The fishing vessel Tara Lynn II crashed into the rocky coast of Cape Elizabeth amid powerful winds and record-breaking tides on the coast of southern Maine. The crew was rescued. Jan. 13, 2024. (Photo by Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star)
The first bill of the legislative session, meant to be a symbol of the parties coming together, had a public hearing Thursday.
Senate President Mattie Daughtry (D-Cumberland) was joined by co-sponsor House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) in presenting the governor’s bill to the Legislature’s Housing and Economic Development Committee. LD 1 is a three-part proposal to better prepare the state for extreme weather events. It seeks to improve emergency communications, create funding opportunities to make Maine homes more resilient and establish a new State Resilience Office to address flooding and other impacts.
“Moving forward, I and the other bill sponsors want to help empower our state to prepare, so we don’t have to always repair,” Daughtry told the committee.
The proposed legislation follows the interim recommendations from the Maine Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission, which Mills established by executive order last spring in response to the series of severe storms that caused an estimated $90 million in damage to public infrastructure across Maine last winter.
The proposal builds upon $60 million for storm relief that was included in the state’s supplemental budget last year.
Though Maine’s coastal communities saw extensive damage in the storms, Daughtry clarified that the bill would benefit the entire state because inland communities also need to prepare for flooding, wind damage and threats to water supplies.
“LD 1 won’t stop storms, but it will help people be better prepared,” Faulkingham said.
The proposal’s three new initiatives do not rely on the state’s general fund or taxpayer money, but instead leverage federal dollars and an unintended surplus of fee-based revenue from the state Bureau of Insurance.
Environmental advocates including Maine Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Council of Maine and Maine Audubon praised the bill for its proactive approach to mitigating the effects of climate change. Though the Maine Insurance Agents Association agreed resilience is important, it opposed the measure because its funding mechanism relies in part on fees paid by agents and insurance carriers.
Helping homeowners
One initiative in the bill is the Home Resiliency Program, which would provide grants to help homeowners better equip their houses to withstand severe weather events. Insurance Bureau Superintendent Bob Carey testified in support of the program and explained its two main components: roof replacement and flood resistance.
Roughly three-quarters of instances where an insurer decides not to renew a homeowner’s policy is due to substandard roofs, Carey said, noting that this has been an increasing problem. The program would help homeowners who need new roofs to better withstand strong wind and rain events.
Last winter’s storms also demonstrated a need to fortify homes against flooding, Carey said. He said he envisions grants funded through the new program could be used for improvement projects such as elevating utility connections, sealing foundations and installing sump pumps to minimize the damage from water seepage.
“These programs will help Maine residents harden their homes to deal with more frequent and intense storms,” Carey said. “We also believe they will foster a broader culture of preparedness.”
As drafted, the bill limits the program to homeowners whose permanent residence is in Maine. Carey suggested amending the program to provide tiered-grants based on income.
Disaster communications
Between March 2022 and May 2024, Maine had nine natural disasters severe enough to warrant presidential disaster or emergency declaration, said Maine Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director Joe Legee.
“These events underscore the urgent need to enhance our capacity to respond to and recover from disasters, especially at a time when the future of federal support, federal assistance is uncertain,” Legee said, nodding to ongoing spending cuts and freezes made by the Trump administration.
Effective and accurate information before, during and after disasters is crucial, Legee said. The proposed legislation wants to enhance statewide disaster communications systems by adding new languages for more translation options and better targeting alerts to ensure they reach those who need to see them as well as minimizing alerts to people outside of disaster areas.
The bill also proposes $10 million to bolster the disaster recovery fund, which is used to meet the state’s legal obligation to cover a portion of the costs associated with federally declared disasters, Legee said. Having sufficient money in that fund helps communities recover more effectively, especially small municipalities that have faced multiple severe weather events in recent years, Legee said.
Readying for floods
The bill also invests in a new program that would better prepare Maine residents for flooding through improved data and risk reduction measures.
A new flood readiness program would update flood models and maps, especially in areas where they are the most outdated, said Hannah Pingree, director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. With that, it would create an online data hub to improve community access to flood risk data.
The data work would be funded through a one-time $9 million investment, Pingree said, adding that there would be ongoing financial support for regional floodplain management and risk reduction. She also said this could increase participation in the National Flood Insurance Program.
A new State Resilience Office will coordinate the flood readiness program, as well as other related activities, using a $69 million federal grant the state was awarded last year, Pingree said.
“LD 1 is a vital down payment on a more resilient future for Maine,” Pingree said. “It creates a foundation of information, capabilities and capital upon which the state can build a robust system that increases protection for Mainers and their property against storms, floods and other hazards.”
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