An in-depth report from your Maine State Director
PAID TIME OFF
It could have been worse – a lot worse. It began last October as a likely referendum on legislation to mandate paid and unpaid sick leave standards for all employers. But it morphed into slightly less onerous legislation (LD 369) earlier this year, significantly transformed by Governor Mills into a paid time off mandate that dramatically reduced compliance headaches for employers, narrowed the scope of affected small employers, eliminated the threat of private lawsuits, and blocked municipalities from adopting separate paid leave ordinances. The Governor drafted her alternative just days after meeting with small business owners at the NFIB legislative breakfast in late March. Her two-page alternative streamlined the 3,520-word legislation just 630 words. The Governor consulted with NFIB on the revised proposal.
Quick Highlights:
•Takes effect January 2021;
•Applies only to employers of more than ten workers (part-time and full-time) for at least 120 days in a calendar year;
•Requires up to 40 hours of accrued leave that is earned from the start of employment at a rate of 1 hour for every 40 hours worked;
•Allows employer to delay use of the earned leave until the employee has worked 120 days with that employer; and
•Permits that use of the leave must not cause undue hardship on the employer, as determined by the employer, except in cases of an emergency, illness or other sudden necessity.
WORKERS COMPENSATION
This legislation could have been a lot worse. More than 20 bills were introduced that by some estimates could have collectively increased costs by upwards of 40%. Governor Mills stepped in and sought consensus among business groups, insurers, labor advocates, Republicans and Democrats on legislation (LD 756) that made targeted changes but would not lead to double-digit cost increases or set Maine on a slippery slope back to being the nation’s most expensive system. As part of the one-and-done deal, which is estimated to affect system costs by a few percentage points, the Governor has pledged not to accept any future changes that are not technical fixes or the product of a similar consensus. NFIB supported the Governor’s efforts and resulting compromise.
Quick Highlights:
•Increases maximum compensation to 125% of the State Average Weekly Wage;
•Provides cost-of-living increases for total incapacity after five years of benefits;
•Extends the duration of partial incapacity benefits to 12 years from 10 and eliminate the impairment threshold;
•Raises to 60 days from 30 the time limit for notice of injury by an employee;
•Replaces the sliding scale for attorney fees to a flat 10% in settlements; and
•Directs the Workers Compensation Board to study by January 2020 its worker advocate compensation, work search and rehabilitation issues, and approaches for protecting employees whose employers have wrongfully not secured WC coverage.
HIGHLIGHTS OF KEY LEGISLATION
Budget
•Appropriate $7.98 billion from the General Fund for the 2020-2021 biennium (LD 1001), up from $7.22 billion for 2018-2019, an increase of 10.58%
•Increase municipal revenue sharing to 3% ($105 million) in fiscal year 2019-20 and to 3.75% ($143 million) in fiscal year 2020-21from the current 2% ($74 million) of state sales and income tax revenues, which is still less than the 5% sought by municipalities
•Increase state funding of K-12 local education costs by $81.54 million over the 2019-2021 biennium
NFIB is concerned the new budget cannot be sustained without future tax increases.
Business/Occupations – Contracting/Licensing
Defeated
•Consider licensing of building contractors, insulation installers and energy auditors (LD 397)
•Consider voluntary licensing of construction general contractors (LD 896)
•Study immigrant barriers to obtaining professional licensure and certification (LD 532)
•Study credentialing skilled individuals who have foreign credentials (LD 769)
Daylight Savings Time
•Permit year-round daylight savings time if federal law permits Washington, DC, and all states in the Eastern Time Zone to observe year-round DST (LD 885)
Economic Plan
•Create a 10-year strategic economic plan by 12/31/19 that brings prosperity to all regions; increases household income; grows the workforce beyond 700,000; drives the value-added per job beyond $87,160; equitable grows the median wage per job beyond $31,550; leads to sustainable business development; and, contains a strategy for continuation of the plan after the 10-year period expires (Part RRRR, LD 1001)
NFIB supports the idea of a strategic economic plan and believes a useful plan must provide a foundation for all new and existing businesses to meet the challenges of their competitive environments and respond to future uncertainties without being unnecessarily burdened by state-imposed operational costs.
Education
•Gradually increase minimum annual salary for certified teachers from $30,000 in fiscal year 2019-20 to $40,000 in fiscal year 2022-23 (LD 1001, Part UU)
Defeated
•Require the State to fund 55% of K-12 local school costs (LD 259)
•Allow teachers and other public employees the right to strike (LD 900)
Elections – Ballot Initiatives
•Require legislative hearings on citizen-initiated referendum questions (LD 1209) NFIB SUPPORTED
•Proposed amendment to the Maine Constitution to require that petition signatures come from each Congressional District failed to gain the two-thirds vote necessary for sending the issue to the ballot (LD 255) NFIB SUPPORTED
Elections – Voter Registration
•Establish a system for automatic registration of voters with an opt-out choice of individual, effective 1/1/22, and as of 1/1/20 lower to 16 from 17 the age at which a person may conditionally register to vote and enroll in a political party (LD 1463)
Energy
•Increase energy independence (LD 658)
•Green New Deal for Maine transformed into law affecting use of apprentices on grid-scale generation construction projects as well as amending Efficiency Maine Trust law (LD 1282)
•Establish a goal of 80% retail electricity sales from renewables by January 2030 and 100% by January 2050 (LD 1494)
NFIB is concerned that aspects of some energy goals may negatively affect small and mid-size businesses and their ability to compete effectively with companies located in less expensive energy markets.
Environment
•Update greenhouse emissions reductions targets to at least 45% below 1990 level by January 2030 and to at least 80% below by January 2050; establish a 39-member Maine Climate Council that creates periodically updates a clean energy economy Climate Action Plan (LD 1679)
•Eliminate single-use plastic carryout bags effective April 22, 2020, Earth Day, and preempts single-use bag municipal ordinances – compromise legislation agreed to by retailers and grocers (LD 2532)
•Prohibit food service establishments from using polystyrene foam containers, except for foam coolers and ice chests used for processing or shipping seafood, as of January 2021 (LD 289)
Health Insurance
•Require insurance coverage for hearing aids for adults (LD 38)
•Require coverage of abortion services in public and private insurance coverage for pregnant women (LD 820)
NFIB has cautioned legislators about adding new benefits costs and making affordable health insurance more difficult to maintain
•Adopt Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance protections for guaranteed issue, pre-existing conditions, dependents to age 26, annual and lifetime caps, age rating bands, and essential benefits coverage (LD 1) Maine law contained most of these provisions prior to the ACA.
Defeated
•Eliminate insurance rating based on age, geographic location or smoking history, and reduce rate variability due to group size (LD 132) NFIB OPPOSED
Income Security
•Study the feasibility of providing basic economic security through a direct cash payment system and other programs including universal basic income unconditional cash transfers to Maine residents (LD 1324)
Labor – Discrimination
•Protect pregnant workers through “reasonable accommodation” in the workplace for pregnancy and related conditions including lactation (LD 666)
•Clarify various provisions of the Maine Human Rights Act (LD 1701)
•Enhance administration of the Maine Human Rights Act (LD 1702)
NFIB expressed concern about potential compliance burdens placed on small employers
Labor – Employment
•Prohibit inquiring about compensation history until after an offer of employment and all terms of compensation have been negotiated, and make evidence of seeking compensation history evidence of discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act (LD 278) NFIB OPPOSED
•Prohibit asking for a Social Security number in the job application process except for substance abuse testing or background checks (LD 305)
•Restrict enforcement of non-compete agreements with employees who earn 400% or less of the federal poverty level ($49,960 in 2019) except where use protects legitimate business interests (LD 733)
Defeated
•An attempt to impose restrictive requirements on hourly worker scheduling by employers of five or more employees was rejected unanimously the public hearing (LD 1345) NFIB OPPOSED
Labor – Leave
•Mandate up to 40 hours per year of paid time off, beginning 1/1/21, for workers at employers with more than ten employees and preempt related municipal ordinances (LD 369) Details will be outlined in a separate article
•Provide certified search and rescue volunteers for absences from work in response to law enforcement requests for help in emergencies (LD 886)
Labor – Minimum Wage
Defeated
•A $15 minimum wage in 2023 for employers of 50 or more workers was rejected (LD 670) NFIB OPPOSED
•Ideas for relief from the minimum wage – goes to $12 from $11 in January – such as reduced youth wage (LD 612, LD 739, LD 808), slower increase to $12 (LD 830, LD 1098), offset for employers in non-urban areas (LD 1098) – were rejected despite hours of testimony from dozens of small employers NFIB SUPPORTED
Labor – Unemployment Compensation
•Eliminate benefit offset for vacation pay (LD 75)
•Continue charging claimant benefits to most recent employer instead of being spread among all employers who paid the claimant’s qualifying wages (Part TTT, LD 1001)
•Include marijuana impairment as a disqualification for benefits, except for use of medical marijuana (LD 1013)
Labor – Unions
Defeated
•Allow teachers and other public employees the right to strike (LD 900)
Labor – Veterans
•Allow a veteran to take paid leave or unpaid leave, depending on whether or not the employer offers paid leave, to attend a scheduled appointment at a medical facility operated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, as long as the veteran gives the employer notice of the appointment as soon as reasonably possible (LD 1654)
Labor – Wages
•Prevent wage theft and promote employer accountability through increased penalties and use of stop-work orders (LD 1524) NFIB OPPOSED
Labor – Workers Compensation
•Governor Mills approved limited changes that were agreed upon by labor, business, and insurance interests and had strong bipartisan backing (LD 756) NFIB SUPPORTED
•More than 20 other bills that sought to increase benefits or make potentially costly changes to the law were rejected
Labor – Workforce
•Facilitate entry of immigrants into the workforce (LD 685)
Small Claims Court
Defeated
•Raise the jurisdiction limit to $10,000 from $6,000; proposed amendment applied new limit to debts other than consumer or personal injury claims, but the bill was killed in committee after the court system estimated new personnel and processing costs of $184,000 per year (LD 208) NFIB SUPPORTED
State Contracting
•Authorize use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) for public works projects (LD 1564) NFIB OPPOSED
Taxation – Property
•Replace the (Income)Tax Relief Fund for Maine Residents with the Property Tax Relief Fund for Maine Residents (LD 1713)
Transportation
•Prohibit use of handheld phones and devices while driving (LD 165)
•Create a commission to study and recommend funding solutions for Maine transportation systems (LD 945)
Defeated
•Replace the motor vehicle license plate slogan “Vacationland” (used since 1936) with “Staycationland” (LD 120)
The 2020 session promises to be busy with 411 bills carried over from 2019 and whatever other new proposals will be approved by legislative leaders later this year.
