Legislative Work

Participating in the Maine Municipal Association Legislative Policy Committee (MMA-LPC) has provided valuable insights into the legislative process, the state and local governments interface and “on the job” training in advocacy and policy analysis.

My experience in the environmental field allowed me to add substantive comments in full committee discussions around proposed changes in current use taxation and new in-lieu fee programs for specific environmental impacts from development.

Outside of the full committee meetings, I joined a sub-committee on housing and during the course of the last session I became somewhat of a subject matter expert on LD 2003 for municipalities. This led to participation in panel discussions and a Maine Calling episode on ADUs.

I became a frequent observer of the the Joint Select Committee on Housing and learned that there was little understanding on this committee about all of the existing statutes that pertain to housing and even less understanding about municipal governance.

Joint Select Committee on Housing

There are a lot of positive feedback loops between the different spheres of my public service work. My participation in the MMA LPC led to being part of a late summer focus group with the Governors Office of Policy, Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) on municipal needs to implement climate change initiatives.

I have been able to reconnect directly with GOPIF for assistance in obtaining needed information for the Eliot Comprehensive Plan Update and a recently awarded community assistance grant for climate resiliency work.

Climate change vulnerability and resilience assessment- 10/5/2023 grant award press release