Maine Legislative Challenges in 2023

January 20, 2023

The 2023 legislative session is under way. Legislators pre-filed 2,123 ideas for legislation and state agencies submitted another 90, which will result in about 2,000 bills being actually printed. Here are some of the challenges facing Maine small busines

Maine Legislative Challenges in 2023

Paid Family & Medical Leave NFIB is fighting to protect small business employers from costly payroll taxes and employee absences that would be caused by a proposal to provide 12-16 weeks of paid family and medical leave. Cost estimates for the program vary from $332-$401 million per year in 2026 and climbing to $373-$450 million in 2029, to be financed by payroll taxes on employers and employees, creating the largest or nearly so worker entitlement program in Maine. $18+ Maine Minimum Wage NFIB is opposing legislation to raise the minimum wage to $18-$20 an hour – as well as ideas to require a much higher “living wage” – and NFIB is supporting legislation that would reduce the impact on small employers of annual inflation hikes. Income Tax Relief NFIB is opposing efforts to add new tax brackets and increase tax rates on taxable income (such as $100,000/single filers or $200,000/joint filers). Advocates of higher taxes could be pushing for rates ranging from 10.15% to as much as 13.15%, depending on income bracket, compared to the current top rate of 7.15%. NFIB also is opposing efforts to impose a surtax on family incomes above $100,000/$200,000. Energy Costs NFIB is working with its members to educate legislators and the governor about the impact of rising energy costs on small businesses and the need to avoid regulatory policies that could make the situation worse through cost-shifting, imposing costly reforms or politicizing the regulation of rates and energy supplies. Maine Single-Payer Healthcare NFIB is fighting to defeat proposals that would dismantle the private health insurance market in Maine and replace it with a $5+ billion “healthcare-for-all” system financed by sizable tax increases on jobs, businesses, and mid- and upper-income families. Vermont, Colorado, New York, and California have turned down similar proposals due to high costs

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