Bill Would Eliminate "Brain Drain"

Representative Herb Adams, D-Portland, has submitted a bill aimed at eliminating the state’s “brain drain” and encouraging young people to stay in Maine. Adams worked with Opportunity Maine organizers to bring the bill to the Legislature.

The bill would establish the Job Creation Through Educational Opportunity program, which would provide education tax credits to students who earn degrees from Maine’s colleges and universities, then stay in the state to live and work.

More than 75,000 people signed petitions circulated by volunteers to send the issue to voters statewide. The bill is the legislative vehicle to bring the referendum to voters.

Tax credits would be limited to how much the student paid to a lender for loan payments or the cost of attending schools in the University of Maine or Maine Community College systems, whichever is less. The bill would also allow Maine employers to claim the tax credit if they make loan payments for their employees.

The Legislature referred the bill, LD 1815 or the Opportunity Maine bill, to the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation where it will have a public hearing in the coming weeks.
More information on the bill is available at www.housedemocrats.maine.gov.