Winthrop Grade School Nominated For National Award

The Maine Department of Education has nominated Winthrop Grade School and Turner Elementary School to be 2014 National Blue Ribbon Schools.

Since 1982, the U.S. Department of Education has annually sought out schools where students attain and maintain high academic goals, including those that beat the odds. In its 32-year history, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program has bestowed this coveted award on over 7,000 of America’s schools, including nearly 50 in Maine. The Education Commissioner in each state nominates schools, which are then invited by the U.S. Secretary of Education to submit a formal application.

Both of the nominated schools have student achievement in the top 15 percent in Maine for both reading and math. The federal education department will announce awardees in September 2014.

Last fall, the Williams-Cone School in Topsham was named Maine’s 2013 National Blue Ribbon School. The RSU 75 elementary school, which also earned an “A” in the Maine School Performance Grading System, was honored in part because it had seen double-digit increases over the last five years in the percentage of its students deemed proficient.

For more information about Maine’s program and past winners, and a link to the national website, visit www.maine.gov/doe/recognition/.


Record Number Of Moose Hunters Successful For Second Year In A Row

  The numbers are in from this fall’s moose hunt, and 2,971 moose hunters were successful last season in their quest for a moose. 4,110 permits were issued this past season, with 72% of the hunters successful. The 2,971 successful hunters marks a new record, eclipsing the 2,937 of last year.

“Maine has a thriving moose population,” said Chandler Woodcock, Commissioner for the Department of Inland fisheries and Wildlife. “The moose hunt allows us to regulate the moose population in Maine, and it gives hunters the opportunity at the hunt of a lifetime.

Maine currently is in the fourth year of conducting aerial surveys to estimate moose abundance and population composition (composition of male/females; adults/calves). The aerial surveys provide data used to estimate the moose population and health of the herd.

“Maine has a healthy and strong moose population and has the highest density of moose in the lower 48 states,” says Lee Kantar, Maine’s moose biologist.

Biologists are set to establish moose permit numbers for the fall 2014 moose season. The number of moose permits available are based upon population numbers and the composition of the moose population in wildlife management districts, as well as the population goals and objectives for that district.

Stand Up For Maine Prosperity Now

As many of you know, last week the House overrode the veto of my bill that would strengthen Maine's food economy and create jobs. The vote was 94-46. Please read the floor speech I delivered to the House last Tuesday that answered the veto letter and helped secure the override.

LD 1254, An Act to Increase Consumption of Maine Foods in All State Institutions, would direct all state-funded institutions to purchase a percentage of food from Maine producers so long as it is competitively priced and available.

This is a commonsense economic development bill that would move the Maine food economy forward. This is about Maine people feeding Maine people, keeping our money in the state and creating jobs.

The bill won overwhelming bipartisan support in the State and Local Government Committee, secured a two-thirds vote in the House and was approved unanimously "under the hammer" in the Senate.

The percentage thresholds in the bill increase incrementally over the next 20 years in order to make them achievable and fiscally responsible. Schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program are exempt.

My bill builds on an existing law that requires the state to encourage food self-sufficiency for Maine and state institutions to keep their food dollars in Maine. It adds an element of accountability through benchmarks and a timeline but contains no penalties.

The barriers on local farms to institutional markets are significant, and this bill could help create space for small farms to become mid-sized farms; mid-sized farms to scale up and hire farm help; large farms to gain a market for 'seconds.' Maine's strength can be found in our primary economic engines: our farmers, fishers and forestry -- the emblems of our heritage on our state's flag. If we want more Maine jobs, we need to start with policies that help promote the growth and strengthen our primary economy, not undercut and divert resources away from them.

The fight is not over, however.  The bill will now be taken up in the Senate, as early as tomorrow.  So please contact your senator and ask him or her to support this bill and override the veto. 

Floor Speech: Veto Override of Maine Foods Bill

Remarks on Veto Override of LD 1254

An Act To Increase Consumption of Maine Foods in All State Institutions - January 14, 2014

Mr. Speaker, women and men of the House, I rise to urge you to vote to override the veto on LD 1254, An Act to Increase Consumption of Maine Foods in All State Institutions.

When are we going to invest in our state’s food production? When are we going to invest in the self-sufficiency of the great state of Maine? If not now, then, tell me, when?

LD 1254 is a commonsense economic development measure that would strengthen Maine's food economy and promote job creation for Maine people. Last session, the Legislature agreed to the measure, passing the bill to be enacted by a 2/3 vote. A supermajority, to be sure

LD 1254 would direct all state-funded institutions to purchase a percentage of foodstuffs from Maine food producers. Those percentages increase incrementally over the next 20 years in order to make them achievable and fiscally responsible.

By committee amendment, schools that participate in the Federal School Lunch Program are exempt. The Joint Standing Committee on State and Local Government, chaired by the good representative from North Yarmouth, did an outstanding job working this bill. The school exemption was prudent in order to keep this bill moving forward and viable for passage. The committee also knew that LD 1431, An Act To Support School Nutrition and Expand the Local Foods Economy, was in the pipeline. That proposal seeks to remedy any problems with local school districts that may have trouble sourcing food from local food producers. This bill, LD 1254, is, therefore, NOT an "unfunded mandate," as the chief executive described in his veto letter (on either local school districts OR state government), because if the food isn't competitively priced and available, there is no requirement for any state institution to purchase it. That’s the reason why there’s no price tag in the final fiscal note on this bill.

Now, speaking of the veto letter, the only part of it that reads as accurate is when it states that current state law already requires institutions to purchase food from Maine producers. Well, it is this precise current law, Chapter  8-A: FOOD AND FOOD POLICY, Subchapter 1: PURCHASE OF FOODSTUFFS FROM MAINE, that LD 1254 seeks to AMEND by adding implementation guidelines back into the statute. They were removed in 2005 when the price per meal no longer made sense, given the rising cost of food.

Seasonality also isn't an issue because Maine food IS available year-round. There are a growing number of farms growing food year-round in state-of-the art, energy efficient and sustainable greenhouses. But even if there aren’t yet enough of these to supply fresh greens to our state institutions in the winter, then think frozen or canned vegetables or frozen blueberries from Maine growers and processors; think frozen or fresh meats and seafoods from Maine meat and seafood producers and processors;  think storage beets, carrots, turnips, potatoes, and winter squashes from Maine farmers; think of the frozen sliced root crop from Aroostook County that Northern Girl distributes all over the state. I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

The chief executive’s note on separation of powers is simply unfounded. The state’s correctional facilities are NOT exempt from the laws of the Legislature.

Now, there are some who say that the government has no business telling a food purchaser at a state-funded institution what food to buy. Even a person with libertarian sensibilities knows that statement is nonsense. Mr, Speaker, the PEOPLE are the government. The government is not some THING disembodied from the populace. The food director of a state-funded institution isn't working for a private enterprise. That food director is working for the public, as are all employees of state-funded institutions. As a citizen of the state, don't I have a say in where the money I contribute, through my taxes, is spent for the food available to me to eat when I attend a conference at a public institution? I, as both citizen and elected lawmaker, have the responsibility to demand or require (take your pick) that those who are purchasing food with MY money spend as much of it as is feasible on food grown, caught, processed and produced right here in Maine.

By current statute, "It is the policy of the State to encourage food self-sufficiency for the State. State institutions and school districts in the State shall purchase food produced by Maine farmers or fishermen, provided that food is available in adequate quantity and meets acceptable quality standards, and is priced competitively."

LD 1254 is a small step toward realizing that goal by putting implementation guidelines and benchmarks into this current law in order to give it teeth; it is not a NEW policy.

The University of Maine is one example of an institution that has shifted its purchasing power towards Maine-grown food by already purchasing up to 30 percent of its food from Maine sources.

LD 1254 provides an incentive for all our institutions to follow UMaine's lead.

Right now, most of our taxpayer dollars that help fund institutional food buying are going to out-of-state corporations like Sysco and Aramark, NOT Maine farms and fisheries and NOT circulating in Maine's economy, thereby strengthening our communities.

Mr. Speaker, as I’ve already said TWICE now, (third time is the charm, right?), LD 1254 amplifies an existing lawthat already requires institutions to keep their dollars in Maine and help promote our state's economy; it simply goes one step further by adding some benchmarks for accountability by adding a percentage and a timeline. There is no penalty for non-compliance with this law, but the implementation guidelines help provide some measure of accountability to our legislators and taxpayers.

In closing, we must be aware that the barriers on local farms to institutional markets are significant, and this bill could help create space for small farms to become mid-sized farms; mid-sized farms to scale up and hire farm help; large farms to gain a new market for their "seconds.”

Maine's strength can be found in our PRIMARY economic engines: our farmers, fishermen and forests -- the emblems of our heritage on our state's flag.

If we want more jobs for Maine people, then we must begin with policies that help promote the growth of and strengthen our primary economies, not undercut and divert resources away from them to the sole benefit out-of-state, agribusiness corporate giants whose dollars don’t circulate in our own economy.

LD 1254 is a step toward turning policy support to Maine farms and fisheries by directing our state-funded institutions to buy more Maine food. Who can argue with that?

So, Mr. Speaker, men and women of the House, if you believe, as I believe, that we need to spend more of our taxpayer dollars on food produced by Maine people for Maine people so that we keep more of our money in the state, reduce our reliance on foods imported from who knows where, grow a more robust food economy from York to Fort Kent, and create desperately needed jobs right here in Maine, then please vote to override this veto today.

::

(The Maine House of Representatives voted 94-46 to overturn the veto. The Maine Senate will vote on the veto next week.)

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Stand Up For Maine Jobs Now

Dear Neighbor,

Last Friday, Gov. Paul LePage vetoed my bill  LD 1254, An Act to Increase Consumption of Maine Foods in All State Institutions, a commonsense economic development measure that would strengthen Maine's food economy and promote job creation for Maine people. Last session, the Legislature agreed to the measure, passing the bill to be enacted by a 2/3 vote. A supermajority, to be sure. 

LD 1254 would direct all state-funded institutions to purchase a percentage of foodstuffs from Maine food producers. Those percentages increase incrementally over the next 20 years in order to make them achievable and fiscally responsible. By committee amendment, schools that participate in the Federal School Lunch Program are exempt. The bill is, therefore, NOT an "unfunded mandate," as the governor described in his veto message (on either local school districts OR state government), because if the food isn't competitively priced and available, there is no requirement for any state institution to purchase it. 

By current statute, "It is the policy of the State to encourage food self-sufficiency for the State. State institutions and school districts in the State shall purchase food produced by Maine farmers or fishermen, provided that food is available in adequate quantity and meets acceptable quality standards, and is priced competitively."

LD 1254 is a small step toward realizing that goal.

The University of Maine is one example of an institution that has shifted its purchasing power towards Maine-grown food by already purchasing up to 30 percent of its food from Maine sources.

LD 1254 provides an incentive for all our institutions to follow UMaine's lead.

Right now, most of our taxpayer dollars that help fund institutional food buying are going to out-of-state corporations like Sysco and Aramark, NOT Maine farms and NOT circulating in Maine's economy, strengthening our communities.

LD 1254 amplifies an existing law that already requires institutions to keep their dollars in Maine and help promote our state's economy; it simply goes one step further by adding some benchmarks of accountability by adding a percentage and a timeline. There is no penalty for non-compliance with this law, but the implementation benchmarks help provide some measure of accountability to our legislators and taxpayers. 

The barriers on local farms to institutional markets are significant, and this bill could help create space for small farms to become mid-sized farms; mid-sized farms to scale up and hire farm help; large farms to gain a market for "seconds." Maine's strength can be found in our primary economic engines: our farmers, fishers and forestry, the emblems of our heritage on our state's flag. If we want more Maine jobs, we need to start with policies that help promote the growth and strengthen our primary economy, not undercut and divert resources away from our farms and fisherfolk toward agri-food multinational corporate giants whose dollars don't circulate in our own economy. LD 1254 is a step toward turning policy support toward Maine farms and fisheries by directing our state-funded institutions to buy more Maine food.

If you believe, as I do, that we need to spend more of our taxpayer dollars on food produced by Maine people for Maine people so that we keep more of our money in the state, reduce our reliance on foods imported from who knows where, grow a more robust food economy up and down the state, and create desperately needed jobs right here in Maine, then call or write your representatives and senators right now and urge them to vote to override this veto. The Legislature will vote on this veto tomorrow morning, Tuesday, January 14, so please don't delay. Maine's hardworking food producers -- farmers, fishermen, processors and distributors, small and large -- are counting on you.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 207-377-3276 or at craighickman@rocketmail.com.

Thank you for your help in this urgent matter and Happy New Year.

Take care of your blessings,

Craig Hickman

State Representative