Public Policy
PUBLIC policy
What you’ll find on this page:
STATE POLICY: with links to GrowSmart testimony
FEDERAL POLICY: with links to letters of support
LOCAL AND REGIONAL ADVOCACY: with links to letters of support and resources
LEGISLATIVE TOOLKIT to help you advocate for the smart growth issues that matter to you
Legislative Calendars
As the bills travel to the House and Senate Chambers, you can check out each day’s calendar:
Senate Advance Calendar
House Advance Calendar
For more information on the Legislative process in general, CLICK HERE.
Commission Reports
STATE POLICY
GrowSmart Maine regularly testifies in Augusta on relevant smart growth legislation. This is one of the most important ways that we represent our members’ interests.
As we weigh in on key issues, we will post our progress and views here. We encourage our members to engage in the process as well.
We advocate by weighing in on legislation others propose, as well as engaging with legislators to submit bills and resolves that will meet our key priorities:
- That development supports mitigating the effects of climate change;
- That rules and regulations for land use are fair, sustainable and equitable; and
- That communities are fiscally sustainable while providing amenities including affordable and responsible housing and transportation choices.
To achieve these goals, we will advocate within the following four areas:
2023 POLICY ACTION
PROBLEM STATEMENT: Maine’s current uncoordinated approach to building places is causing real, unintended, and significant social, environmental, financial, economic, and cultural challenges and requires the creation of a cohesive approach to land development, redevelopment, and placemaking.
Policy Action 2023 is a set of sixteen proposals aligned within eight working groups, each of which provides a single step—some incremental, some quite significant—toward the shared goal developed within the Policy Action 2023 process last spring: to address barriers to and create incentives for equitable, sustainable growth and development that strengthens downtowns and villages of all sizes while pulling development pressure away from productive and open natural areas. We do so acknowledging that Maine has urban, rural, and suburban settings for which any solution may or may not be a fit and a variety of people who deserve to be welcomed into their communities.
In Support of LD 1101
An Act to Support Lower Home Energy Costs by Establishing a Home Energy Scoring System
PLANNING FOR AG
Planning for Ag provides an opportunity to prioritize farmland protection and farm viability as essential smart growth outcomes equal to and directly related to directing growth to where development makes sense for the long term.
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SMART GROWTH
There are legislative proposals critical to our mission in addition to our three tracts for advocacy. These include our participation in the Wabanaki Alliance Tribal Coalition to support sovereignty, portions of the budget and bonds, bills that either align with or run counter to Policy Action 2023 proposals. We monitor several dozen such bills, and will testify when we believe GrowSmart’s voice is needed, either in support, opposition, neither for nor against but with information for the committee.
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MAINE BROADBAND COALITION
The Maine Broadband Coalition serves a vital purpose, as the voice of Maine’s internet users, working to enable better service for everyone. The internet has relevance to every legislative committee and often intersects with numerous bills. Learn more about the Maine Broadband Coalition. For the 131st Legislature, the Coalition Policy Committee, chaired by GrowSmart Maine, is focused on just a few related to the Maine Broadband Coalition’s guiding values including:
- Protection of Maine’s digital privacy law, passed in 2019, to ensure our online data is not used without our express permission;
- Closing the loophole in municipal campaign reporting to prevent the kind of unreported spending by out-of-state entities in opposition to municipal broadband proposals seen in several communities last year;
- Addressing barriers to municipally-owned broadband infrastructure so that all options for delivering affordable, high-speed internet are possible statewide.
legislative toolkit
FIND YOUR LEGISLATORS Not sure who your legislators are? Find a list of all your state and federal elected officials HERE. Or visit the Legislature website to find a full list of all Maine Senators and Maine Representatives.
SUBMIT PUBLIC TESTIMONY: All bills and state agency commissioner nominees are assigned to one of 19 standing joint committees and receive a public hearing. Members of the public can offer testimony in support or opposition to a bill in person or via Zoom during the public hearing or in writing. If you want to testify during the hearing via Zoom, you must register at least 30 minutes before the hearing begins. You do not need to register to testify in person.
To register for Zoom or to submit your testimony in writing, follow these steps:
- Visit the legislative testimony page HERE.
- Select Public hearing
- Select the committee that is hearing the bill
- Select the date and time of the hearing
- Select the appropriate bill number
- To register for Zoom, select “I would like to testify electronically over Zoom.”
- To submit written testimony, upload your file or enter the testimony in the field.
- If you plan to testify in person, you are asked to bring 20 copies of your testimony to distribute to committee members.
You can find committee assignments and public hearing dates and times on the bill’s website. While you can submit testimony at any time and it will be shared with committee members and become part of the public record, only testimony submitted online by midnight on the day of the bill’s public hearing will be included on the bill’s web page.
People with special needs who require accommodations to participate in a hearing should contact the Legislative Information Office as soon as possible by phone (207) 287-1692 or email lio@legislature.maine.gov.
2022 Maine Legislative Session Summary:
Testimony
GrowSmart Maine’s Testimony before the Maine Legislature
Advocacy Updates
2021 Maine Legislative Session Summary:
- GrowSmart Maine’s Testimony before the Maine Legislature
- GrowSmart Maine Advocacy Updates
local and regional advocacy
There are local and regional issues that rise to statewide significance when considering their alignment with smart growth.
For these issues, GrowSmart Maine may take a position or create a resource when we believe our engagement will prove useful for those directly engaged and others who may be dealing with similar challenges. Click the links below to download a PDF:
- GrowSmart Maine Position on the Maine Turnpike Authority Gorham East/West Spur Project – June 2022
- Implementing the Vision: First Steps—Practical Steps to Transform Commercial Strips Into Mixed-Use Centers
- The World of a Developer: Moving an Idea to Reality
- Portland, Maine: A Citizen’s Guide to Commercial Development. How Can I Be Involved?
- Developers: Neighborhood Meetings That Build Support for Your Project
FEDERAL POLICY
GrowSmart Maine engages in public policy on the federal level primarily through key partnerships:
Smart Growth America advocates with Congress and the administration for a transportation system that safely, affordably and conveniently connects people of all means and ability to jobs, services, and opportunity through multiple modes of travel and development that is sustainable, equitable, and walkable.