News From Augusta

(updated 1/2025)

Maine Legislature - MEA-R priorities

The 132nd Maine Legislature’s first regular session convened on December 4, with a statutory adjournment date of the third Wednesday in June. The Democrats control both the House of Representatives and Senate by slimmer margins. Governor Janet Mills has two years left in her final term. 

MEA and MEA-Retired priorities for the 132nd Maine Legislature are:

   1. Raise the state’s share of retired educator healthcare premiums by 5 percent each year over the next two years. If passed the State will be paying 70 percent. Bill sub-mitted By Rep. Jan Dodge. (Primary focus) 

   2. Address the COLA cap for retired educators and Ed. Techs. (Expensive)

   3. Place markers in the law regarding the 2028 payoff of the Unfunded Actuarial Liability (UAL) and divert these funds to the pension system for improvements. (Important)

(Excerpted and edited from an article in the February 2025 issue of The Clarion by Crystal Ward, Chairperson Legislative Committee) 

(updated 8/2024)

Thinking ahead to the elections in November - 

Electing people who will help retired in MainePERS, Medicare and Social Security is critical! Jan (John) Kosinski, MEA Government Relations Director agrees, “The November 2024 election is critical for America and our state. While there will be much attention on the presidential race, we must remember the important role legislators in Maine play when it comes to our pension benefits. Be sure to ask your local candidates for state house and state senate whether they support improvements to the pension system for retired teachers and if they are committed to working with us to get those improvements passed and funded.” MEA has the voting records of the Maine senators and representatives on our key issues. You can contact Jan Kosinski if you want to know how your legislators voted. 

Down in Washington DC, the Social Security Offset bill (HR82) is still in the Ways and Means Committee and has not been voted on to go to the floor for a vote as of this writing. We know that Maine Senators Collins and King and Representatives Pingree and Golden have signed onto the bills to get rid of the Social Security inequities—Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). Senator King is working with a small group to fix Social Security and he says that WEP/GOP eliminations are included in that initiative. 

(Excerpted and edited from an article in the August issue of The Clarion by Crystal Ward, Chairperson Legislative Committee) 

(news from April and June 2024 )

Additional news about the 2nd legislative session - 

The second session of 131st Maine Legislature went into session on January 3 and has now concluded. Several bills dealing with education and some concerning retirement were carried forward from the first session.

There was good news for education. The final supplemental budget passed raises the minimum wage for all school support staff to 115 percent of the state minimum wage and 125 percent of the state minimum wage for ed techs beginning July 1, 2025. The budget pays for the increases in the first year (2025-26 school year) and then going forward the additional costs will be reflected in the school funding formula. The state budget also maintains 55 percent state funding for schools—a goal we pushed to attain for over a decade and now we are in our fourth year of maintaining the state’s 55 percent funding commitment to public schools.

Please see page 2 of the April 2024 Clarion for an introduction to the second session of 131st Maine Legislature and page 2 of the June 2024 Clarion for a summary of the session.

(Excerpted and edited from articles in the April and June issue of The Clarion by Crystal Ward, Chairperson Legislative Committee)

(updated 4/3/23)

See page 2 of the April 2023 Clarion for the most current legislative news. 

The Legislature has approximately 2000 bills proposed for the first regular session of the 131st and they have printed 900 as of the end of March. The April Clarion details priority bills for MEA-Retired on page 2. 

News on state income taxes and bills. 

Don't forget that the first $25000 of your pension is tax exempt for 2022. 

Under the Dome

Members of MEA-Retired receive The Clarion 6 times a year, every other month, and it always contains a legislative update. However, no matter how "hot off the press" The Clarion is, the legislative update cannot get all time sensitive legislative and LD activity and calls for action out to members when needed since it is a bi-monthly publication. As a member of MEA and MEA-Retired, you can receive more timely updates in emails called "Under the Dome." It's a one page detailed email written by John Kosinski that summarizes legislative activities and the status of LDs that affect our members. Use the contact form at the MEA website to request the newsletter and if you're a member, you'll be added to the email list. If you have questions, ask your local affiliate president.

Go Here to request being added to the list.  In the subject line, write something like, "Add me to Under the Dome."

(updated 5/10/22)

The COLA, the Base and State Taxes on Our Pension. Also, additional wins for students and educators state-wide!

Quick Updates Pension Improvements: The MEA was successful in winning a 4% COLA for this year. The budget lifts the base amount of the pension by 2.4% starting July 1, 2023. It also lifts the state income tax on the pension from $10,000 to $25,000 for the 2022 tax year, and $30,000 and $35,000 in future years. 

COVID Sick Leave: The legislature adopted a bill to provide 15 days of paid COVID leave for all school employees. It is retroactive to January 1, 2021. Some had to take unpaid time in order to recover from COVID or care for someone who needed to quarantine, or if your child's school or daycare closed due to COVID. If someone had gone unpaid due to COVID and they had no more leave to use, they must be paid up to 15 days. 

State Funding for Education Maintained: For the second year in a row, the state meets its commitment to funding 55% of the cost of public schools. 

Deeper Investments in Student Success: Included in the budget is funding for free meals at school for all Maine students, and free community college for 2020-2023 high school graduates. 

(Printed with permission from an email to MEA-Retired members from John Kosinski, MEA Government Relations Director.)