New Proposed Bill Seeks To Make General Election Day A State Holiday

In 2020, roughly seventy-eight percent of eligible Maine voters cast their ballots in the November election. Voter participation in that general election placed Maine among a handful of states to register the highest turnout in the nation. Now lawmakers are looking to bring even more eligible voters into the fold.

Representative Benjamin Collings has introduced LD 1239: "An Act to Make General Election Day a State Holiday and to Allow Certain Employees an Opportunity to Vote"

The proposal would:

• designate Election Day as a state holiday.

• establish a requirement that employers provide an employee three consecutive hours in which to vote on the day of the general election.

• direct employers to provide employees paid time off sufficient to allow them three consecutive hours in which to vote.

• direct the Secretary of State to prepare and supply employers with a notice of the aforementioned requirements to be posted in the workplace at least ten days before each general election.

LD 1239 would provide employees greater flexibility to take part in general elections and have their voices heard on critical issues affecting their communities. This legislation would go a long way to support employees who struggle with taking time off from work in order to vote.

Democracy works best when all eligible voters are able to participate in the electoral process. We urge lawmakers to pass this bill and make general elections more accessible to working Mainers.

State Legislature Works To Ensure a Fair Workweek For Maine Workers

In Maine, we owe our thriving economy to the hard working people in our workforce. Their contributions to businesses across the state are the main driver of many of our growing industries.

But for many working Mainers, navigating the realities of their personal lives can often be complicated by uncertainties at work. For the thousands of workers in food service, hospitality and other industries, inhumane scheduling practices have become all too common. Many are given little to no notice about a change in their work schedule, thereby affecting previous plans for childcare, transportation, and other factors in their personal life.

To remedy this issue, Senator Michael Tipping of Penobscot has introduced LD 1190: "An Act to Ensure a Fair Workweek by Requiring Notice of Work Schedules." This bill requires employers who employ 250 or more employees worldwide to provide hourly employees at least 2 weeks' prior notice of the employees' work schedules, with compensation owed for schedule changes under certain circumstances.

Among other provisions, the bill would also:

1. Require employers to keep certain business records for at least 3 years.

2. Allow the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Standards to investigate possible violations of the law and receive complaints of possible violations from the public.

3. Install a fine of $50 per day for any noncompliance by an employer.

LD 1190 would support some of our most vulnerable working Mainers by protecting their well-being in the workplace and ensuring their autonomy when they are off the clock. We look forward to seeing its passage in the Maine Legislature.

New bill to aid, support employee-owned and cooperative businesses

Maine is well known for its many small businesses. They make up the backbone of our economy and our communities, and employee-owned businesses are no exception.

In employee-owned businesses or cooperatives (co-ops), its the workers who own all, or the majority, of the company. For workers and business owners both, this can be a great way to encourage innovation, incentive, and pride in the work you do – because you are working for yourself.

Now, a new bill written by Sen. Reny aims to help encourage and aid businesses looking to move toward some form of employee ownership.

LD 1276 would do the following:

1. Exclude the amount of gain recognized by a business owner in transferring the business to an employee stock ownership plan, eligible worker-owned cooperative, consumer cooperative, affordable housing cooperative, or agriculture producer cooperative from Maine’s income tax, up to $750,000. It would also exclude the interest from loans that finance transfers of ownership.
   

2. Create the Maine Employee Ownership Center, which will provide information and programs to assist businesses in the transition to employee or cooperative ownership. The Department of Economic and Community Development and Office of Business Development will work with a nonprofit development organization with relevant expertise to help develop and manage this center.
   

3. The Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability and the Government Oversight Committee and the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over taxation matters will create performance parameters in order to qualify for these exemptions. They can include, the number of qualifying business ownership conversions to employee or cooperative ownership; The number of full-time equivalent jobs retained and units of affordable housing created or retained; the number of housing units converted to cooperative housing; and more.

This bill is a great tool to help businesses make the switch to employee ownership. Employee ownership is good for businesses, good for workers, and good for our communities. We urge the Legislature to pass this bill!