The end of a legislature is pretty much always a whirlwind, but this year felt particularly hectic. After two weeks of long days and nights at the State House, voting hundreds of bills in the Senate and House Houses, we completed most of our work by the wee hours of June 18. During the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers had to adjust our work to ensure we protect ourselves, our employees and the public, while at the same time allowing you to share your thoughts on the bills we are considering. It was a lot of work and there were some serious growing pains, but it was incredibly rewarding in the end.
We were able to adopt a large number of measures to improve the life of the Mainer in everyday life; I just wanted to highlight a few of them for you here.
Two bills that I sponsored this year were aimed at helping the working Mainern better control their finances. The first, LD 1622, will help more working Mainern plan and save for their retirement. Long gone are the days when the majority of retirees could count on an annuity to carry them through their golden years. Right now, more than a third of retirement age Mainers rely solely on social security for their income. When the average annual social security income is only $ 18,000, it’s clearly not enough to make a living. As part of this new move, which has been supported by both parties, employers who do not offer their own retirement plan will allow their employees to withdraw directly from their paychecks. These employers do not contribute appropriate funds to the plan, which means they are not placed in undue financial burden, and their workers have the same simple funds to save as those who work for larger employers with 401K programs. I’ve been working on this bill for years and I’m incredibly proud that it crossed the finish line to become law.
The next bill I want to share with you is LD 1645, which will help protect student loan home borrowers and their signatories. As more and more people continue their education to secure a well-paying job and the cost of education has risen, students have had to borrow more and more. In addition, parents and grandparents often step in to co-sign private loans. More than 70,000 Mainers hold private student loan debt, and as of 2018, more than 20,000 Mainers had over 60 years of student debt. For the past several years, I have worked to protect student loan borrowers from predatory lending practices. LD 1645 will further strengthen the Student Loan Bill of Rights passed last year by ensuring that those who have private student loan debt have reasonable and fair protection.
I was also proud to be part of a series of bills designed to help make prescription drugs more affordable for Mainers. The Making Health Care Work for Maine package includes five bills that work together to reduce prescription drug costs, provide visibility into why drug prices are rising, and establish an emergency insulin program. I am pleased to announce that all five of these bills have passed the legislature with strong bipartisan support. My bill – which builds on my previous work on strengthening drug price transparency laws and allowing lawmakers to close loopholes and identify bad actors – has been enacted. Governor Janet Mills also signed a bill from my colleague Senator Cathy Breen to provide 30-day emergency insulin supply to eligible Mainers in any pharmacy for less than $ 35. This law is going to save lives right now as we work to contain the skyrocketing cost of insulin. A bill is on the special approvals table awaiting funding, and as I write this the other two are waiting for Gov’s approval. Mills. It is important that all five of these laws go into effect.
The legislature should meet again on June 30th to complete the last of our work, including voting on a budget proposal that would finally increase the state’s share of funding for K-12 education to 55 percent and revenue sharing to full by 2023 5% recovered I’m sure it will be a long day again, but it will always be worthwhile to join my colleagues in adopting measures to help you, your family and your neighbors.
Eloise Vitelli is a state senator and represents District 23, consisting of Arrowsic, Bath, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Dresden, Georgetown, Phippsburg, Richmond, Topsham, West Bath, Woolwich and the disorganized township of Perkins.
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source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/eloise-vitelli-maine-legislature-acted-to-help-working-mainers/
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