Governor Janet T. Mills (D) With Scott Ogden, Communications Director at East End Community School, Portland, on Election Day Last Month. (Ogden has Since Been Promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff as Well).

A $450. payment that will be available to low and middle-income Mainers next month is part of the proposed comprehensive Emergency Winter Relief Plan unveiled today by Governor Janet T. Mills (D). The Plan, also includes supplementing home heating assistance, emergency fuel programs, and funding emergency short-term housing to avoid homelessness during winter months.

At the core of her Plan is a $450.payment that will be distributed by mid-January of 2023 to low and middle-income Maine people and families.  In the same announcement, the Governor urged  the Maine Legislature to pass the proposed Plan tomorrow, Wednesday, December 7th  – the date of the convening of the First Regular Session of the 131st Maine Legislature – with the 2/3 support needed to enact it as an emergency measure.

The proposed Plan includes:

WINTER EMERGENCY RELIEF PAYMENT of $450. to about 880,000 eligible Maine people, amounting to $900. in relief for 1he average Maine family.  Based on already filed 2021 tax returns, eligible Maine people will have a Federal adjusted gross income (FAGI) of less than:  $100,000 if filing single or if married dand filing separately; $150,000. if filing as head of household or $200,000 for couples filing jointly.

HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (HEAP) SUPPLEMENT:  $40 million to supplement HEAP recipients receipt a financial benefit equal to last year’s.

EMERGENCY FUEL:  $10 million to Maine Community Action Partnerships to help them deliver energency fuel asistance to prevent people and famillies from running out of heating fuel and experiencing a heating crisis.

SHORT-TERM HOUSING SUPPORT:  $21 million to bolster the Emergency Housing Relief Fund created by Governor Mills and the Legislature earlier this year that supports emergency housing and emrgency shelter to prevent people from experiencing homelessness this winter.

Governor Mills is also taking executive action to disribute additional heading aid to low-income older Maine people.  During the week of December 12, the Department of Health and Human Services will provide one-time payment of $500. to approximaely 13,000 households that include low-income Maine people aged 65 or older to hep them pay for home heating costs.

“Inflation and high energy prices are stretching the wallets of Maine people, in some cases forcing them to face the inpossible choice of heating their homes, putting food on the table or paying for other necessities,” said Governor Mills. “With this plan, we hope to ease the burden on Maine people by putting money back into their pockets so they can bettter afford these costs and by ensuring that our most vulnerable citizens are able to stay warm this winter.  This approach builds on our nation-wide inflation relief measures, incorporates Republican feedback and represents the most direct way to get help to Maine people as we work to bring down energy costs in the long-term.”

Please visit post herein dated December 2, 2022 for more background information on the proposed Plan of Governor Mills.