AUGUSTA - The Legislature's Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business Committee gave unanimous approval on Thursday to a bill sponsored by Rep. Traci Gere, D-Kennebunkport, that would create better, more accessible measurements of Maine's economic and social progress.
LD 1476, Resolve, Directing the Maine Economic Growth Council To Create and Share Measures of Progress, would develop and publish clear benchmarks that make it easy for the public to see how Maine is doing across various indicators. The data would be accessible through a new online dashboard that is easy to use and understand.
"I have always believed that you manage what you measure," said Gere. "When you plan to regularly assess, track and reflect on progress toward a goal, you are more likely to focus on that goal, and ultimately achieve it."
Gere's bill would create a tool for monitoring progress in Maines 10-Year Strategic Plan and Maines Economic Recovery Plan. The new dashboard would facilitate communication between the legislative branch, the executive branch and the public and allow Maine to react more quickly to setbacks or changing conditions.
"Government needs to be accountable," said Gere. "If were going to spend public dollars to achieve something, we need to be able to clearly illustrate how it's going and shift approaches in response to what we're learning."
Gere says her bill would help take a large goal and break it down into more achievable pieces, citing the examples of growing the workforce and increasing access to child care.
"Within the larger strategic goal of bringing in 75,000 new workers to Maine is a smaller goal of make Maine attractive to discharged military families," said Gere. "Within the larger strategic goal of increasing Maine's child care capacity is the goal of specially tracking improvements in child care infrastructure in the most underserved areas. In both cases, these individual components are easier to track and demonstrate progress toward broader goals."
The bill next heads to the full House and Senate for further consideration.
Gere, a member of the Labor and Housing Committee, is serving her first term in the Maine House and represents Kennebunkport and parts of Biddeford and Kennebunk.
Contact:
Jackie Merrill [Gere], c. 812-1111