Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook) stands with other lawmakers during the official swearing in of the 132nd Maine Legislature on Dec. 4, 2024. (Photo by Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star)
For Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook), the billion dollar question is whether the Legislature will be able to craft a budget this session that Republicans can get on board with, as the Democratic majority has passed budgets without such support in recent years.
Stewart has some non-negotiables. Chiefly, he said he will not support a plan that raises taxes on anyone.
However, he’s eager to find common ground on other matters. Republicans gained more seats in the Senate on Nov. 5, however the slimmer Democratic majority is not the root of his willingness to work collaboratively, he said. It’s who is at the rostrum: Senate President Mattie Daughtry (D-Brunswick).
The two have worked together since Stewart was first elected to the Maine House in 2016 and now offer some of the youngest leadership the Maine Senate has ever seen. For Stewart, Daughtry brings to the upper chamber what he feels was lost in previous leadership.
“A colleague who I believe represents a distinct change in how we as a Legislature will operate and a new way forward for all of us to work together collaboratively,” Stewart said.
While bipartisan collaboration is a shared goal of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, Stewart is also looking to push for what he sees as his party’s top priorities, such as reducing the cost of living, specifically when it comes to energy, and decreasing state expenses in light of the projected budget deficit.
While not saying where he’d like to see these cuts made, Stewart called for an audit of the state budget to assess whether current funding levels are adequate.
This will be Stewart’s second session as the leader of his caucus, but it will be under a different federal backdrop. As Republican President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican Congress assume office, various agencies have warned of potential federal changes that could impact Mainers. Stewart said he is focused on local-level responsibilities.
“We take care of ourselves here,” Stewart said.
Top priorities
Some of Stewart’s key priorities for the 132nd Legislature are addressing the high cost of living, decreasing the state budget and fixing the state’s embattled child welfare system.
“From energy and a new payroll tax come January to the looming budget deficit, there are a lot of problems facing Mainers right now that need to be addressed,” Stewart said.
Incoming legislative leaders hope to bridge partisan divide with focus on transparency, process
On January 1, Maine will begin collecting a 1% payroll tax split between workers and businesses with 15 or more employees to fund the new statewide paid family and medical leave program, a signature achievement of Democrats in the 131st Legislature that was headed by Daughtry.
Republicans had opposed the program and are now looking to defund it. Rep. Joshua Morris (R-Turner) filed legislation to repeal the payroll tax funding the program, according to a press release on Dec. 16.
Morris argues the tax impact will be too much for Mainers, an overarching concern Stewart shares beyond this one program.
Stewart pointed to Maine’s ranking as the state with the highest property tax burden and the fourth-highest tax burden overall, findings from the finance website WalletHub in April, when arguing, “we certainly can’t raise taxes. That shouldn’t be on anyone’s agenda.”
Stewart said he does not support tax rates for anyone, regardless of tax bracket. Last session, the Legislature passed a bill that would have created three new income brackets with higher tax rates for wealthier residents, however Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the measure.
Stewart said he wants the Legislature to reinstitute a law Democrats repealed last session.
In 2005, the Legislature passed a bipartisan law under Gov. John E. Baldacci that limited increases in municipal property taxes.
Last session, Sen. Teresa Pierce, now the Senate Majority Leader, proposed a bill to repeal that law, arguing that it placed large administrative burdens on towns and that local communities should have control over their budgets. State Economist Amanda Rector testified there also wasn’t evidence the statute was achieving its desired effects.
Opponents, including Republican lawmakers, argued such a repeal would limit the voice of voters, who under the 2005 law had to approve any overrides of the state budget cap, and break the government’s promise to taxpayers.
“We need to put that protection back in place along with protections on how much property taxes can increase in any one year due to revaluations,” Stewart said.
Maine’s high electricity rates compared with elsewhere in the country is another top concern for Stewart, who cited a policy known as net energy billing as an issue.
Maine residential and business utility customers saw increases to their energy bills in July and will again in January because of this policy, which aims to increase solar power in Maine by requiring utility companies to buy solar-generated electricity, resulting in so-called stranded costs, which are the costs that community solar projects pass on to non-subscribers through their electricity bills.
The reasons behind the hikes are multifaceted but the short-term jumps are part of a long-term plan that policymakers hope will reduce and stabilize energy costs as Maine transitions to clean energy.
Stewart wants to see the state pursue non-solar options.
“We need to bring down the cost of electricity by seeking the best alternatives to fossil fuels like hydropower or even nuclear to keep us on track with our environmental goals,” Stewart said.
The budget
When the latest budget deficit projections were announced this fall, Stewart told Maine Morning Star that the state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. He attributed the deficit to past decisions made by Democrats through their majority budgets, though added that he feels sympathy for the current Democratic leadership who have to live with the decisions of their predecessors.
For Stewart, part of addressing that gap should first involve reviewing the baseline budget.
“We haven’t conducted a close examination of the state budget since the early years of the LePage administration when cuts were needed then,” Stewart said. “For years, we have simply accepted the new baseline budget without looking at whether what we spent last cycle was actually effective or efficient.”
He wants the Legislature to assess vacant positions, specifically, and did not say which agencies or programs in which he’d want to see cuts. Alternatively, he said there aren’t any revenue-raising proposals he’d support at this time.
“I’d like to see the Mills administration defend what they got last year and whether current funding levels are in fact too much already,” Stewart said.
As possible federal changes loom, Stewart eyes local responsibility
Conservative groups and politicians who supported Trump’s campaign, and in some cases the incoming president himself, have proposed cuts to health insurance, education and other programs that local organizations have raised concern about having possible negative impacts on Mainers.
When asked how he views the state Legislature’s role in responding to such potential changes on the federal level, Stewart said, “I don’t see anything at the federal level affecting what we do here in Maine. We take care of ourselves here.”
When it comes to health care, The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and the U.S. House of Representatives’ budget resolution propose cuts that Maine-based researchers and advocates say would leave the poorest Mainers without health care coverage.
In response to such concerns, Stewart said, “We have to take care of Maine, including the 349,700 people currently enrolled in MaineCare” but that funding cuts have been expected with the “unwinding” of the continuous Medicaid eligibility requirement.
As this pandemic-era protection ends, Maine has kept nearly 70% of people formerly relying on state healthcare on Medicaid, a rate better than the national average and many other states.
When it comes to education, Stewart said, “We need to be responsible for our children’s education at the local level. It was never really a federal function.”
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