State Rep. Jeffrey P. Hanley (R-Pittston) has been appointed to the 130th Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committees on Environment and Natural Resources and Taxation. Hanley will serve as the ranking member on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The Taxation Committee is responsible for state and local taxes; tax credits and exemptions, taxpayer relief programs, and other tax issues. The Environment and Natural Resources committee has oversight that includes natural resource protection and environmental policy, including Maine Department of Environmental Protection. 

“Maine taxpayers, businesses, workers and their families have been hit hard over the past year,” said Hanley. “Now is not the time to create new tax burdens, or embark on expensive new programs. The Legislature’s focus should be on the overspending that occurred before the pandemic. I am interested in forward looking policies that make it easier to safely and swiftly recover from the pandemic without doing further damage.”  

COVID-19 is impacting the way members of the 13-person committees conduct their public business. Hearings and work sessions are being conducted virtually by Zoom for the foreseeable future. Hanley continued, “The Legislature needs to get back to work in person as soon as it is safely possible to do so. Large businesses and frontline workers already are.”

Hanley is in his fourth term representing District 87, serving Alna, Wiscasset, Pittston and Randolph.