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Good morning from Montpelier,
First, I would like to pass along an apology for not getting this to you over the weekend. I spent Friday at the Capitol with the intention of testifying on a bill in the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry Committee (HAFF) late Friday morning and writing this update for you late in the day. As luck would have it, no House Committees ended up meeting on Friday since the House of Representatives was in session from 9:30 am until 3:30 pm because of a debate on education funding. As a result, I waited at the Capitol until almost 3 pm and then had to drive back to Maine that evening, which changed my schedule for the weekend, and you’re receiving this on Monday morning instead.
In terms of PLC priorities in Montpelier, there was a tremendous amount of activity with the PLC's priority bill this session, S. 46, An Act Relating to the Taxation of Vehicles Used for Forestry Operations. First, this past Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee asked to be relieved of responsibility for the bill. As a result, the bill was then referred to the House Committee on Transportation. On Friday, while I was in Montpelier, State Representative and PLC Member, Jed Lipsky and I met with House Transportation Committee Chairman Matt Walker about the bill. Chairman Walker is supportive of the bill but is not willing to move the bill forward this session because of the fiscal impact upon the highway fund. There is a $30 million deficit that the highway fund this session and Chairman Walker is taking a hard line on any cuts at this time.
I stated above, Chairman Walker is supportive of our industry and does not want to let our legislation die. As a result, he is willing to take testimony later this session in the Transportation Committee to set the bill up for 2026. He is also willing to write a letter to the Governor asking to have funding included in the Governor’s FY ’27 budget, with the intent of bringing the bill back up in his Committee in 2026. I will work with him this week to find a date to present our issues to his committee and set things up for 2026.
While this is not the news we wanted to hear, we are appreciative of Chairman Walker’s honesty with us as well as his integrity to move it forward in the future. We will work on providing testimony to the Transportation committee later this session and a strategy to inform the Governor of how important this issue is to the industry with the intent of getting it funded next year. As a reminder, this bill, as originally submitted, would have exempted new and used heavy-duty trucks and parts used in forestry operations from sales, purchase and use taxes, lowering costs for loggers and forest truckers in the state and putting them on a more equal footing with those in neighboring states where such exemptions already exist. It is vital, as the cost of trucks has more than doubled in the last decade due in part to the cost of mandatory Tier 4 engines designed to reduce emissions, yet that cost increase is preventing many in the logging industry from upgrading to these lower-emissions engines, thus defeating the intent.
In other thoughts, as I mentioned above, I was asked to provide testimony to the HAFF Committee this past Friday on S. 60, An act relating to establishing the Farm Security Special Fund to provide grants for farm losses due to weather conditions. The HAFF Committee would like to hear from our organization to determine if logging operations should also be eligible for this program. It is likely that my testimony will be rescheduled for later this week. I will testify in support of the bill, but ask that funds only be provided for logging companies when an emergency declaration is made by the Governor in a county-by-county situation as a result of catastrophic weather events. As the membership may recall, funding for lost income because of the flood events of the last two years has not been made available for logging companies at the state or federal level. The PLC does not want to ask for assistance for every weather issue that exists, but there are cases where exceptions should be made, and the authority provided in this bill is a critical step. I will share my testimony later this week, but if anyone has questions, please let me know.
Please reach out to me with any questions, concerns, or suggestions and have a great week.
Dana