, 2024, press release announcing the transparency questionnaire for 2024 legislative candidates.
 
Please click here for links to the Maine State Chamber’s transparency questionnaire, candidate 

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​AUGUSTA, Maine (Monday, September 30, 2024) – The Maine State Chamber of Commerce submitted written comments today to the Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) on MDOL’s second round of proposed Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML) rules. In both written comments submitted today and in public hearing testimony on September 17, 2024, the Maine State Chamber expressed its appreciation for MDOL’s consideration of the business community’s input on the implementation of Maine’s PFML program. The Maine State Chamber also shared continuing concerns Maine employers have in several areas of the rules, including the “Undue Hardship” provision.

“Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program rulemaking is one of the most significant regulatory initiatives in a generation and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce appreciates the previous revisions to reduce the tax on businesses that will never utilize the state program,” said Patrick Woodcock, CEO and President of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. “We continue to have strong concerns that the ‘undue hardship’ provision in the rulemaking fails to follow legislative language and empower businesses to determine undue hardship. The Maine Department of Labor needs to talk to small retail shops, lobstermen, and farmers if they believe that simply providing 30 days notice absolves the undue hardship on business when there is unexpected leave with Maine’s seasonal economy. The MDOL should follow the plain language of the legislative language and allow Maine businesses to make these decisions.”

The Chamber’s written comments highlight the Undue Hardship provision’s inconsistencies with statute and statutory intent, and the significant impact that, if not corrected, the Undue Hardship provision will have on employers and employees.  The statute includes the following provision: “Use of such leave must be scheduled to prevent undue hardship on the employer as reasonably determined by the employer.”

However, the revised rules include a MDOL determination that any leave requested 30 days prior to the leave is determined not to be an “undue hardship on the business.” As the Chamber wrote in comments submitted today: 

"The updated proposed rules regarding undue hardship are contrary to the statute and the statutory intent. Before discussing the ways in which these rules are contrary to the statute, we want to put into perspective the impact of these rules on businesses and employees in Maine. As noted below, although the statute allows an employer to determine when leave creates an undue hardship on the business, the updated proposed rules eviscerate that right. This issue has tremendous impact on employers and employees.

“The proposed rule parachutes a ‘30 day’ provision into the rule where the statute specifically allows the determination to be made by the employer. Effectively a business will not be able to claim an undue hardship if an individual requests leave 30 days prior to the scheduled time.  The Maine DOL should spend more time with Maine businesses and understand the hardships they are currently experiencing with labor and meeting the seasonality of Maine’s economy.   

“Just one example is the impact on the restaurant industry. There are approximately 3,360 restaurants in Maine. Many of these restaurants operate seasonally and earn the vast majority of their income over several months each summer. Many restaurant owners approached the Chamber with dire concerns over the limitations imposed by the draft rules on their ability to claim undue hardship when an employee takes leave. We would like to share their story with you.

“A small restaurant operates seasonally. At the height of the summer, the restaurant employs 30 people. In the winter, only several part-time employees are employed. The income made in 3 months in the summer finances the restaurant for the entire year. If the chef (or dishwasher) is out of work for 12 weeks during the summer, the owner simply cannot operate the restaurant. They cannot find a replacement on 30 days’ notice (assuming notice is even provided) to work on a short-term basis without the security of continued employment. The owner will be forced to close the restaurant and lay off all of the other workers who were counting on that job. That is the reality of depriving employers in Maine of the ability to claim undue hardship.”

MDOL’s comment period on the second round of proposed rules ended today. The Maine State Chamber has provided testimony at a previous public hearings and written comments during the development of PFML rules this year with the goal of making Maine’s PFML program more workable for employers and employees. In 2023, Maine’s PFML program was directed to be established when legislation - L.D. 1964 - was passed and enacted into law.

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​AUGUSTA, Maine (Wednesday, August 28, 2024) – The Maine State Chamber of Commerce issued the following statement regarding the Maine Department of Labor’s (MDOL) revised rules governing Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program that were announced today:
 
“The Maine State Chamber of Commerce appreciates the Mills Administration proposing improvements to the Paid Family and Medical Leave program rules and the opportunity to provide additional comments before the program is finalized,” said Maine State Chamber President and CEO Patrick Woodcock. “While the Chamber will provide additional recommendations, the new proposal improves the timeline for utilizing private plans for compliance. We appreciate the hundreds of comments from the Maine business community that provided feedback on this rule and will continue to work with Maine DOL and the Maine Legislature to develop a paid family and medical leave program that provides critical support for households and recognizes the impact on Maine's economy."
 
The Maine State Chamber is encouraged by the Maine DOL’s proposed revisions to the rules in the following areas:
 

• Private plans: The new proposed rule allows employers to declare private plans at least 12 months earlier than the previous rule, which would allow employers and employees alike to reduce the contribution of payroll taxes for a system that will never be utilized.

 

• Hardship: The new proposal revises the ability for businesses to assert a hardship for leave as authorized by the Maine statute. Previously, the language placed the burden on businesses to justify the hardship.

 
For more information on the Maine State Chamber’s previous recommendations to MDOL on the proposed PFML rules, including the Maine State Chamber’s June 10, 2024, public hearing testimony before MDOL and a recording of the Maine State Chamber’s June 6, 2024 roundtable with businesses, please click here or visit www.mainechamber.org/pfml. 

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