This week’s radio address features Governor Mills’ remarks as delivered during her July 15^th opioid response summit, “Turning the Tide: Maine’s Path Forward in Addressing the Opioid Crisis.”

Thank you, Gordon, and welcome to the 2019 Opioid Response Summit!

And thank you to our speakers – Sam Quinones, journalist and author of the landmark book, Dreamland; national policy expert Michael Botticelli, who was President Barack Obama’s Director of National Drug Control Policy; and Dr. Patrice Harris, President of the American Medical Association — and many others who have joined us to share their expertise.

You know, I subscribe to many newspapers, national and local. One I picked up at breakfast the other day began with a description of a city neighborhood which sounded like the setting of a television crime drama. It read:

“It’s the neighborhood where a police cruiser patrols the streets at least two or three times a day while it may pass through quieter neighborhoods only a couple times per week, just to check in.

The sidewalks are littered with cigarette butts and people loiter outside the nearby grocery store. A man and a woman, both in their pajamas, scream at each other from opposite ends of the sidewalk. A driver with all the car windows rolled down yells as he blows through a stop sign. The tires screech loudly as the car whips around the corner.

The neighborhood children spend most of their day outside, riding their bicycles up and down the connecting streets. But by 8 pm they all disappear. Even if they aren’t on curfew, it’s as if they know better than to be alone on these streets at night.

Drug busts seem more common here than on the other side of the…city. It’s usually not difficult to pick out which buildings might be housing drug deals, either. Often it’s the ones with overgrown weeds on the front lawns and porches that look like they are on the verge of collapsing.

Late at night, the dark sky conceals everything except the bright yellow headlights of each new car, alerting neighbors that another guest presumably is paying a visit for drugs. The usual visitors make quick pit stops at these places, and most of the time they don’t stick around for too long.”

The city described in this article is not Lowell or Lawrence, Massachusetts, or Brooklyn, New York, or Boston or even Portland, Maine. It could be Portsmouth, Ohio, described in Sam Quinones’ book. But it is, in fact, Presque Isle, Maine, the “Star City” of our state, a small friendly community always considered a safe place to raise a family on a farmer’s or teacher’s or trucker’s salary, a place where children were safe and community values were strong.

The article in the Bangor Daily News went on to note that while Aroostook County had the highest rate of drug trafficking or manufacturing arrests by the MDEA in recent years, and while it had the second highest rate of substance-exposed babies, the County also had the lowest rates of 211 help line calls relating to substance use in the whole state.

What’s wrong here? What are we missing — not only in Aroostook County but in our fifteen other counties and in every one of our more than 400 communities where we have seen this epidemic take hold in a quiet, tragic and very frustrating way?

For one thing, I think for too long we have viewed the opioid problem with a narrow and occasional lens, like:

— when we announce the overdose death statistics that represent so many hundreds of individuals who should be working, going to school and raising healthy children but who instead are dead and lost to us forever;

— or when we read the annual statistics about drug affected infants, 905 last year alone, and we say, “oh my, isn’t that awful, what’s going to happen to those poor little children?”

— And when we wonder about the growing caseloads of child protection cases, that are increasing by the hundreds, with nearly 10,000 reports last year alone, more children than ever in recent history in state care (2,153 currently), more than half of those children having been removed from their family because of alcohol or drug abuse by a parent.

— or when we see the press conferences on television, now almost routine, announcing the latest arrest of people importing heroin and fentanyl by the pound, or someone manufacturing methamphetamine in the back of their car at high risk to everyone in the area.

— or when we hear that a nurse or doctor or some other professional had their license suspended and the word is that they were caught diverting drugs from a hospital or pharmacy.

— or when we hear of the tragic death of a major athlete like Len Bias or an actor like Philip Seymour Hoffman, and we feel shock and then feigned comfort in the thought that “oh well, that can’t happen here.”

Along the way we have done things that have made us feel better and that have perhaps made a difference in some way:

• We have armed our pharmacies with cameras and robbery and diversion prevention tools.
• We have convened task forces and submitted bills and held hearings and conversations with public policy makers.
• We have organized drug take back days every once in a while, where we clean out our medicine cabinets and turn over tons of pills to be crushed and incinerated, taken out of circulation.
• We have softened felony penalties for criminal possession cases, but without providing real help for those arrested for drug related crimes.
• …though we have created more drug courts, veterans courts and co-occurring disorder courts that offer intensive supervision for the handful of people charged with drug offenses who are brave enough to stay the course for 18 months or more.
• We have supported “Operation Hope” and similar programs that allow people with substance use disorder to seek help from the one place they ordinarily would be loath to approach — the police department.
• We have finally imposed prescribing limits for opioids and required E-prescribing and data entry into the Prescription Monitoring Program, but we have not yet fixed the PMP’s reporting requirements or its functional interaction with other states.
• And, after much needless delay, we have finally allowed dispensing of the life-saving drug Narcan over the counter in our state’s pharmacies.

Now, that took a while. And let me tell you, that was really frustrating. Thank you to Ann Perry and Speaker Gideon for their efforts, year after year, to get Narcan where out is needed.

As Attorney General, I determined that I could legally provide Narcan to law enforcement agencies. So, rather than wait for the Pharmacy Board to adopt rules, I drew down some money from pharmaceutical settlements. With that money I bought a room full of Narcan and we drove it around the state. I gave it out to nearly a hundred police departments. And, as of last week, that Narcan has saved 772 lives.

Until now — until today — though, we have looked at drugs as just a criminal justice problem, or just a health care issue, or just another challenge for overburdened teachers in our schools, as we point the finger to some publicly identifiable source of the problem and we readily blame some bad actor, some specific villain, passing off the ultimate responsibility not onto ourselves but to some dealer or trafficker or another, or to some agency of government or another.

It’s always somebody else’s problem, and somebody else’s responsibility.

It’s time to get out of the silos and halos and out of that solipset silo’d mindset.

And that’s why we are here today.

We are going to hear from law enforcement, the medical establishment, public officials and, yes, the most important voices — those of the recovery community.

For too long, the voices of Mainers in recovery have been missing from the conversation about how to stem the tide of this deadly epidemic.

I am so grateful to the more than one thousand Mainers here this morning, including so many who are in recovery and those who have lost family members to this disease, who have taken the time to share their histories and to brainstorm all sorts of solutions, and to support recovery and prevention today.

When I took office this January, I gave my word to Mainers suffering from substance use disorder that help was on the way.

I told them then, and I tell them now, that they are not alone, that, together, we will do everything in our power to bring them back, to make our communities, our families, and our state whole once again.

In the past five years, more than one thousand seven hundred people in Maine have died from drug overdose – more than the entire population of Chesterville, or Eastport or North Berwick. 418 people in 2017 and 354 in 2018 alone,74 deaths the first quarter of this year.

Now, for goodness sake, if seventeen hundred baby seals washed up on the shores of Cape Elizabeth, we would be marching in the streets. We would not stop until we knew what had caused it and how we could stop one more seal from dying.

But we are so inured to the bodies piling up. It’s as if we are in a war zone and don’t even know where the battlefield is anymore or what ammunition to use against this insidious enemy.

Meanwhile, just last year, 908 drug affected babies were born in Maine. That’s nearly 8 percent of all babies born in Maine, double the number ten years ago.

While overdose deaths have decreased slightly in the most recent reports, we have no cause to celebrate.

Nearly one Mainer a day is dying from substance abuse.

And I firmly believe, that one life lost is simply one too many.

These people are not ‘junkies.’ They are our neighbors, coworkers, family members, schoolmates, graduates of high schools, CTEs, universities and colleges.

They are our sons and daughters. They are people without labels, citizens without stereotype. They are athletes and businesspeople, fishermen, cooks and clerks. Mothers and fathers. People we see every day.

We cannot abandon them. The time for action is now.

We are putting the full force of this Administration behind the families who have lost loved ones, the businesses who have lost valued employees, and all communities that have been diminished by this public health crisis, for as long as it takes until our state recovers from something so severe that is draining our workforce, diminishing our families and eating our soul.

What have we done so far? —

On my first day in office, in January of this year, I signed Executive Order No. 1, at last fulfilling the will of Maine people and expanding MaineCare to more than 70,000 eligible Mainers. Health insurance is part of the solution. In the last six months, the Department of Health and Human Services has already enrolled more than 27,000 people, and many of those are finally able to afford life-saving treatment for substance use disorder.

I then appointed Gordon Smith, an experienced, well-respected and highly qualified public health expert, as Maine’s first Director of Opioid Response. I’ve always said, if any one of us had been Governor five or six or ten years ago, you would have seen this crisis coming. And you would have put someone in charge of it, to report to you every day on what we can do to stem this crisis.

I knew then and I know now that Gordon was the right person for that job, at the right time and the right place, with the right background and with incredible drive.

Among other things, he has educated medical providers around the state and encouraged all physicians to become certified to do Medication Assisted Treatment, taking on patients with sometimes difficult needs, but performing a public service in helping people lick addiction.

As Director of Opiate Response, Gordon got to work immediately knocking down the silos that prevented the departments of state government from sharing information and resources to combat this crisis.

I then issued Executive Order No. 2, on February 6, encapsulating the steps we are taking to address the opioid crisis. That Order established the Prevention and Recovery Cabinet, made up of Commissioners from 14 state government agencies, the Attorney General’s Office and the Judicial Branch. And I’m pleased to see in the audience several of our commissioners — DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew, Corrections Commissioner Randy Liberty, Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck and Education Commissioner Pender Makin.

Almost every branch of state government is impacted by the opioid crisis — whether it’s Professional Regulation and Licensing, the Labor Department, Health and Human Services, Corrections, or Economic and Community Development. The Prevention and Recovery Cabinet is identifying, organizing, and focusing our opioid response efforts so that they can be as effective as possible.

No longer will our resources be squandered or scattered piecemeal across departments who don’t, won’t or can’t talk to each other.

The Prevention and Recovery Cabinet has established some specific goals, including expanding safe needle exchanges to prevent the spread of disease; evaluating and promoting recovery housing; and developing the most effective prevention efforts for our schools and communities to give young people the tools to make well-informed decisions in their lives.

That Executive Order also directed the Department of Health and Human Services to use existing federal funds to purchase and distribute 35,000 doses of the life-saving drug naloxone, Narcan.

Now, as I’ve said before, it is not enough to prevent Mainers from dying of a drug overdose. We also must help people turn their lives around after they’ve been revived, provide a different kind of triage.

So that Executive Order also directed DHHS staff to recruit and train two hundred and fifty qualified recovery coaches. Across the country and here in Maine, recovery coaches have had a positive impact on addressing the opioid epidemic and helping in long-term recovery.

The Executive Order also directed staff to fund a full-time recovery coach in up to ten emergency departments in the state and to support low barrier access to buprenorphine in all 33 emergency departments in the state.

These initiatives are being paid for with existing federal funds available through the Department.

Lastly, Mainers working to rebuild their lives after incarceration should not have to face the additional battle of combating addiction alone. That’s why the Executive Order also strengthens programs for Medication Assisted Treatment in the jails and prisons and for those in reentry programs.

Our Commissioner of Corrections, Randall Liberty, is deeply committed to this goal.

These actions over the last six months are saving lives and helping protect our children and young adults from the appeal of dangerous drugs. We are making sure that Mainers suffering from substance use disorder in our emergency rooms, our jails, and on our streets will find the resources they need to recover and rebuild their lives and become productive citizens of Maine again.

These actions, of course, supplement the vigorous efforts of law enforcement at all levels to stem the tide of drug trafficking into Maine that is fueling this epidemic, from Portland to Presque Isle and beyond.

And, as noted in the Executive Order, the actions undertaken by this Administration are done always with a view towards reducing the stigma associated with substance use disorder.

During this first session of the 129th Legislature just concluded, we made other strides in addressing the opiate problem.

With the help of the Legislature:

• We removed the two-year MaineCare limits on medication assisted treatment, limits that were not supported by any valid data, research or experience.
• We ensured that good Samaritans would not be arrested or prosecuted for calling for help when someone is experiencing a medical emergency — a law already adopted in 40 other states and the District of Columbia and now, finally, adopted here.
• We enacted a bill to establish additional ‘Housing First’ units in both urban and rural communities.

And, as you will hear from Attorney General Frey later on, the state has brought suit against the big pharmaceutical companies and distributors who caused this epidemic to begin with.

Many of you in this room helped accomplish these important policy changes and I thank you for all your work and continued efforts to ensure every Maine person who seeks help can access it.

Now, I know that healing our state from the ravages of the opioid epidemic is a complicated challenge that will not be erased overnight.

But today, we are getting together to brainstorm and learn and work on a comprehensive and well informed plan to chip away at this insidious crisis.

Let’s not be disheartened. There is no simple solution, but there is hope. I know there is.

Here’s something else I read recently, in a book, not a newspaper. It said:

“Heroin is, I believe, the final expression of values we have fostered for thirty-five years. It turns every addict into narcissistic, self-absorbed, solitary hyper consumers. A life that finds opiates turns away from family and community and devotes itself entirely to self-gratification by buying and consuming one product – the drug that makes being alone not just all right, but preferable.”

The author continues:

“I believe more strongly than ever that the antidote to heroin is community. If you want to keep kids off heroin, make sure people in your neighborhood do things together, in public, often…. Break down those barriers that keep people isolated. Don’t have play dates; just go out and play. Bring people out of their private rooms, whatever forms those rooms take.

Pursuit of stuff doesn’t equal happiness, as any heroin addict will tell you. People…may emerge from this plague more compassionate, more grounded, willing to give children experience rather than things, and show them that pain is a part of life and often endurable. The antidote to heroin may well be making your kids ride bikes outside, with their friends, and let them skin their knees.”

The author of that powerful statement, from the book Dreamland, The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic, is with us today.

This book is perhaps the single most important piece of research and the most influential narrative, weaving science, personal stories and a deep analysis of heroin trafficking and community culture in America, to address the origins and effects of this very complicated crisis. And it is a devastatingly good piece of writing.

Sam Quinones’ description of the city of Portsmouth, Ohio, could well be a description of Presque Isle, Maine, and many other communities across our state.

Published in 2015, Dreamland vividly recounts how a flood of prescription pain medicine, along with black tar heroin from Mexico, transformed the once-prosperous blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, and other American communities into heartlands of addiction.

Mr. Quinones introduces us to the people at the heart of the opioid trade and describes in great detail the marketing of prescription opiates by unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies.

This book in so many ways has changed the debate in this country about the impact of drugs and the potential solutions to the epidemic.

I am thrilled that Sam and his wife and daughter, who live in Southern California, accepted our invitation to make his first appearance in Maine and I am very grateful to him for sharing his time with us today.

With his help, in the not too distant future, the headlines in our newspapers will no longer highlight isolated neighborhoods, but will read instead, “Maine has turned the tide. We have cured our deadliest disease. We have found our soul again.”

Please join me in giving a warm Maine welcome to journalist, researcher and inspiring author, Sam Quinones.

Attracting talented young people to Maine and making this state their home is a top priority of my Administration. As you may have seen, a new sign now greets all people arriving at our state at the Kittery line.

It says simply: “Welcome Home.”

I am not the only one rolling out the welcome mat for Maine’s future innovators, business people, employers and working people.

Maine’s tourism industry is also showing the world that there is no place like home and no place like Maine.

Good morning, I am Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

You know Maine welcomed more than 37 million visitors in 2018, including over 6 million first-time visitors who discovered our state for the very first time.

From the swift currents of Allagash Falls and Moxie Stream to the peaks of Cadillac Mountain and Tumbletown Mountain, from the bedrock and sea spray of Nubble Lighthouse and Portland Head Light, to the sandy pier of Old Orchard Beach and the sweeping sails of Boothbay Harbor ships, families fell in love.

How many of us, both native and “from away,” can still remember the slow summer days of childhood, the peace of sunrises and sunsets without a destination or deadline and just living in a world onto itself in Maine?

It’s not just the outdoor recreation that draws visitors from around the world to our state.

You know from the Portland Museum of Art to the Maine State Museum, the Bangor Discovery Museum and the Colby College Museum, visitors flock to view the creations of world-class Maine artists young, and old.

Our food is quite an attraction too. You know Maine’s fisheries and farms help our restaurants win accolades all over the country and build Maine’s reputation as a culinary destination.

Last year, Portland was designated 2018’s “Restaurant City of the Year” by Bon Appetit Magazine and this year, Maine’s Allagash Brewery is a James Beard Award winner. 

Well from beer to the Beehive Loop trail in Acadia, tourism impacts every part of our state.

It breathes life into our small businesses, keeping them thriving even during the long stretch of winter. It supports year-round amenities and it supports our choices for shopping, dining and entertainment that we all benefit from long after the tourists have gone.

And while the summer stream of out-of-state license plates headed up 295 - and the corresponding traffic - can be tiresome at times, tourism does build awareness about the wonders of our state for Maine residents themselves.

In a survey conducted by the Maine Office of Tourism a few years ago, ninety-five percent of residents said they had taken a vacation in Maine - you know a “staycation” - more than 50 miles from their own home and seventy-one percent had done so in the past year.

So, whether you travel near or far from home this summer, please enjoy the many wonders of our state and help show our visitors why Maine “is the way life should be” and encourage young people to move here and enjoy our state all year round.

For more information on places to see, things to do, or outdoor adventures accessible to your family in Maine this summer, please go towww.VisitMaine.com

I look forward to seeing you at our state parks, on the beach, and at the corner store this summer in Maine. 

 

I am Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Right now, one in five Maine children don’t know where their next meal is coming from. 

No child should ever go hungry.

Good morning, I am Governor Janet Mills, thank you for listening.

While our biennial budget helps feed more hungry children in schools by eliminating the reduced-price lunch category and including those kids in the free-lunch category, it can be hard for families to get to nutritious food when schools are out for the summer.

I want to tell you about the Summer Food Service Program, funded through the US Department of Agriculture. It’s available statewide in areas of need at sites like schools, nonprofit summer places, government agencies, faith-based organizations, churches that helps fill the gap with free, nutritious meals for children in Maine.

Some schools are keeping their doors open during the summer to continue to serve hot meals, while other people are packing a cooler and heading to the local playground, swimming pool or park to provide free meals for kids. 

Children can often take part in activities with their friends and family while eating a healthy meal that meets the USDA guidelines for nutrition.

Last year, more than 123 sponsors at 450 sites in every county in Maine served more than 727, 238 meals.

Anyone under the age of 18 can come to eat at no cost, no questions asked. 

To see if there are free meals for kids near you, check out usda.gov/summerfoodrocks 

You can also text “Summer Meals” to 97779 or call Maine 211. Meal serving dates and times are subject to change through the summer, so be sure to check the website often.

I hope that these summer months are filled with precious time with your family, friends and neighbors - not hunger.

If your family needs a helping hand, please visit a Summer Food Service Program site near you.

Not only will a child have access to a healthy, nutritionally balanced, free meal, you will also be supporting your local school and community organizations. 

I am Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

In 1826, fifty years after we became united, free and independent states, President Thomas Jefferson - shortly before his death - declared  "Let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them."

As we celebrate Independence Day, we remember the rights our founding fathers sought to secure, the women and men who have served our nation, and the work we must still do to honor them.

Good morning, I am Janet Mills, Governor of the State of Maine. Thank you for listening.

Independence was not easily won, either on the battlefield or in Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed so many years ago.

Historian Garry Wills described this best when he recounted the feelings of one of the founding fathers, saying “Adams, remarking the difficulty with which the resolution of independence was passed, said it was like getting thirteen clocks to strike at the same instant."

At the moment when our need to unite was the greatest, on the brink of war with a world power and with our future in the balance we overcame disagreement to declare that we were free.

Today we still struggle to set the moral compass of our country, to acknowledge the mistakes of our past and present and to build a brighter future together.

What binds us together in these difficult times is the promise that has always carried us - that all are created equal, that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That is a promise we keep not based on a person’s religion or race, gender or political party, but on the belief in a free nation with liberty and fairness for all.

As we gather with friends, family, and neighbors this holiday weekend, let’s remember the full history of this nation, let’s honor the sacrifices of service members who have protected our precious freedoms, and recommit ourselves to the pursuit of a more perfect union.

I wish you and your loved ones a safe and Happy Fourth of July Weekend.

I am Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Hello. You know in 2017, the retail prices of some of the most widely prescribed medications that older Americans take to treat everything from diabetes to high blood pressure increased by an average of 8.4 percent - four times the rate of inflation.

Nationwide, one in four Americans struggles to pay for their prescription medication, while one in ten simply do not take their medicine as prescribed because of the high costs.

Good morning, I am Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

You know no one should have to choose between food, or fuel or medicine.

Earlier this week, I was pleased to sign into law a comprehensive prescription drug reform package. These four new laws will allow the wholesale importation of prescription medicine, will create a prescription drug affordability board, will increase drug price transparency and will better regulate pharmacy benefit managers- those middle men you know.

I signed LD 1272, "An Act To Increase Access to Low-cost Prescription Drugs," sponsored by Senate President Jackson, because it is aimed at establishing a wholesale prescription drug importation program upon approval from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Now you may ask, "Will the Feds approve this?" Well, the President has said publicly that he would support similar measures in other states, like Florida and Colorado, so we’re counting on him to do it for Maine too.

I also signed LD 1499, "An Act To Establish the Maine Prescription Drug Affordability Board," also sponsored by President Jackson, that will create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to develop strategies to lower prescription drug costs including bulk purchases, and multi-state purchases, and/or rebates.

Then I signed LD 1162, "An Act To Further Expand Drug Price Transparency," sponsored by Assistant Senate Majority Leader Eloise Vitelli, which will gather data to help us understand how the costs of development, advertising, and profits affect prescription drug pricing for consumers. This bill adds to previous legislation which I worked on with Senator Vitelli when I was Attorney General and became law last year.

And finally, I signed LD 1504, "An Act To Protect Consumers from Unfair Practices Related to Pharmacy Benefits Management," sponsored by Senator Heather Sanborn of Portland, that will prohibit pharmacy benefit managers from keeping rebates paid by manufacturers and will require those rebates to be passed along to the consumers in Maine or to the health plan.

Those four bills all got overwhelmingly bipartisan support in the committees and on the floor of the House and on the floor of Senate and I am very pleased with that bipartisan cooperation to address the drug prices in Maine.

You know it’s personal too. When my husband, Stan, suffered a stroke – which ultimately took him from us a year later – I learned an awful lot about the health care system in Maine firsthand.

We were lucky, we had insurance -- but dealing with copays and deductibles and the high cost of prescription drugs and fighting the insurance companies is a challenge for all of us.

Health care coverage should not be a luxury, or a privilege reserved for well to do people.

It is a human right.

I am proud that Maine is taking a major step forward in ensuring affordable, accessible health care for every Mainer, every small business, every entrepreneur, self-employed person and every family across the state.

I want to thank Senate President Jackson, Assistant Majority Leader Vitelli, Senator Heather Sanborn, Senator Foley, Representative Prescott, and the AARP and so many others for their hard work on this very important issue.

I am Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Earlier this week, joined by Democratic and Republican lawmakers and Independent members of the Legislature, I was pleased to sign the state’s biennial budget into law.

Good morning, I am Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.

The biennial budget is the culmination of months of work by my Administration and by both Democrats and Republicans on the Appropriations Committee and in the Legislature.

I am very proud of all the work that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have put into this budget process and of the bipartisan agreement we’ve achieved as a result of that hard work.

You know like all budgets and like all compromises, nobody achieved everything they wanted, but this budget takes meaningful and important steps in investing in Maine’s future.

It expands health care and makes health care more accessible.

It increases the minimum teacher salary and dedicates more money to fixing crumbling schools.

It provides property tax relief to hardworking Mainers, seniors, families, and small businesses.

It invests in workforce training and in higher education.

And it puts money aside into the Rainy Day Fund.

These are the priorities that Maine people have asked us to deliver on, and I am proud to have worked with the Legislature to have this.

You know in his 1861 Inaugural Address, Governor Israel Washburn, a friend of Abraham Lincoln’s, said:  

“Waving aside petty schemes and unseemly wrangles…let us rise, if we can, to the height of the great argument which duty and patriotism so eloquently address to us.”

I think this bipartisan budget is just the start of Maine lawmakers rising to restore our tradition of civil discourse and rediscover our common ground, rooted as it always has been in our shared love and dedication to this great State of Maine.

That is the type of government that Maine people deserve. It’s the type of government Maine people want. It the type of government we can all be proud of. And it is the type of government I will continue to work for as long as I am governor.

I am Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

You know, it is difficult to speak about death on days such as this, where spring is lifting up dormant life and summer is inviting us to such happier times.

Some say that dusk is both the most beautiful and the most troublesome time of day. That is why the subject of impending death, the dusk of our days, is so difficult. 

Good morning, I am Janet Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, and I thank you for listening.

This week we dealt with a bill -- commonly called “physician assisted suicide” or “death with dignity” -- that purports to address the decisions relating to end of life care, the dusk of our lives.

Basic principles for and against this bill are these:

First of all, those in the shadows of life — as all of us may be at some time — deserve the highest level of care, compassion and caution from those in charge of society’s resources; from those in charge of its rules, laws and mores.

For those people who are unable to care for themselves -- of whatever age, ability or capacity -- society has a great responsibility.

It is our role, both governmental and charitable, to lift people up, to give them the means to pursue the highest level of self-sufficiency, happiness and opportunity.

A law that permits the act of suicide by people nearing the end of life might be seen as an abdication of that responsibility.

On the other hand, there are those who say that what government provides — and all that it should provide — is the protection of personal liberty to the extent that the exercise of that liberty does not infringe on the rights and security of others.

The opportunity for someone of sound mind facing imminent death to avoid further suffering is viewed purely as an act of personal liberty by some, a decision with which government should not interfere. 

In the context of L.D. 1313, the pursuit of individual liberty beseeches us to authorize in law an act of suicide with the assistance of the medical profession. 

An individual would be free, without punishment of law, to ingest a lethal amount of a nonprescription drug, or to terminate one’s life in some other manner, were it not for the requirement of the prescribing of a lethal dosage of a drug.

The assistance of the medical professional presents a moral dilemma for many people in the health care profession and of course for spiritual leaders who caution against suicide in any form, or against government placing its stamp of approval on actions that may devalue life, and against the participation and assistance of government and licensed professionals in life-taking measures.

On the other side of the moral dilemma is the fact that medicine has found so many ways to prolong life way beyond the expectations and expectancies of the past. 

So what sometimes comes with that extended life, and extended disease, is extended suffering, pain, great physical and mental discomfort.

So what is the balancing of rights here when an individual, in the throes of suffering and facing certain death, but while still competent, dearly wishes to end life, denying death its ultimate pain? 

Some argue that the enactment of L.D. 1313 equates to the government authorizing taking life, or “playing god” with the lives of our citizens.

You know it is not up to the government to decide who may die and who may live, when they shall die or how long they shall live.

But it is our duty to provide the most comprehensive end of life care, a task we have only recently begun to recognize.  

And what is the responsibility of society when compassionate end of life care may be not be adequate or accessible?

We also have a duty to prevent people from being victimized, to prevent discrimination against persons with disabilities, to make sure others do not take advantage of our vulnerable citizens.

Despite the narrowest of votes in the House of Representatives, L.D. 1313 is favored by a majority of Maine people surveyed and it includes some, though not all, safeguards to protect the decision-making of competent terminally ill patients and to protect misuse and abuse of lethal medications and the diversion of dangerous drugs.

This right to decide the means of ending one’s life by lethal prescription might be seen as an extension of the right to decline life-sustaining care that was articulated in the Maine Supreme Court decision more than thirty years ago.

There the Court concluded that the law recognizes a previously competent patient’s “right of self-determination in matters of health care to be essential to the integrity and dignity of his person.” 

While I do not necessarily agree with the Court that the right of the individual is all that absolute, I do believe it is a right that should be protected by law- the right to make ultimate decisions- along with the protections for those who are unable to articulate their informed choices and those who do not have access to quality end of life care.

So, after weighing all these concerns, and perhaps for other reasons I am just not able to articulate today, I have decided to sign LD 1313.

For all of these concerns as well however, I have also issued Executive Order Number Nine, which requires the Department of Health and Human Services to engage in Emergency Substantive Rulemaking within the next few months.

The broad purposes of this Executive Order will be to provide a high level of protection for those in care and those who shall be in care; to track trends in the utilization of the law; to pursue our responsibility for end of life care; and to avoid the moral and social consequences of a law that in some way might facilitate the taking of life without the full authority of the individual.

It is my hope that this law, while respecting the right to personal liberty, will be used sparingly, that we will continue to respect the life of every citizen, with the utmost concern for their spiritual and physical well-being, and that we as a society will be as vigorous in providing full comfort, hospice and palliative care to all persons, no matter their status, location or financial ability, as we are in respecting their right to make this ultimate decision over their own fate of their own free will.

I know that there will be many who agree and disagree with my decision, but I thank you for listening this morning to hear directly from me about why I’ve made this important decision.

I am Janet Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, and I thank you for listening.

This week, my Administration announced an investment strategy to improve our economy, to address some of the critical challenges facing our state, and to position us to succeed in the years to come. 

These are the goals of the bond package we submitted to the Legislature.

Good morning, I am Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

The first critical challenge facing our state addressed by the bond package is access to high speed internet.

About 83,000 households in Maine do not have access to broadband and, right now, the ConnectME is only able to fund small projects a few at a time.

With the availability of faster internet speeds, it is time we change that. We can no longer be a slow speed state in a 5G nation.

So, the first pillar of our proposed bond package invests $30 million in broadband expansion. This will enable the ConnectME Authority to leverage private and local investments to bring high speed internet access to more unserved and underserved areas of our state – and along with that, the businesses and people we need to expand our economy.

High speed internet is just one critical tool that our state needs to succeed.

To break down the barriers to innovation, and to welcome creative ideas, and to build a diverse and sustainable economy, we need to invest in research and development.

So, the bond proposal invests $15 million in the Maine Technology Institute for research and development and $5 million for infrastructure, equipment and technology upgrades for businesses to create and preserve jobs. 

This money will help create good-paying jobs in emerging industries in every region of our great state. Now there also must be skilled workers ready to fill those jobs.

So, our bond proposal also invests $19 million to support workforce training, career and technical education and their capital needs, and access to child care, among other initiatives.

Education and technical training are key to ensuring that every person can achieve skills to get a good-paying job no matter where they live and no matter their age in our state.

You know as a mother of five daughters, I also know that even if you have a good-paying job or are working full time as a parent in this state, it can be very difficult to balance family needs and work needs.

So, we need to attract young families with children to Maine. We also need young parents to be able to work in Maine. And you know, work and raising a child are not necessarily incompatible.

So, our proposal provides $5 million to expand childcare facilities across the state. 

Another major focus of the Administration is to protect Maine’s environment and to shepherd in an era of clean energy and good-paying jobs associated with that industry. 

So, the bond package we proposed provides a $65 million investment in Maine’s environment, beginning with a $30 million investment over three years for the very popular Land for Maine’s Future program.

Our bond package also provides $20 million in hazardous materials cleanup and drinking water treatment, $10 million in municipal energy projects, with more efficient heating technology, and $5 million in low interest loans for clean energy projects for homeowners in Maine.

All of this pretty much carries matching funds of various sorts.

The last pillar of our investment package is a $105 million transportation bond to pay for critical upgrades in improvements to transportation infrastructure. 

You know, the American Society of Civil Engineers has graded Maine’s infrastructure a “C-”, and they ranked Maine’s roads even lower at a “D”. Well we feel that every day when our cars hit those potholes. I think it’s time to address this.

With this bond package we will expand broadband to more rural areas, we’ll build a skilled workforce, we’ll repair roads and bridges, and we will welcome clean energy projects which create jobs and which address climate change. 

This bond package will also leverage federal and private matching funds with at least a 1:1 match on nearly all of these bonds.

This investment strategy, along with the state budget, will tackle our challenges head on, it will continue to diversify our economy and it will make Maine the best place in the nation to live, work, and raise a family.

I look forward to working with the Legislature on this proposal and to sending it to the people of Maine, including all of you listening, for your thoughtful consideration. 

I am Governor Janet Mills, thank you for listening.

Like most of you, I’ve known times when I was sick at work or had a sick child and had to leave work and take care of that child, or had some other type of emergency that has called me away from work.

It’s not something anybody wants to do, we value our jobs and people have a good work ethic here in Maine and we are proud of that.

But you know unexpected circumstances are just a fact of life – and that is exactly why these emergencies should not break the bank for working men and women in Maine.

Good morning, I am Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

So earlier this week, I signed bipartisan legislation to make Maine the first state in the nation to allow paid leave- not just sick leave- but paid leave for employees working for an employer with more than ten people.

Under this new law, businesses with more than ten employees will allow each person to earn one hour of paid leave for forty hours worked. That’s after you’ve worked there for four months. Employees have to give reasonable notice for their employers before taking leave of course.

Smaller businesses with fewer than ten employees and seasonal businesses which operate for less than six months- they’re exempt.

As a result of this new law, about 85 percent of working Maine men and women will now have access to paid leave. Meanwhile, more than 40,000 out of our state’s 50,792 businesses will not be impacted.

So we’re leaving the small businesses alone but providing paid leave to an enormous number of men and women in our workforce. This law provides economic and financial security to the vast majority of Maine working people while also appropriately balancing the legitimate needs and concerns of employers, especially small businesses.

This is important and it’s significant.

I think this forward-looking policy is good for our economy and it is good for the workforce because people of Maine are our greatest asset.

When we invest in them and when we support the people and the businesses who employ them – our economy succeeds.

I am proud to have negotiated and to have signed this bill into law along with Republican Senator Stacey Guerin and Democratic Senators Shenna Bellows and Rebecca Millett and many others on both sides of the aisle. It is a shining example I think of good governance.

It is good policy that resulted from lawmakers from both sides of the aisle negotiating and working together to find common ground – not everybody getting entirely what they want, but ultimately arriving at a product that takes meaningful steps forward for the people of Maine.

A bill that is understandable, simple in its terms, and easily implemented.

That’s how we can and should lead. It is how our state is leading the nation, and we are just getting started.

I am Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Campaigning across the state of Maine last year, I visited a lot of towns like Madison, and Millinocket, Old Town, Bucksport – towns that have lost paper mills over the last decade.

While some of these mills, most of them are still idle, some towns are actually finding new life and I’m pleased that, just this week, our Administration welcomed a new business to Bucksport, where one company is moving forward with a $250 million salmon farm near the site of the old mill.

Good morning. I am Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Our heritage industries – farming, and fishing, and forestry – are adapting and diversifying with a changing economy. Our small businesses, from Kittery to Fort Kent, are innovating and engaging in exciting new work.

One business I visited was reclaiming some sunken logs out of the Penobscot County lakes, some of which had been there since the Civil War, and turning those logs into beautiful furniture you can’t find anywhere else in this country.

Hey that business is just one example of how Maine people are using their skills, and resources, and ingenuity to succeed in regions all across our state.

Well I think it is time for state government to do its part developing a diverse and sustainable economy that supports these new ideas and makes it possible for every person to live and work at a good-paying job in the state they love.

You know, ten years ago, who would have thought that Maine would be the craft brewery capital of the country? Who would have thought that Portland, Maine would become the foodie central of the northeast or that two of the 40 best restaurants in the nation are located in Biddeford.

That may not strike you as economic development – but it really is.

In every region of Maine, from salmon farms and flourishing kelp and oyster industries, to young families moving here to take over the family farm, there is economic development happening every day in our state.

But some of that economic development has been piecemeal, fragmented, a little short term.

Businesses need stability and certainty to invest here.

It is high time to develop a long-term economic development strategy that involves both private and public sectors and creates the stability that businesses need while addressing the needs of the entire state and move our economy forward.

That’s why this week I directed the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, led by Commissioner Heather Johnson, to work with other government agencies, and business leaders and private organizations to develop a real ten-year strategic economic development plan for the state of Maine.

Over the summer, the Department will host a series of regional meetings to get the input of business and municipal leaders and members of the public, including some of you listening.

Together we will craft a ten-year plan that drives economic growth, and that addresses our workforce challenges and results in a strong, sustainable and diverse economy.

You know, I want to see real action, not just talk. I expect the economic development plan on my desk by fall so that we all can get to work with the Legislature and implement it.

It is time to expand the economic development vision and what’s happening here in Maine right now, and identify ways that we can do a better job to strengthen our economy, mobilize our state to work together and achieve those goals.

I hope that you will be a part of those efforts and that you’ll share your ideas in the months ahead so that we can create a diverse and sustainable economy and a brighter future for our state.

I am Governor Janet Mills, thank you for listening.