Maine pumps federal relief funds into jobs and recovery plan
(The Center Square) – Maine is pumping $139 million into its new jobs and recovery plan in a first round of disbursements aimed at boosting small businesses and sustaining workers.
The spending unveiled by the Mills administration on Monday includes $20 million for a new small business grant program, $39 million to help lower monthly health insurance premiums and $80 million to replenish the Maine Unemployment Trust fund and mitigate tax hikes for small businesses.
Gov. Janet Mills said the investments are the first “down payment” on the $1 billion Maine Jobs & Recovery plan, which went into effect on Monday, and will help “build a stronger state and a better economy that provides people with good-paying jobs.”
“The health of Maine people, the health of our economy, and the health of our future depend on three things: our ability to put the pandemic behind us, our ability to tackle the economic challenges immediately in front of us, and the ability to solve the longstanding, systemic problems that have held us back for decades,” Mills said in a statement.
The new business grant program will provide relief to help businesses and nonprofits with expenses related to loans and interest they incurred in order to sustain operations during the pandemic. The loans must be in deferral and the business must demonstrate at least 20% lost revenue in the year 2021. Applications for the program will open Nov. 1, Mills said.
The plan also calls for transferring $39 million in relief funds to the Maine Bureau of Insurance to launch a new program aimed at helping businesses cover the cost of health coverage for their employees.
Meanwhile, the plan will also divert $80 million to Maine’s Unemployment Trust Fund to help the fund that pays out jobless benefits solvent and offset contribution increases that are being paid by businesses.
Maine Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said the plan “keeps the fund solvent, ensures unemployment insurance is available if needed, and mitigates tax increases for Maine businesses.”
“Unemployment insurance is an economic stabilizer for families and their communities, and this infusion of funds, along with the plan’s strong workforce initiatives, will substantially benefit Maine people,” Fortman said.
President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in March, which provided direct payments to individuals and billions of dollars for states and local governments.
All told, Maine got more than $4.5 billion from the stimulus package, including relief for businesses and direct payments to residents and funding for local governments.
More than $540 million of the ARPA funds will be dedicated to infrastructure goals, such as fixing roads and bridges and building more affordable housing.
Implementation of the Maine Jobs & Recovery was delayed by 90 days because Mills wasn’t able to get the two-thirds vote in the Legislature needed to enact the spending plan.
The Democratic-controlled House and Senate ultimately pushed the plan through without Republican support. But the state had to wait 90 days for the law to take effect.
Dana Connors, president and CEO of the Maine Chamber of Commerce, said the plan rolled out by the Mills administration on Monday will “make it that much easier for small businesses to recover from the pandemic, keep and put people to work in good-paying jobs, and strengthen our economy.”
Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square
