AUGUSTA, Maine — In a release, the governor's office said she plans to focus on the Lewiston shootings, and the recent storms that caused damage across the state in December and January.
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Governor Janet Mills released the written portion of her State of the State address to the public on Tuesday morning.
The governor took a non-traditional approach this year by delivering her address in two parts: a written portion, and a speech set for 7 p.m. Tuesday night. She plans to focus that speech on the Lewiston shootings, and the recent storms that caused damage across the state in December and January.
In part one, Mills announced actions on the state budget, education, health care, housing, the opioid epidemic, and child safety.
On the budget, Mills wrote she plans to propose in the supplemental budget to save $100 million in Maine's projected revenue for use in the next biennium.
"If we do not budget responsibly now, the Legislature will be forced to make painful cuts in the future – just like other states are having to do now," Gov. Mills wrote.
On education, Mills announced a proposal to reform disability services for preschool children, such as reforming Child Development Services. Maine is the only state in the nation to use a quasi-governmental organization called Child Development Services, or CDS, to provide special education to Maine's youngest learners.
The state gives money to the Maine Department of Education, which in turn gives money to the quasi-governmental organization that is CDS. CDS does not operate or oversee any schools, which in turn, then must find and contract with providers for preschool children with disabilities.
"For more than 35 years, this system, locked in place by Maine law, has been unable to meet the needs of our children. That just isn’t working for Maine kids. We can, and we must, do better. Every other state in the nation educates pre-k children with disabilities through their public school systems. Maine should do the same," Mills wrote.
On health care, Mills wrote her supplemental budget proposal will include a cost-of-living adjustment for behavioral health providers and an overhaul of nursing facility rates to "ensure they can attract and retain workers to provide stable, high-quality services to Maine people."
On housing, Mills announced that through the supplemental budget, she will propose $10 million to bolster the Affordable Homeownership Program to construct more than 130 additional affordable homes in Maine.
On the opioid epidemic, she said she plans to use $750,000 of existing state funding to add nine new recovery coaches to Maine's OPTIONS teams.
"We are already using state funds to double the number of behavioral health clinicians on those teams and this latest investment will further strengthen the OPTIONS initiative statewide."
Also, the Mills administration will use $1.25 million in federal funds to further boost our distribution of naloxone across Maine.
She is also proposing dedicating $4 million through the supplemental budget to expand Medication Assisted Treatment in county jails in Maine.
On child safety, Mills wrote that performance on some key child welfare metrics has worsened and staff vacancy rates have risen since 2020. Caseworkers report they feel over-worked, over-burdened, and unsupported.
"It is clear to me that filling vacancies and taking action to help caseworkers manage their existing caseloads must be a top priority," she wrote.
Maine's Department of Health and Human Services commissioner Jeanne Lambrew recently appointed a new director of the Office of Child and Family Services, which oversees child welfare.
Through the supplemental budget, Mills plans to propose creating more targeted positions — such as legal aides and trainers — to expand teams for caseworkers so that caseworkers can focus their time and energy on engagement with children and families, on follow-up for services, on investigations, and on making sound decisions to protect children in need.
Mills also said that she would sign a bill introduced by Senator Lisa Keim if it makes it to her desk. That bill is a resolve directing the Department of Health and Human Services to create a pilot program to recruit and retain case aides, with a public campaign aimed at retirees and other people not currently in Maine’s workforce.
Second, she has directed her Administration to review the classification of child welfare positions to "ensure that the compensation properly reflects the difficulty and complexity of the work to attract and retain people in this vital workforce."
Third, Mills said she has authorized the Department of Health and Human Services to implement additional recruitment and retention payments for child welfare workers to "provide them with a much-needed boost this year."