AUGUSTA - A bill to study strategies to help working families achieve long-term economic security, LD 1005, was approved by the Maine Legislature this week. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Morgan Rielly, D-Westbrook, creates a commission to study strategies that will help families establish financial success, including baby bonds, a savings program initiated at birth.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has hurt working families and has further widened the geographic and racial wealth gaps here in Maine," said Rielly. "We have the opportunity to bolster the economic security of working Mainers and study the viability of state-funded baby bonds and other strategies to help our community members. This bill provides a step forward in building that economic security."
According to 2018 U.S. Census Bureau data, approximately 70,000 Mainers, or 5.3% of Maine residents, live in deep poverty, equating to an income that was less than 50% of the federal poverty level set at $25,100 for a family of four in 2018. According to Maine Equal Justice, children under the age of six are the most likely age cohort in Maine to be poor, with one in six living below the federal poverty line.
"I hope that a baby bonds program in Maine will let families across the state sleep better at night knowing that their children will have an opportunity for long-term financial security," said Rielly.
"Climbing out of poverty is often an insurmountable endeavor," said Rep. Kyle Bailey, D-Gorham, who co-sponsored the measure. "This bill provides an opportunity to end the cycle of poverty for so many Mainers and level the playing field so that we can all move towards a more equitable future."
Rielly is serving his first term in the Maine House of Representatives as a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs. He represents a portion of Westbrook.
Bailey is serving his first term in the Maine House of Representatives as a member of the Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business Committee. He represents a portion of Gorham and Scarborough.
Contact:
Jackie Merrill [Rielly, Bailey], c. 812-1111