2010 ABCPAC Candidate Questionnaire

Candidate's Name:         

               Phone:  Email: 

Thank you for your interest in learning more about Associated Builders and Contractors of Maine.  ABC members understand the commitment and sacrifice candidates and their families must make.  We appreciate your dedication to public service and your willingness to put yourself forward as a candidate for public office. We look forward to learning more about your positions on the issues that impact Maine's construction industry.

Instructions:  Please check one box for each issue.  If you would like to submit additional information, please do so in an e-mail to kathleen@abcmaine.org – referencing each issue by the underlined title. Questionnaires must be completed by Friday, October 22, 2010 for endorsement consideration.

Right to Work:
Maine law currently allows labor unions to force compulsory withholding of union dues from workers’ paychecks as a condition of employment – you could lose your job if you refuse to pay the union's dues.  ABC opposes forced unionism and supports joining the 22 states that have passed “right to work” legislation which prevents public or private employers from firing a worker who does not wish to belong to a union.
        
           I will support Right to Work Legislation in Maine
           I will oppose Right to Work legislation in Maine
           I don't know

State Prevailing Wages:
ABC supports free markets and opposes price-fixing of labor costs. Prevailing wage requirements adopted in the 1930’s to prevent contractors from cutting wages to pick up state work actually hinder job growth by making construction costs prohibitive and by dampening competition. As a result, taxpayers are paying more than they should for new schools, roads and public buildings. Studies show public construction costs are increased by as much as 30% when labor prices are set at government mandated levels.

Repealing Maine’s prevailing wage law (as 9 other states have done) could save Maine taxpayers millions in annual state and local government and school costs – savings that could be used to help close Maine’s enormous budget deficit.

           I would support repeal of state prevailing wage requirements
           I would oppose repeal of state prevailing wage requirements
           I don’t know

DirigoHealth:
ABC was among the first industry associations to speak out against enactment of DirigoHealth which proposed to cover 128,000 uninsured Mainers by 2009 using $53 million in one-time money, “captured” savings and a tax on premiums. Now, several years and $400 million later, the program insures 3,400 previously uninsured people and the rate of uninsured remains the same – 10%.  DirigoHealth is a costly failure that should be repealed.

           I support repealing DirigoHealth
           I oppose repealing DirigoHealth
           I don’t know

Tax Policy:
ABC supports adoption of a fiscally responsible plan to lower the total tax burden Mainers pay for government services.  Though Maine’s income tax is too high, raising the sales tax in order to lower the income tax does notlower our tax burden. 

ABC supports a measured, thoughtful plan to reduce the income tax incrementally, by dedicating surplus revenues toward income tax eductions, rather than funding new programs, and by reducing the size and scope of state government so that it is more in line with what Mainer’s can afford to pay.

           I support dedicating surplus revenues to lowering the income tax and reducing the
                size and scope of state government
           I oppose dedicating surplus revenues to lowering the income tax and reducing the
                size and scope of state government
           I don’t know

Status of Independent Contractors/Unemployment Insurance Reform:

ABC has led the construction industry in reforming the test and application process that determines whether a worker is classified as an independent contractor or an employee for the purposes of workers’ compensation insurance.

In the upcoming legislative session, ABC will tackle the same issue as it relates to covering workers under the Department of Labor’s unemployment insurance test. The Department’s 3-prong test, also known as the “A-B-C” test, dates from the Depression Era and fails to consider the realities of today’s workforce.  It stultifies entrepreneurship by forcing individuals to be classified as employees or “covered workers” even if they consider themselves self-employed sole proprietors.

Additionally, Maine’s current law requires sole proprietors and company owners to pay unemployment insurance taxes on their own wages, but does not allow them to collect unemployment insurance benefits.

Independent contractors are an integral part of Maine’s construction industry.  ABC supports fair unemployment insurance reforms to make their “covered worker” test more attuned to today’s workforce needs and eliminate unfair assessments to company owners.

           I support reforming the unemployment insurance law
           I oppose reforming the unemployment insurance law
           I don’t know

Regulatory Reform:
Maine businesses suffer from an inordinate number of regulatory requirements to comply with state laws. The regulations imposed often place a burden disproportionate to the benefit gained. The Department of Environmental Protection, for example, has proposed sweeping changes to the site location of development regulations that would negatively impact development in Maine, with little or no consideration of the devastating economic impact.

ABC supports regulatory reform legislation to require economic impact measurement on all rules and rule changes impacting businesses in Maine. Specifically, the economic impact statement should include, at a minimum, compiling basic information on the number and types of businesses that will be affected, the cost to the business of complying, including the cost of making the changes necessary and the cost of paperwork required to monitor or report on compliance with the new procedures.

           I support regulatory reform to require economic impact statements
           I oppose regulatory reform to require economic impact statements
           I don’t know

Career and Technical Education:
The construction industry depends heavily on high school Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs to instill an interest in the trades, and ultimately bring people into our workforce. Through our Downeast Construction Education Foundation, we have partnered with 15 of Maine’s 27 CTE schools, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars from the construction industry to help pay for the books and teaching supplies CTE programs need to prepare the next generation of construction professionals for our industry.

An investment in Maine’s CTE programs is an investment in our future. ABC calls upon politicians in Augusta to provide leadership by seeking efficiencies and expanding coordination between state agencies, local schools and higher education systems to improve the outcomes for both high school students and our workforce.

           I support investments in Career and Technical Education
           I oppose investments in Career and Technical Education
           I don’t know

Project Labor Agreements:
ABC is strongly opposed to union-only project labor agreements (PLAs) on construction projects because they violate the practice of full and open competition.  These union-only requirements not only drive up the cost of construction by reducing competition, but also exclude merit contractors (over 95% of Maine’s construction workers) from bidding on projects – including some paid for with their own tax dollars. 

A union-only project labor agreement requires all construction companies to sign a contract with the union in order to work on that job.  The agreement also forces contractors to use the union hiring hall to obtain workers, pay union wages, contribute to their benefit plans, and abide by outdated and restrictive union work rules, job classifications and arbitration procedures.

           I support Project Labor Agreements 
           I oppose Project Labor Agreements
           I don’t know

Thank you for completing our survey!