Overview
- The Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee advanced the supplemental budget on an 8–4 vote, sending it to the full House and Senate for final debate and passage.
- The plan offers a one‑time $300 payment under tightened income limits of under $50,000 for individuals, $75,000 for heads of household, and $100,000 for joint filers, which the governor’s office says would reach about 514,000 people.
- To help pay for the package, lawmakers included a 2 percent surcharge on income above $1 million that analysts estimate would affect roughly 0.4 percent of taxpayers and raise about $100 million in fiscal year 2027.
- Gov. Janet Mills now backs the surtax and says she will not sign a budget without the checks, while Republicans object to tapping the rainy‑day fund and to adding a new tax on high earners.
- Beyond the payments, the bill funds property tax relief, energy and heating assistance, housing programs, childcare, public defense, highway needs, and lifts the base teacher salary to $50,000.