Governor Paul LePage once again trotted out union busting “Right to Work” legislation this year. His proposal, LD 1835, would have created “Right to Work business zones” where union security clauses between workers and employers would be illegal. So-called “Right to Work” bills are designed to weaken unions and undercut workers’ ability to negotiate decent contracts. The flawed logic behind LePage’s latest bill is that by weakening collective bargaining rights and lowering wages, along with massive tax breaks for huge companies, Maine could attract large employers to come set up shop. This is a race to the bottom approach, and it’s not smart economic development. The bill was quickly defeated by the Legislature.

The Maine AFL-CIO believes that healthcare is a human right and that no one should be denied that right. This bill would have enabled Maine to accept federal funds to extend or maintain Medicaid coverage for 70,000 low-income, working Mainers, including nearly 3,000 veterans. In addition to ensuring that our friends, neighbors and families can access healthcare, the bill would also have helped lower costs for those who currently have health insurance. LD 1487 was one version of this legislation and was designed to be a bipartisan compromise. This bill passed the House and Senate with bipartisan votes but was ultimately vetoed by the Governor. Veto override efforts fell just short again this year as they did in 2013.

LD 1641 was a modest change to the Workers’ Compensation law so that an injured worker who is seeing an employer selected healthcare provider can have someone accompany them —that could be their husband or wife, a friend, a union representative or someone else. This is important so that an injured worker can have support and a witness to what is said in the visit, which can often later be disputed. The bill was amended in committee, and the new version would have expanded the list of statements that are inadmissible in proceedings under the Maine Workers’ Compensation Act to include statements obtained during continued questioning of an employee by an investigator, employer or an employer’s representative after that employee’s request to have a representative of the employee’s choice present has been denied. The bill passed the Legislature but was vetoed by Governor Paul LePage.

Everyone in our state has a stake in the fate of our telecommunications infrastructure. It is crucial to our economy. When large telecommunications utilities change hands, the reorganization has to go through a review process at the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Under current law, the standard for approval is very modest and a company only has to prove that the sale will do no harm. In 2007, when Verizon was sold to FairPoint Communications, workers and community members warned that it would be bad for Maine, but did not have the tools in law to stop it. They were proven right. LD 1761 would have established a stronger review standard to ensure that future sales of large telecommunication utilities benefit Maine communities, consumers and our economic development goals. This bill was passed by the Legislature and vetoed by Governor Paul LePage.

Thousands of Mainers are employed in call centers. In recent years, call center companies have opened in Maine, received tax breaks and then moved jobs out of state or out of the country, putting scores of Maine people out of work. LD 1761 would have ensured that Maine tax dollars aren’t going to support the offshoring of jobs and would have required that all call center work done by a state agency be performed within the State. The bill also made information about corporate offshoring public. The bill was passed by the Legislature but died on the Appropriations table.

Historically, the Governor submits a proposed budget to the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, and the Committee then works through a lengthy, in-depth process to produce a final budget. This year Governor LePage refused to submit a budget at all. The Committee had to craft the supplemental State Budget without the help of the LePage administration. The Appropriations Committee worked hard to come up with a consensus budget to fix a $30 million shortfall. The final product had some positive elements for Maine workers, including funding of merit and longevity pay increases for State employees who had gone years with frozen pay. The budget also included funding for nursing homes and will shorten waiting lists for much needed health services for disabled and mentally ill Maine people. The budget passed overwhelmingly and went into effect without the Governor’s signature.

Multinational corporations avoid paying taxes by hiding their money in off-shore tax havens. LD 1120 would have closed this loophole by requiring companies to file their taxes in Maine on money they house in 38 countries overseas known to be tax havens, like Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, and the Cayman Islands. The bill would recover $10 million for the State of Maine per biennial budget. Corporate tax dodgers put Maine people and small businesses at an unfair disadvantage and rob our state of needed revenue. This bill passed the Legislature and was vetoed by Governor LePage.

The Maine AFL-CIO supports universal healthcare that makes healthcare a human right and a public good, not a commodity run by for-profit insurance industries. Union members are barely holding on to good health care at the bargaining table—it is getting harder and harder to negotiate affordable and quality benefits and workers are doing so at the expense of wage increases and other improvements. This bill as originally written would have created a publicly funded system to provide healthcare to all Maine people. It was later amended to study the feasibility of such a system. The bill passed with a majority of support but was vetoed by Governor LePage.

For years, the State of Maine has shared funding from state sales tax revenue with municipalities to help fund our local cities and towns. Governor LePage’s 2013 budget made huge cuts to revenue sharing, leaving our cities and towns with major budget shortfalls. Most towns have already faced years of deep cuts. Municipalities were in the position of either raising property taxes or cutting services like schools, road maintenance, and public safety. This would mean further job loss for teachers, fire fighters and others and the loss of the crucial services they provide for all of us. Maine workers and towns demanded the Legislature restore some of this funding, which they significantly did. This was critical for our communities, good public services and the workers who provide them.