MEETING
SUMMARY
March
22, 2007
CALL TO ORDER
Legislative Council Chair,
President Edmonds called the Legislative Council meeting to order at 1:21 P.M.
in the Legislative Council Chamber.
ROLL CALL
Senators: President
Representatives: Speaker
Legislative Officers:
Legislative
Council Chair, President Edmonds convened the meeting at 1:21 P.M. with a quorum of members present.
SUMMARY OF FEBRUARY 22, 2007 MEETING OF
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Motion: That the Meeting
Summary of February 22, 2007 be accepted and placed on file. Motion by Rep. Faircloth, second by Rep. Mitchell. Motion
passed, unanimous (7-0). [Sen. Weston, Rep. Tardy, and Rep. Crosthwaite arrived
after the vote]
Legislative Council Chair
President Edmonds asked if there was any objection to taking one item out of
order. No objection was expressed so
Legislative Council Chair President Edmonds proceeded to Item 1 under New
Business: Consideration of After Deadline Bill Requests.
NEW BUSINESS
ITEM #1: Consideration of After Deadline
The Legislative Council
considered and acted on eighteen after deadline bill requests. The Legislative Council’s actions on these
requests are included on the attached list.
The
Legislative Council then returned to the other items on its agenda.
REPORTS FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND
COUNCIL OFFICES
Executive Director’s Report
State House Facilities Work Plan 2007
A
tentative plan for State House renovation and improvement work is being
developed for 2007 in consultation with the Legislature’s architect and general
contractor. It is anticipated that a
draft plan will be presented to the State House Facilities Committee for its
review prior to presentation to the Legislative Council, hopefully in April.
Artwork in the State House
The
artwork currently on display in the first floor lobby of the State House is
scheduled to be removed next week and a new arts exhibit will be installed on
March 28th. The exhibit will
be by Very Special Arts of Maine,
entitled, “A Matter of Perception.” The
exhibit is being coordinated by the Maine Arts Commission.
Fiscal Report
Revenue Update
General Fund revenue was under
budget by $1.1 million in February, increasing the negative variance for the fiscal
year-to-date (FYTD) to $6.8 million (-0.4%).
The 3.6% FYTD growth over last year for the same period compares
favorably to the 3.0% growth forecasted for FY 2007.
Although corporate income tax
collections were over budget in February, they included an audit resulting in
$4.0 million and would have been negative otherwise. At this time, it is too early to project the
outcome of the March 15th corporate income filings.
Individual income tax revenue was
$4.8 million under budget in February, but remained $1.7 million over budget
for the FYTD. Excluding a $13.9 million
FYTD positive variance from the BETR and Circuitbreaker program transfers, individual
income tax revenue was under budget by $11.9 million for the FYTD. However, Maine Revenue Services’ analysis of
individual income tax refunds indicates positive signs for April final
payments.
Some problematic areas that
will be reviewed by the Revenue Forecasting Committee include judicial fines
revenue (negative FYTD variance of $2.3 million) and cigarette and tobacco tax revenue
(negative FYTD variance of $3.3 million).
Highway Fund revenue rebounded
in February with a $1.0 million positive variance, which reduced the FYTD
negative variance to $0.3 million (-0.1%).
Fuel tax collections were over budget by $0.5 million in February but
remained under budget for the FYTD by $0.3 million.
Revenue Forecasting Committee
The Revenue Forecasting Committee
(RFC) will meet on Monday, March 26th at 9:30AM in the Legislative Council
Chambers. It will review the results of
the March 15th corporate income tax filing deadline and finalize the March
update to the revenue forecast.
Cash Pool and Cash Balance Trends
The average Cash Pool balance
was $532.0 million in February. This is
below the average for the last 5 years of $625.1 million. However, 4 of those years included
substantial Tax Anticipation Note (TAN) borrowings ($250 million in FY 2003,
$275 million in FY 2004, $190 million in FY 2005 and $123.6 million in FY
2006). For this fiscal year, the General
Fund has relied on internal borrowing from Other Special Revenue Funds rather
than TAN borrowing, which has reduced the total Cash Pool balance.
General Fund internal
borrowing has increased during recent months as the General Fund headed into a
period of its greatest cash shortages before individual income tax collections
in April restore General Fund cash balances.
General Fund internal borrowing averaged $103.3 million in February and increased
to $186.0 million in mid-March. The
State Controller and the State Treasurer believe that the state will complete
this fiscal year without external borrowing.
Highway Fund average cash
balance remained relatively low in February when Highway Fund cash balances typically
recover. Highway Fund average balance
was only $14.9 million in February; average February balances for the last 5
years were $60.6 million. Low Highway
Fund cash balances will have substantially reduced the Department of
Transportation’s ability to carry out major projects.
Mr. Pennoyer announced that
two publications produced by OFPR have been released and are available on the
legislature’s website:
“Compendium of State Fiscal
Information” (available on line at http://www.maine.gov/legis/ofpr/06compendium/c06toc.htm);
and “The Fiscal Note Process: An
Overview” (Available on the web at http://www.maine.gov/legis/ofpr/fiscalnote.htm).
Information Technology Report
Paul
Mayotte, Director, Office of Legislative Information Services, reported the
following.
Daylight Saving Time
The change in DST on March 11th occurred
without incident for the majority of the Legislature’s applications and systems. Several desktop PCs advanced two hours rather
than one and the issue is being corrected.
Staff assisted several offices with the synchronization of Palm Pilot
calendars.
MELD Bill Drafting
The Revisor’s Office and the Office of Legislative
Information Services are working jointly to identify and correct MELD issues as
the system is used this session.
Identified problems are being addressed on a priority basis.
Voyager Systems, Inc
The contract for the conversion of Wang Tracker and
Bill Status applications has been reviewed by the Attorney General’s office and
should be finalized shortly.
REPORTS FROM COUNCIL COMMITTEES
(No
Report)
(No
Report)
Senator
Mitchell, chair of the committee, reported the subcommittee met on February 28,
2007 to follow-up on study committee process issues. The subcommittee found that the current study
committee process no longer provides a clear or predictable process for
drafting study legislation, study committee membership and procedures vary
widely and restricts the ability of the Legislature to direct the course of
legislative studies and the efficient use of study-related legislative
resources.
The subcommittee unanimously made 13 recommendations for
improvements in the study committee process.
They are fully described in the report and summarized on pages 1 and 2
of the Executive Summary. Implementing
the recommendations will require several amendments to Joint Rule 353 (Studies)
and Legislative Council adoption of several policies governing drafting of
study-related orders and legislation.
Senator Mitchell also explained that she would be offering an amendment
(included with the packet) that relates to joint select committees.
Motion: That the final report
of the Subcommittee to Review the Study Committee Process, including its
recommendations for implementation, and Senator Mitchell’s amendment be
accepted. Motion by Sen. Martin, second by
Rep. Pingree. Motion passed, unanimous (10-0).
The Legislative Council chair then asked OPLA Director Pat Norton to
prepare the joint rule amendments for introduction and to distribute a summary
of the study process changes to all Legislators and staff.
(No
Report)
Senate
President Beth Edmonds reported that the subcommittee met on February 22nd and
again on March 7th to discuss several technology-related issues, summarized
below:
Laptop computers in the chambers
The
subcommittee discussed the advantages and feasibility of installing laptops in
the chambers. It discussed the need for
a plan that identifies the technology to be developed (e.g. “push” or “pull”),
integration of systems with other legislative systems, costs to implement,
long-term cost savings and a funding strategy.
The House has a goal of electronically providing bills, amendments and
supplements to the chamber by January 1, 2008.
Use of maine.gov and legislative
websites
The
subcommittee members feel that the Legislative Council should consider a formal
policy on the use of .gov websites to assure that use is appropriate and
promotes education about legislative services and operations, and limits
partisan announcements and discussions to appropriate locations on the
websites. The subcommittee is currently
reviewing a draft policy.
Use of mass email
As
with the website use, the subcommittee members feel that the Legislative
Council should consider a formal policy on the manner and use of mass email by
the legislature. It has concluded that
policy guidance is needed to assure that mass emails fulfill a legitimate
legislative purpose, and are not used for campaigns or other inappropriate
purposes. The subcommittee is currently
reviewing a draft mass email policy.
The
subcommittee has scheduled its next meeting for Wednesday March 28, 2007 to
finalize its proposed policies for the Legislative Council’s consideration in
April.
OLD BUSINESS
ITEM 1: Legislative
Council Actions Taken by Ballot
A copy of the list of actions
taken by ballot by the Legislative Council since its February 22, 2007 meeting
is attached. No further action by the
Legislative Council is required.
There
was no other Old Business.
NEW BUSINESS
ITEM #1: Consideration of After Deadline
Bill Requests (including addendum)
(See above discussion.)
ITEM #2: Invitation from Kids Consortium for
Legislative Council to participate in a ceremony recognizing student’s
involvement in Project Citizen.
The Legislative Council
reviewed the invitation. No action by
the Legislative Council was required or taken.
ITEM
#3: Request by the Maine Citizen
Trade Policy Commission to introduce a Joint Resolution (LR#2572)
This request was considered
along with other requests to introduce legislation under Item 1: New Business. No additional action was taken.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
AND REMARKS
None
ADJOURNMENT
The Legislative Council
meeting was adjourned at 2:02 P.M. Motion by Sen. Mitchell. Motion
passed, 9-0-0-1 (Rep. Tardy absent for the vote).
G:\Council\123rd Legislative Council\Meeting
Summaries\MEETING SUMMARY for 2007-3-22.doc