Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.
You know, for the last few months, I've been urging lawmakers – Democrat, Republican, and Independent alike—to approach our state budget conversations in good faith, with good ideas, with clarity and civility, and with an open mind to the views of others, and ultimately with the commitment and the courage to make some hard choices.
I've warned Democratic and Republican lawmakers that our hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare providers needed them to pass an emergency funding bill to ensure that they were paid for services under MaineCare, of course, which offers health insurance to roughly 400,000 people, children and older adults of all sorts across our state.
Unfortunately, a few lawmakers in the Senate turned away from a bipartisan agreement and prevented the budget from getting the votes it needed to take effect immediately so that we can pay our bills. That then forced the Maine Department of Health and Human Services into the extraordinary position of having to temporarily cap payments that are owed to these healthcare providers, even though the money is there. These providers said loudly and clearly this budget stalemate was endangering their finances and would impact health care for vulnerable people all over our state.
To break the stalemate, the legislature then advanced a budget with a majority vote – and that's an unfortunate outcome, something I wanted to avoid by pushing for bipartisan agreement, as has so often happened in the past. Still, I signed that majority budget into law because Maine hospitals, nursing homes, and others have to be paid, and our forests have to be protected from spruce budworm, and Maine people should have the confidence of knowing that their essential government services will be funded for the next two years through a baseline budget.
Well, given that the legislature did not pass it as an emergency, that budget will not take effect until June 20th. That includes the money for the hospitals and the money for spraying for spruce budworm.
Now there's a petition to place a people's veto of the budget on the November ballot. It's important, I think, for you to know the facts about this matter before you're asked to sign a petition. To be clear, if the proposed people's veto gets enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, the state budget would be completely suspended starting July 1st.
Now, some people may be upset that this budget was not passed with bipartisan support, and like I said, that's not the outcome I wanted either. But I cannot stress enough how devastating a suspension of this baseline state budget would be. We're still evaluating all the implications, but broadly speaking, if there's no budget, then there's no funding for our schools, public safety, mental health, transportation, municipal revenue sharing, and so many other services that Maine people, schools, communities, and businesses rely on.
Those already-capped payments to our health care providers would be cut off, as would emergency funding to protect Maine forests from the spruce budworm. There's no telling what impact this would have on hospitals, nursing homes, and healthcare providers across our state. They're having a hard enough time now, but this would make it worse.
State government would be completely shut down for months at a time, including those summer tourist season months, and it would cause serious damage to our economy. The only opportunity to end this unnecessary shutdown, should it occur, would be if voters rejected the people's veto at the polls in November. All that time, there would be no budget.
With all this uncertainty nationwide right now, the push and pull that's coming from Washington, we have to keep delivering essential programs, services, money for the towns and communities that people rely on. Money that supports our economy and businesses and that protects the health and safety of Maine families.
So, I'm urging Maine people to not sign this petition for the initiative. It's a measure that could cause a complete standstill in our economy, a standstill of the state budget, and it's a dangerous one. I'm ready to work with our Legislature at the same time on budget matters and other matters, work with them in good faith and reach a bipartisan agreement that will work well for Maine people. I strongly urge those proposing this people's veto do so as well.
This is Governor Janet Mills, and I thank you for listening.