With the Maine Legislature back in full swing, the overriding theme is the state’s budget shortfall, estimated at more than $430 million. Sales taxes and income taxes are running below projections, and the root cause in both categories is the state’s high unemployment rate.
Maine’s poor job situation is nothing new. Charles Colgan, a former state economist, said recently that Maine has gained 44,000 people in the past decade but added only 54 net new jobs. According to Forbes magazine, Maine ranks 48th in business friendliness and 46th in cost of doing business. It’s no wonder so few expanding companies give us a second look. Thirty-four years of one-party control of the Maine House have left the economy in a ditch.
Considering our urgent need for jobs — and job-based revenues for state government — you would think all legislators would try to expand our employment base by any means necessary. Unfortunately, a bill before the Labor Committee would kill countless jobs and make life even more difficult for Maine employers.
I’m referring to LD 1665, titled “An Act to Prevent the Spread of H1N1.” The sponsor is Democratic Sen. Elizabeth “Libby” Mitchell, the president of the Senate and a candidate for governor.
H1N1, of course, is the swine flu, which already is in retreat. But this bill has nothing to do with the swine flu. A more accurate title would be “An Act to Make Maine’s Business Climate Even Worse.” It would require that all employers, large and small, public and private, provide paid sick leave to all employees, whether full-time, part-time, or seasonal. No other state imposes such an intrusive and costly mandate.
Most Maine employers, even those with fewer than 20 employees, already provide this benefit for their full-time workers. It’s reasonable to assume that companies that don’t offer paid sick leave simply can’t swing it financially.
I serve on the Legislature’s Labor Committee, and on Jan. 14 we held a public hearing on Mitchell’s bill. It lasted six hours, and the persistent theme from the folks who testified in opposition was that this legislation would do serious damage to Maine’s economy.
A partial list of those opposed includes UNUM, the Maine Restaurant Association, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, the Maine Grocers Association, Shaw’s Supermarkets, the Maine Merchants Association, Cianbro, the Maine Tourism Association, the Maine Pulp & Paper Association, Downeast Energy and even little Haven’s Candies of Westbrook.
The Maine Municipal Association, or MMA, also weighed in. Maine cities and towns are facing deep cuts in revenue-sharing and state aid to schools. Meeting their budgets is tough enough without yet another unfunded mandate from Augusta.
“The concern with this legislation is twofold,” MMA Legislative Advocate Jeffrey Austin said. “First, the detailed provisions would appear to be inconsistent with some municipal sick leave provisions. In particular, this bill appears much more broad than existing municipal policies. Second, this bill eliminates some flexibility to manage costs at the very time municipalities need more ways to balance their tightening budgets.”
“More broad” indeed. The bill would require paid sick leave not only for routine illnesses affecting employees or their relatives, but also for “preparing for and attending court proceedings” for an employee or an employee’s family member victimized by domestic violence, stalking or sexual assault. It also mandates paid sick leave “for the purpose of obtaining social or legal services pertaining to stalking” and the like.
Steve Culver, a vice president from Hannaford, summed up the general feeling about LD 1665 with these words: “The increased cost of this legislation [estimated at $56 million per year] will not be magically absorbed. Businesses will be forced into one of several courses of action: leave the state, raise prices, or modify the compensation package to reduce the impact of this new expense.”
Sandra Marston, president of Three Dollar Deweys in Portland, predicted that Augusta’s “onslaught of mandates on business” will backfire. “A lot of us won’t be able to remain profitable,” she said in written testimony, “and therefore can’t employ more people but will have to downsize or go out of business.”
Jeanne Carpentier, general manager of the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport, said, “The bill makes no sense and will dramatically affect our operations immediately and in an extremely negative fashion. Sen. Mitchell has completely lost touch with the realities of running a business.”
Republicans will fight to stop it, but we are badly outnumbered.
It is bills like this that have dealt Maine’s economy a death by a thousand cuts.
Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport, represents District 42 in the Maine House of Representatives. He serves on the Labor Committee and the Utilities and Energy Committee.