Maine’s community colleges are critical to addressing our needs for skilled workers, but too many students can’t enroll because they can’t afford to go to college.

So to make sure that more students in Maine can enroll in community college, and graduate, and get a good-paying job and start a life-long career, in my State of the State Address this week, I proposed making community college free for two years.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

High school graduates from the classes of 2020 through 2023 – those are people that are most impacted by the pandemic – those who enroll full-time in a Maine community college this fall or next will get every last dollar of their tuition covered by the State of Maine so they can obtain a one-year certificate or two-year associates degree.

If a student has already started a two-year program, we’ve got their back too. We will cover the last dollar of their second year.

Making community college free will not only connect students with good-paying jobs after they graduate – it will help solve Maine’s longstanding workforce shortage and it will strengthen our economy. 

Earlier this week I visited Central Maine Community College in Auburn.

Students who graduate from Central Maine Community College will have critical skills in construction, plumbing and heating, mechanical technology, cyber security, early childhood education -- all industries that are waiting for them. 

Our state is waiting for our students to strengthen our child care system as an early childhood educator.

Our state is just waiting for our students to graduate and to connect homes and businesses to high-speed internet as a technician or a lineman. I’ll need their help if we are going to achieve the goal we set in the State of the State that every person in Maine have access to high-speed internet by the end of 2024.

Our state is waiting for those students to build new homes for families who want to move to Maine.

Our state is waiting for those students to join the workforce and help strengthen the economy.

If the Legislature approves my proposal, next year, students, if they want, could earn a degree from Central Maine Community College or from community colleges in Bangor, Calais, Fairfield, Hinckley, Presque Isle, Wells, South Portland, or Brunswick – all unburdened by debt.

As I said in my State of the State speech, the future belongs to our young people – and I mean it. I look forward to the Legislature swiftly adopting my supplemental budget to help our young people embrace the future.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Tonight, after a long day at work and in the darkness of another cold winter night, people across Maine will go home and reach for a switch on the wall. They trust that when they turn that switch on, the lights will work, illuminated by the power that we all pay for.

Safe and reliable electricity is just fundamental to our daily lives. Maine people give to our electric utilities a monopoly in exchange for a service that we can count on. And if the utility doesn’t deliver on that, then we need to be able to hold them accountable.

From poor customer service, to billing problems, to extended power outages, the issues experienced by Maine people in recent years have made it clear that Maine just doesn’t have all the tools it needs to hold utilities accountable – and it’s time for that to change.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

This week I introduced a bill that shifts our approach to Maine’s utilities by establishing new standards for service. If utilities don’t deliver on those standards, they will face serious consequences.

My bill requires the Maine Public Utilities Commission to establish minimum standards of service that utilities must deliver for Maine ratepayers.

And if they don’t meet those minimum standards they would be fined by the PUC for up to $1 million or 10 percent of their annual revenue.

And if they continue to fail to improve, this bill also allows the PUC to determine whether that utility is unfit to provide service to Maine people.

If it is unfit, the PUC can require the sale of the utility, protecting the interests of Maine ratepayers. And then it will invite bids from qualified buyers and select a proposal that provides the most benefits for consumers. 

One of those bids could be submitted by a consumer-owned utility.

In addition to addressing reliability issues, this bill also makes sure that the services the utilities do provide are fairly priced.

The legislation empowers the PUC to conduct periodic audits of all utilities to make sure that their actual costs are consistent with the estimates they used originally to set rates. This new measure allows the PUC to review the utility’s finances outside of a traditional rate case.

The bill also strengthens existing utility whistleblower provisions to protect employees and contractors from retaliation or discrimination by a utility if a person testifies before the Legislature or provides information to the PUC about the utility’s operations.

Making our utilities more reliable and accountable in the short term is important. But just as important is ensuring that our utilities can withstand the worsening impacts of climate change, like harsher storms, in the long-term to provide safe service to Maine people.

The bill requires our utility companies to submit a plan — the first of its kind in Maine — a plan to the PUC outlining the steps they will take over the next decade to protect their operations and ensure that our electric grid is strong and resilient. Those plans will be updated every two years.

Other states have shown us the dire consequences of being unprepared. I mean, look what happened in Texas last year. These new requirements under this legislation will ensure that our utilities are as prepared as reasonably possible to keep delivering services to our state, whatever storms may come our way.

Hey, Maine people deserve nothing less than safe, reliable, and affordable service on a strong electric grid, and my Administration will work with the Legislature, with the Public Advocate, and the Public Utilities Commission to see that happen.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

All outdoor enthusiasts should be delighted to know that we’ve just announced the first five new conservation projects funded by the Land for Maine’s Future.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

You know back in 1987, the Legislature recognized that protecting working lands, farmlands, waterfronts, and public access to those properties is critical to preserving our quality of life. Then Maine voters approved a $35 million bond to create the Land for Maine’s Future. 

And for decades after that, LMF conserved nearly 604,000 acres of land and some working waterfronts, mostly working lands. Nearly all of these properties continue to pay taxes as well.

But over the last ten years, the fund began to run out. When I took office, there was very little left to protect our cherished lands and waters despite the overwhelming approval of the voters of Maine for this program.

So last year, I worked with the Legislature to replenish the Land for Maine’s Future fund with $40 million in new state money through the biennial state budget on a bipartisan basis. Not borrowing, but appropriating the money on a bipartisan basis.  

And this week, we announced the first five conservation projects funded by that budget.

These new LMF projects are all over the state and they protect working lands and wildlife habitat, preserving public access to lakes, rivers, scenic views, and mountain vistas.

And for the first time, they also protect deer habitat because of a bill approved by the Legislature which I signed into law, giving preferential consideration to those projects that conserve deer wintering habitats.

So the five projects are: 

1. Buck’s Ledge Community Forest, a 634-acre parcel of land in the town of Woodstock. That forest is accessible to a lot of population centers in Maine and is very popular for hiking, rock climbing, hunting, and snowmobiling.
2. The East Grand Lake Weston Conservation Easement: largest of all projects, this one covers 4,363 acres and more than 21 miles of shoreland on East Grand Lake and other lakes in the area as well as the headwaters of the St. Croix International Waterway. This project encompasses public access for hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, boating and hiking and all other outdoor activities and it’s a great view from Maine’s Million Dollar View Scenic Byway (Route 1).
3. The Kennebago Headwaters. This project is 1,700 acres that will become part of a larger conservation project encompassing nearly the entire Kennebago watershed. Some of the highest quality habitat for eastern brook trout in that area, and the river annually attracts thousands of fishermen like myself. Conservation of this land will also protect habitat for wildlife species including Canada lynx, martens, upland birds, waterfowl, moose and deer.
4. The Kennebec Highlands: The project encompasses 813 acres in Vienna and New Sharon and it fills in the large gap in the Kennebec Highlands Public Reserved Land. The highlands are the divide between the Kennebec and Androscoggin River watersheds, and this project includes more than 6,000 acres of conserved land with public access for fishing, hunting, trapping, hiking, mountain biking, running, skiing, snowmobiling, berry picking and horseback riding.

Last, but not least – 

• The Caribou Stream Deer Wintering Area: This will conserve 930 acres of priority deer wintering habitat in the towns of Woodland and Washburn in the County, as well as nearly 2 miles of stream habitat for wild brook trout. 

Well every one of these projects is an exceptional opportunity to preserve working lands, expand public access for outdoor recreation, protect important wildlife habitat, and ensure public access for future generations. 

As someone who does love the outdoors, and as bit of an angler myself, I am proud that the State of Maine is once again preserving our cherished lands and waters in a meaningful way, pursuant to bipartisan legislation.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

This week, Maine achieved another vaccination milestone: more than 50 percent of all eligible Maine people have received a COVID-19 booster shot, making us the fourth state in the nation to do so.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

At the time of this recording the U.S. CDC reports that 50.2 percent of fully vaccinated people in Maine – that’s 519,681 people – have received a booster shot. Only Vermont, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have higher booster vaccination rates.

I am proud to say that since the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines, Maine has been a leader in vaccination and we remain one of the most vaccinated states in the nation.

But it is not all good news. This milestone comes at a time when Maine is confronting near record high COVID-19 hospitalizations.

I sometimes hear people ask: how can we be such a highly vaccinated state and still have our hospitals near the brink of disaster? The answer is these hospitalizations are being driven primarily by people who are not vaccinated.

In fact, when you look back to the first day that Maine people could be fully vaccinated, and then you look at the hospitalizations from then on – more than 75 percent of the people who were admitted to hospitals were not fully vaccinated.

When you look at the people who were admitted to the intensive care units, that percentage is even higher.

This is something I saw firsthand just recently.

When I visited the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at Maine Medical Center, all but one of the people I saw in that unit, was unvaccinated. As I looked around at the suffering people fighting to breathe, doctors and nurses told me that 40 percent of those people were expected to die.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Across Maine right now, more than one hundred people are fighting for their breath in those critical care units, fighting for their lives.

Many of these folks are our friends and neighbors who will needlessly die a painful death because they decided to take a chance, not get vaccinated and got deathly sick.

Those deaths are all preventable.

Vaccines are safe and effective. And new, reputable studies have concluded that getting a booster shot reduces the risk of death by 90 percent, on top of the protection provided by the first two doses of vaccine.

This growing body of research is bolstered by real world evidence right here in Maine that demonstrates the power of the vaccine.

Look, our heroic health care workers are exhausted. They are all pleading with Maine people to get vaccinated. I urge you: please listen to them. Heed their advice.

Getting your shot, whether it is your first or your third, is the best way to save your life, to protect our health care system, to save others, and to lift the extraordinary burden our health care workers are carrying on right now because of unvaccinated patients.

To the more than half of eligible Maine people who have received a booster, I say thank you for stepping up to get the highest level of protection for yourself, your loved ones, your communities, and our health care system.

To everyone else, the message is clear: with Omicron spreading and our health care system under such great stress, now is the time to get your shot. Do not delay. If you are eligible, get your shot today.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Please stay safe and thank you for listening.

This week, I activated another 169 members of the Maine National Guard to help alleviate short-term capacity constraints at Maine’s hospitals and to maintain access to inpatient health care for Maine people amid record-high COVID-19 hospitalizations.  

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Maine, like much of the nation, is seeing record hospitalizations during a sustained surge of COVID-19. As of the time of this recording, 413 people are lying in a hospital with COVID-19 in Maine, including 106 people in critical care and 57 on ventilators. There are currently only 40 available ICU beds, intensive care unit, beds in Maine.

The majority of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Maine are not fully vaccinated.

I wish we did not have to activate more National Guard members, but the rise in hospitalizations – caused primarily by those who are not vaccinated – is stretching the capacity of our health care system thin, it’s jeopardizing care for Maine people for non covid matters, and it’s putting increased strain on our already exhausted health care workers.

I saw this first hand last week when I toured the COVID-19 ICU unit at Maine Medical Center in Portland. They told me that 40 percent of the people in the unit would likely die. 

All but one of those people were unvaccinated.

Think about that for a minute. 

It doesn’t have to be this way – and we know what the solution is.

Our health care workers are pleading with us to get vaccinated. Please hear them. 

It’s not only the best way to lift the heavy burden on their shoulders, but it may very well save your life or someone else’s.

And it will help make room for people with cardiac conditions, cancer care, accident victims and others who desperately need hospital care.

And it will allow us to send the members of the National Guard back home to their families, to their communities, and to their jobs where they are so badly needed.

For now, though, these additional Guard members will join others who are already on orders supporting COVID-19 response efforts.

They will also be helped by Federal COVID-19 Surge Response Teams for MaineHealth in Portland and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

Those two teams of seven clinicians have already arrived and are scheduled to stay through January 27. They will administer COVID-19 vaccines, freeing up Maine clinicians to provide patient care at hospitals. 

Look, the bottom-line here is that the most fundamental way to help our hospitals and help our health care workers and help keep kids in school is very simply to get vaccinated, whether it’s your first shot or your third. 

Please visit Maine.gov/covid19/vaccines or call the Community Vaccination Line at 1-888-445-4111 to find a vaccination site near you.

It’s free, it’s easy, it’s safe, it’s effective.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Please stay safe and thank you for listening.