WHEREAS, the State of Maine is committed to providing the best opportunities for success for those with disabilities; and

WHEREAS, the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act of 2014 created tax-advantaged savings, spending, and investment accounts that allow eligible people with disabilities to save money, build assets, and financially plan for their future while protecting their eligibility for benefits such as Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid; and

WHEREAS, for nearly 60 years, Maine’s community health centers have provided high-quality, affordable, comprehensive primary and preventive health care in our rural and underserved communities; and

WHEREAS, today, Maine’s community health centers serve over 200,000 Maine people; and

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

You know, the know, the last seven years of his life, my husband was so proud to be coaching tennis at Mt. Blue High School in Farmington, Maine. He would come home and talk about the building self-esteem he saw in those kids eyes, proud to be part of this community. Sports, he knew, represents a language that doesn't really know any boundaries. It's a universally understood celebration of competition, good sportsmanship, and different communities coming together for a game.

As James Earl Jones' character, Terance Mann, said in the movie Field of Dreams, people will "walk out to the bleachers and sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game, and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters."

The Hearts of Pine club have brought some of that magic to Maine in their wildly successful first year as a professional soccer team. The product of hard work by people like team owner and Lewiston native Tom Caron and founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson, as well as players like Titus Washington, Ollie Wright, and Hunter Morse -- Brick wall in goal -- the Hearts of Pine have led the league in attendance this season, rising to 8th in the United Soccer League standings, and selling out game after game.

When I was at a Hearts of Pine game last month, I ran into Gabe Hoffman-Johnson. I told him that I was going to Nova Scotia soon to meet with Premier Houston to reaffirm our close partnership, despite the president's harsh rhetoric and harmful tariffs coming from Washington -- things that were discouraging Canadians from visiting Maine. Gabe said he'd love to issue a challenge to the Premier to have the Halifax Wanderers of the Canadian Premier League come to Portland to play an international "friendly" match with the Hearts of Pine. Gabe knows, as I do, that soccer is not just about sports -- it's about community and relationship building.

Well, after meeting with Premier Houston and talking with him about international trade, and tourism, and fisheries, I gave him a Hearts of Pine Jersey and I laid down the gauntlet -- would the Halifax Wanderers play the Hearts of Pine in Portland, Maine? I was delighted a few days later when he accepted the challenge.

This historic match, which will be held on August 6th at Portland's Fitzpatrick Stadium, promises to be an exciting one. While it won't solve all of our tourism and trade challenges, it will be another opportunity to strengthen the bonds between Canada and Maine that are so important to our enduring friendship, our historical cultures, and our economy.

This may be a "friendly" match, but I know that the Hearts of Pine will bring the same heart and soul that they've brought to every game to date this season. Like most Maine people, I am very proud of this team and I look forward to watching the match.

To learn more about the match on August 6, visit the Hearts of Pine website at heartsofpine.com.

Maine now boasts a professional basketball team, professional baseball, professional hockey, and professional soccer team. We have it all! In the pouring rain or on a perfect afternoon, with good food and good company, people of all ages can cheer on their heroes, inspired by the enthusiasm of players in Maine.

I look forward to seeing you at a game someday soon, side by side with your family and mine.

This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening. I hope everyone's enjoying a great summer in the State of Maine.

Well, recently I was proud to proclaim August 2-3, 2025 as Maine's Fifth Annual Wild Blueberry Weekend to celebrate our wild blueberries, and in honor of the hardworking people who grow, and rake, and process, and market, and bring Maine wild blueberries to markets near and far.

Maine produces nearly 100% of all wild blueberries in the United States. Last year alone, Maine farmers harvested 88 million pounds of wild blueberries--and we know that these are healthy, they have more antioxidants, and they're tastier and juicier than any other kind of blueberry in the world.

Well, to honor our wild blueberry growers and businesses and their significant contributions to the Maine economy, I declared our first-ever Wild Blueberry Weekend In 2021. Wild blueberry growers opened their doors for free for the first time that year, and they made available fresh, wild blueberries and jams and pies and other products available for guests to purchase.

We have 512 farms in Maine that grow blueberries, and 46,370 acres in Maine are blueberry barrens. The Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine has reported that there were thousands of dollars in direct farm sales when they first opened those farms for visits, and thousands of visitors who enjoyed touring the places where wild blueberries grow, maybe picking a few of their own, like I did recently.

This year, the Fifth Annual Wild Blueberry Weekend will feature farm tours and other family-friendly activities at 16 different wild blueberry farms in Franklin, Hancock, Cumberland, Lincoln, Kennebec, Knox, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo, and Washington Counties, and wild blueberry-themed menu items and products will be available throughout that weekend at restaurants, ice cream shops, breweries, wineries, and distilleries all across the state.

To see the full list of participants, visitwww.WildBlueberryWeekend.com. Or go to the state's official agriculture website, www.RealMaine.com, for ideas on how you can support all of Maine's agricultural community all year long.

I encourage everyone to visit one of the participating wild blueberry farms on August 2or 3, and sample Maine-grown wild blueberry products at the many places selling them during that Wild Blueberry Weekend coming up. This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.

WHEREAS, the residents of Maine value safe and healthy workplaces for all of our citizens; and

WHEREAS, the majority of workplace injuries and fatalities are preventable, however more than 5,000 U.S. workers die each year from job-related injuries, and millions more suffer occupational injuries and illnesses; and

WHEREAS, in 2024, at least 20 Maine workers died while either on the job, traveling to or from the job, or as a result of an injury or illness connected to their work; and

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

Last week, I addressed a thousand people at the Opioid Response Summit in Augusta, Maine. I talked to them about how last year, we saw our largest decrease in drug overdose deaths since 2018. And from January to June of this year, fatal overdoses have decreased by more than 21% here in Maine. And that's welcome news. 

But as I told them, we can't get complacent. 

Every overdose is a tragic and preventable loss of a valued life. So, my administration is doing what we can, in a responsible manner, to stop deadly drugs from reaching Maine in the first place, and to prevent substance use disorder, and to treat it when we can't prevent it, and to set people on a lifelong path to recovery. 

Above all else, we're simply working to save lives. 

Last year, the state distributed more than 155,000 doses of the life-saving medication naloxone. Since I've taken office, 11,393 potentially fatal overdoses in Maine have been reversed with naloxone. But simply reversing an overdose is not enough to get someone back on their feet. It's also important to create more places where people can get help to stop using, to stay productive, and to reach their full potential. 

In 2022, we established the Cumberland County Crisis Receiving Center -- walk-in services for anyone suffering a mental health or substance use crisis. Since that receiving center opened, more than 2,500 people have gotten services there. Next, we'll be establishing two other centers in Androscoggin and Penobscot counties. 

We've added 61 residential treatment beds since I've taken office, and we've invested heavily in recovery community centers and residences, and recovery coaches. And we're exploring other innovative approaches to treatment. DHHS, for instance, has created treatmentconnection.com, where people can search for health care providers near them, and check on their availability, and submit treatment questions. My administration is also creating stable housing for those with chronic substance use disorder with wraparound services to help them become productive citizens once again. 

In addition to housing, my administration is expanding access to good paying jobs for people in recovery, acknowledging those businesses who understand the unique experiences and skills of people in recovery. And that's important. That's why we've created the Recovery Friendly Workplaces certification, used by 73 businesses across the state, employing more than 11,500 people. 

My administration is committed to supporting people as they start, stumble, or resume their recovery and to responding to new waves of the opioid epidemic, including the dangerous use of methamphetamines and xylazine, for which there is no overdose medication. 

I want to do everything we can to keep people from starting down the path of addiction in the first place -- but fundamentally, what we need is leadership. Leadership in every community across the state. Leadership from every young person who's offered a pill to cure pain, a drug to fix anxiety, a drug to get high, a drug they believe will make them popular or more accepted. The leadership and the character to say, I am better than that, and my life is more valuable than that. And the leadership from all of us to tell that person that they are loved and that their lives are indeed far better than that, and we value them. 

That's how we build a better future with strong communities and a state with endless opportunity. 

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

WHEREAS, wild blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) emerged on the rocky, acidic soils of the barrens of Maine following the retreat of the glaciers more than 10,000 years ago; and

WHEREAS, wild blueberries, which are not planted but grow naturally, were first managed and harvested by the Wabanaki and are now grown by 512 Maine farms on 46,370 acres, within Cumberland, Franklin, Hancock, Lincoln, Kennebec, Knox, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo, and Washington counties; and

WHEREAS, on June 27, 1950, in response to the communist threat to South Koreans and their democracy, President Harry S. Truman committed the first United States forces to combat in South Korea, beginning the Korean War; and

WHEREAS, nearly 1.8 million members of the United States Armed Forces served alongside the forces of the Republic of Korea and 20 other Allied nations under the United Nations Command to defend freedom and democracy on the Korean Peninsula; and

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

Well, last week, the president signed into law a mega bill that will have devastating consequences for our hospitals, our rural communities, our economy, our energy costs, and our balanced state budget. I support the desire for sensible policies that would lower taxes for hardworking people, that would foster economic growth, and exercise fiscal restraint -- but slashing essential services like this federal law does will do the opposite.

While the president called it a, "Big, Beautiful Bill", really, there's nothing beautiful about it in my view. To finance a tax cut for the very wealthy, this new law shifts enormous costs from the federal government to the states. Costs that we simply cannot absorb.

This federal law will effectively deny food to hungry children, and prevent people from seeing a doctor, and prevent doctors from being paid. Nearly 400,000 Maine people have health insurance through Medicaid, which we call MaineCare, including tens of thousands of children and people dealing with cancer, diabetes and heart care. People who need preventative care too, to avoid thousands in costs later on in life.

In some rural parts of our state, like Aroostook County, Washington County, Somerset, and Piscataquis counties, about 40% of the population rely on MaineCare for health insurance. Tens of thousands of Maine people also rely on health insurance through our state marketplace called CoverME.gov, and that's funded by the federal Affordable Care Act.

The vast majority of those people who receive the health coverage through MaineCare or in the marketplace are working to support themselves and their families. And many people were shifted off of MaineCare last year to go on to the marketplace. Now that coverage is at risk as well. By creating new barriers to enrolling in or staying enrolled in health care coverage, and by cutting billions of dollars in Medicaid funds over the next decade, the president's new mega law makes it likely that tens of thousands of people in our state will lose their health insurance. That will put their health care and their lives needlessly at risk.

And as more people are without affordable insurance, the premiums and out-of-pocket costs for everyone else who has insurance will go up, either through their employer or through the marketplace. Hospitals across Maine, then, will have to bear more of the cost of providing health care for people without insurance. Many hospitals, especially those in rural areas where MaineCare enrollment is highest, may curtail services or even close, leaving folks without access to care, and leaving communities without some of their largest employers.

This new law doesn't just impact health care in Maine. It also denies food to hungry children by cutting federal funding for food assistance programs like SNAP to the tune of millions of dollars a year. On top of cutting federal funding for SNAP in Maine, this new law also requires Maine to pay millions more a year to administer the program, a double hit that the State of Maine budget can't afford. So food for hundreds of thousands of Maine people, including tens of thousands of kids, is at risk.

The new law also hurts families by ending clean energy and energy efficiency tax credits and funding, which will increase energy costs and will slow down our clean energy sector, which has been creating thousands of good paying jobs and helping us wean ourselves off of big oil for home heat. We're the most heating oil dependent state in the nation, and we have one of the nation's oldest housing stocks, so we absolutely need to diversify our energy supply if we can ever hope to bring down the cost of home heat and energy costs generally. The loss of federal clean energy initiatives in the president's mega bill is a major setback to those efforts.

At the same time, the new mega law creates trillions of dollars in increases in the federal deficit, creating long term costs for all Americans -- this partisan mega bill, rushed to enactment to meet the president's artificial deadline, and enacted by a one vote margin in the US Senate.

Over the coming weeks, we'll be reviewing the final language of this law to determine the full scope of the damage that it will cause, including its impact on our otherwise balanced state budget, and what actions we might take to protect the health and safety of Maine people, protect our state's financial future, and the stability of Maine's economy.

This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.

WHEREAS, the State of Maine has long been shaped by the proud and enduring traditions of our working waterfronts, where generations have built their lives and livelihoods on the sea; and

WHEREAS, commercial fishing remains one of Maine’s most iconic and economically vital industries, supporting thousands of hardworking men and women and contributing significantly to coastal communities and the state’s heritage, economy, and way of life; and