WHEREAS, National Work Zone Awareness Week is an annual spring campaign held at the start of construction season to encourage safe driving through road and highway work zones; and

WHEREAS, the week encourages motorists to slow to posted speed limits, eliminate distractions while driving and be watchful for roadway workers, their equipment and vehicles on the side of the road in work zones; and

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

Well, I don't have to tell you that recent years have brought historic challenges to the tourism industry here in Maine, and when the global pandemic closed international borders and made consumers wary of where they ate, and how they traveled, and which hotel they stayed in, we all worked very hard to protect and to elevate Maine's reputation as a safe destination.

As a result, people flocked to Maine. They stayed safe. They fell in love with everything that makes our state so special. From the mountains where you can hike to see the sunrise, to our lakes and streams, all great for fishing, to our iconic rocky coastline with views unlike anywhere else in the world, and our sandy beaches and our islands waiting to be explored.

So people felt safe coming here, and Maine families themselves had "staycations," enjoying everything that our state has to offer. And all of that contributed millions to our economy and to our state's robust recovery from the pandemic.

Well, our tourism industry is still a major contributor to our continued economic growth. Last year, nearly fifteen million people visited our state, and they spent more than $9 billion here. All that spending supported businesses that employ nearly 116,000 people here. Put another way, every 128 tourists support one job in Maine. Nearly 800,000, or 5%, of our visitors last year were from Canada, and those Canadian visitors spent nearly $500 million.

Well, on the eve of another summer tourism season, we are again facing some economic uncertainty. That uncertainty is not being driven by a pandemic this time, but by harmful rhetoric and painful tariffs that our Canadian neighbors say make them feel unwelcome in the United States. They don't want to come here and they're uncertain about visiting the state of Maine. It's estimated we could lose 225,000 visitors from Canada this year. That means hundreds of thousands of fewer people staying in our hotels, eating at our restaurants, shopping at our businesses.

I've heard it said that we could make up the difference by attracting visitors from other states, but remember that other states will be competing for those visitors too. While some may say having fewer tourists from Canada may allow Maine people to have "staycations" themselves, let's remember the survival of many small businesses in our hospitality sector depends on overnight visitors -- those who stay longer and spend time and money in our hotels, restaurants, shops, and attractions.

Small businesses in Old Orchard Beach are already feeling the effects of the President's tariffs. The owner of Point of View Inn says as much as 90% of his family-run hotel's bookings for the summer season are being paused or canceled. The owner of the Paradise Park Resort Campground said they've had more than 100 cancellations. That's a 250% increase in cancellations from normal. The owner of the Beach Hotel told a news outlet, "It's sad when the people at the top affect the people at the bottom because we really are powerless."

Well, I've been speaking to some of my Atlantic Province Canadian counterparts, and I want to reassure them every day that Maine will continue to welcome Canadian residents to enjoy world-class experiences here in Maine. And that in turn, we'll continue to visit their provinces as well. I'm committed to working with Canadian leaders to preserve cross-border travel, encourage tourism, and promote each other's advantages and amenities.

I've also been inspired to think about making my own visit to Canada this summer through the provinces and I encourage Maine people to do the same with their families.

Each of us can be a good ambassador for our state. We are all the people who make our state "Vacationland," and we want to do everything we can to support the tourism industry here in Maine.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

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

You know, for the last few months, I've been urging lawmakers – Democrat, Republican, and Independent alike—to approach our state budget conversations in good faith, with good ideas, with clarity and civility, and with an open mind to the views of others, and ultimately with the commitment and the courage to make some hard choices.

I've warned Democratic and Republican lawmakers that our hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare providers needed them to pass an emergency funding bill to ensure that they were paid for services under MaineCare, of course, which offers health insurance to roughly 400,000 people, children and older adults of all sorts across our state.

Unfortunately, a few lawmakers in the Senate turned away from a bipartisan agreement and prevented the budget from getting the votes it needed to take effect immediately so that we can pay our bills. That then forced the Maine Department of Health and Human Services into the extraordinary position of having to temporarily cap payments that are owed to these healthcare providers, even though the money is there. These providers said loudly and clearly this budget stalemate was endangering their finances and would impact health care for vulnerable people all over our state.

To break the stalemate, the legislature then advanced a budget with a majority vote – and that's an unfortunate outcome, something I wanted to avoid by pushing for bipartisan agreement, as has so often happened in the past. Still, I signed that majority budget into law because Maine hospitals, nursing homes, and others have to be paid, and our forests have to be protected from spruce budworm, and Maine people should have the confidence of knowing that their essential government services will be funded for the next two years through a baseline budget.

Well, given that the legislature did not pass it as an emergency, that budget will not take effect until June 20th. That includes the money for the hospitals and the money for spraying for spruce budworm.

Now there's a petition to place a people's veto of the budget on the November ballot. It's important, I think, for you to know the facts about this matter before you're asked to sign a petition. To be clear, if the proposed people's veto gets enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, the state budget would be completely suspended starting July 1st.

Now, some people may be upset that this budget was not passed with bipartisan support, and like I said, that's not the outcome I wanted either. But I cannot stress enough how devastating a suspension of this baseline state budget would be. We're still evaluating all the implications, but broadly speaking, if there's no budget, then there's no funding for our schools, public safety, mental health, transportation, municipal revenue sharing, and so many other services that Maine people, schools, communities, and businesses rely on.

Those already-capped payments to our health care providers would be cut off, as would emergency funding to protect Maine forests from the spruce budworm. There's no telling what impact this would have on hospitals, nursing homes, and healthcare providers across our state. They're having a hard enough time now, but this would make it worse.

State government would be completely shut down for months at a time, including those summer tourist season months, and it would cause serious damage to our economy. The only opportunity to end this unnecessary shutdown, should it occur, would be if voters rejected the people's veto at the polls in November. All that time, there would be no budget.

With all this uncertainty nationwide right now, the push and pull that's coming from Washington, we have to keep delivering essential programs, services, money for the towns and communities that people rely on. Money that supports our economy and businesses and that protects the health and safety of Maine families.

So, I'm urging Maine people to not sign this petition for the initiative. It's a measure that could cause a complete standstill in our economy, a standstill of the state budget, and it's a dangerous one. I'm ready to work with our Legislature at the same time on budget matters and other matters, work with them in good faith and reach a bipartisan agreement that will work well for Maine people. I strongly urge those proposing this people's veto do so as well.

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

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

This week, I joined organ donors and their loved ones at the State House. We proclaimed April as "Organ Donation Month" in Maine.

The number of Maine people who received organ transplants has nearly doubled from 66 to 124, just in the last five years. I read recently about one of those transplant recipients, an eight-year-old girl named Emily from Sanford. While they were waiting for Emily's lung transplant, her mother said she remembered thinking "I may not have a daughter on Mother's Day. We were planning for her funeral."

Well, no family should ever have to experience that kind of fear, not when each of us can give the gift of life to someone in need just by signing up to be an organ donor.

When Emily's mom got the call that a matching donor had been found for her daughter, she said, "In that moment, the only feeling was one of hope."

Last year, 648 donors saved more than 1,500 lives in New England. I am proud that about 700,000 Maine people, including myself, are signed up to be organ donors. That's half of Maine's population. But there are still thousands of people who are praying this very minute for a matching donor and for the chance to live a long and healthy life. You could be the answer to those prayers.

Just one organ donor can save up to eight lives and can improve the quality of life of many other people through tissue donation. I've heard many donor families say that in the aftermath of the loss of their loved one, it brings them some solace to know that their loved one's legacy lives on through the lives they touched, and healed, and helped.

Sign up to be an organ donor simply by checking that box whenever you renew your license at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. And/or sign up on the National Donate Life Registry at www.RegisterMe.org. It's a very simple form to fill out.

There are people waiting now for a kidney donation or tissue donation that you can give now. That's www.RegisterMe.org to see if you are a match for someone else in need.

Celebrate National Donate Life Month by becoming an organ donor today. Give the gift of hope, and the gift of life, and health to families across Maine and across this country.

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

WHEREAS, sexual assault affects people of all races, genders, and economic backgrounds in every Maine community; and

WHEREAS, more than 19,000 people in Maine will experience sexual violence this year, and one in five Mainers will be impacted in their lifetime; and

WHEREAS, sexual violence has far-reaching public health and societal costs, with impacts on survivors, their loved ones and their communities, often resulting in mental health struggles, substance use, housing insecurity, lost wages, and healthcare costs; and

WHEREAS, forests cover over eighty-nine percent of Maine's land, defining our environment and contributing to our high quality of life; and

WHEREAS, these healthy, productive forests provide employment and sustain the state's two leading industries, forest products and tourism; and

WHEREAS, for more than a century, the State of Maine has been a national leader in forest fire control and prevention, and in 1891 established the Maine Forest Service to combat forest fires; and