Maine Question 3, Transportation Bond Issue (2017)

Maine Question 3
Election date November 7, 2017
Topic Bond issues and Transportation
Status a Approved
Type Bond issue	Origin State Legislature

2017 measures
June 13, 2017
Maine Question 1
November 7, 2017
Maine Question 1
Maine Question 2
Maine Question 4
Maine Question 3

Maine Question 3, the Transportation Bond Issue, was on the ballot in Maine as a legislatively referred bond question on November 7, 2017. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported issuing $105 million in bonds for transportation infrastructure projects.

A "no" vote opposed issuing $105 million in bonds for transportation infrastructure projects.

Election results

Question 3
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		246,828	71.99%
No		96,017	28.01%

Election results from Maine Secretary of State

Overview

Design of the bond issue

Question 3 authorized issuing $105 million in bonds for transportation infrastructure. The bond revenue was earmarked as follows:

(a) $80 million for the construction, reconstruction, and repair of state highways and bridges;

(b) $20 million for facilities, equipment, and property acquisition related to ports, harbors, marine transportation, aviation, freight and passenger railroads, transit, and bicycle and pedestrian trails; and

(c) $5 million for a competitive grant program that provides matching funds to local governments, municipal commissions, and private nonprofits for upgrading culverts at stream crossings in order to improve fish and wildlife habitats and increase safety.

The bond issue was also designed to be be used to receive an estimated $137,000,000 in federal and other matching funds.

Bond issues in Maine

Voters of Maine cast ballots on 33 bond issues, totaling $1.07 billion in value, between January 1, 2007, and June 30, 2017. All but one bond issue question was approved. Question 3 was designed to issue bonds related to transportation infrastructure. There were eight other bond issues addressing transportation on the ballot during the 10 previous years. All eight of them were approved, issuing a combined total of $598.25 million in bonds. As of June 30, 2017, Maine had $460.24 million in debt from voter-issued bonds. In November 2016, voters also approved a $100 million bond issue to fund transportation projects.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title was as follows:

“

Do you favor a $105,000,000 bond issue for construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of highways and bridges and for facilities or equipment related to ports, harbors, marine transportation, freight and passenger railroads, aviation, transit and bicycle and pedestrian trails, to be used to match an estimated $137,000,000 in federal and other funds, and for the upgrade of municipal culverts at stream crossings?

”

Full text

The full text of the measure was as follows:

An Act To Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue To Improve Highways, Bridges and Multimodal Facilities and Upgrade Municipal Culverts Sec. 1. Authorization of bonds. The Treasurer of State is authorized, under the direction of the Governor, to issue bonds in the name and on behalf of the State in an amount not exceeding $105,000,000 for the purposes described in section 5 of this Act. The bonds are a pledge of the full faith and credit of the State. The bonds may not run for a period longer than 10 years from the date of the original issue of the bonds. Sec. 2. Records of bonds issued; Treasurer of State. The Treasurer of State shall ensure that an account of each bond is kept showing the number of the bond, the name of the successful bidder to whom sold, the amount received for the bond, the date of sale and the date when payable. Sec. 3. Sale; how negotiated; proceeds appropriated. The Treasurer of State may negotiate the sale of the bonds by direction of the Governor, but no bond may be loaned, pledged or hypothecated on behalf of the State. The proceeds of the sale of the bonds, which must be held by the Treasurer of State and paid by the Treasurer of State upon warrants drawn by the State Controller, are appropriated solely for the purposes set forth in this Act. Any unencumbered balances remaining at the completion of the project in this Act lapse to the Office of the Treasurer of State to be used for the retirement of general obligation bonds. Sec. 4. Interest and debt retirement. The Treasurer of State shall pay interest due or accruing on any bonds issued under this Act and all sums coming due for payment of bonds at maturity. Sec. 5. Disbursement of bond proceeds from General Fund bond issue. The proceeds of the sale of the bonds authorized under this Act must be expended as designated in the following schedule under the direction and supervision of the agencies and entities set forth in this section. TRANSPORTATION, DEPARTMENT OF Provides funds to construct, reconstruct or rehabilitate Priority 1, Priority 2 and Priority 3 state highways under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 23, section 73, subsection 7 and for associated improvements, for the department's municipal partnership initiative and to replace and rehabilitate bridges. Total: $80,000,000 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF Provides funds for a competitive grant program that matches local funding for the upgrade of municipal culverts at stream crossings in order to improve fish and wildlife habitats and increase community safety. Eligible project sponsors include local governments, municipal conservation commissions, soil and water conservation districts and private nonprofit organizations. A proposal for funding from an eligible project sponsor must include a map and summary of the proposed project, describing how it meets the following criteria: 1. Contribution to competitive grant program goals. The extent to which the proposed project allows communities to more effectively prepare for storm and flood events and advances the goals of restoring habitat for fish, including sea-run fish and native brook trout, and wildlife, including: A. The priority status of the culvert to be upgraded or replaced for native brook trout and sea-run fish restoration, based on available stream survey data, statewide prioritization for aquatic connectivity and presence in priority watersheds of salmon, alewives and other diadromous fishes; B. Confirmation that the culvert proposed for upgrade or replacement is on a municipal road, not a state road or private road; C. The extent to which the proposed project meets the Department of Environmental Protection's design standard of at least 1.2 times the stream's bankfull width, with a natural stream bottom or embedded structure, and meets or exceeds the Department of Transportation's 100-year flood standard; D. The degree of urgency of the proposed project, including whether a culvert is at high risk of failure due to age, location within a watershed or reach with high flood risk or severe flood history; and E. The expected contribution to reducing the frequency or severity of flooding to upstream and downstream communities and improving storm water management within the proposed project area; and 2. Cost-effectiveness. The extent to which the proposed project represents an efficient and cost-effective investment, including the proportion of total project funding that will be provided from other sources and the potential avoided costs associated with the proposed project. Funds may not be used to cover all of the costs associated with a proposed project. Total: $5,000,000 Sec. 6. Contingent upon ratification of bond issue. Sections 1 to 5 do not become effective unless the people of the State ratify the issuance of the bonds as set forth in this Act. Sec. 7. Appropriation balances at year-end. At the end of each fiscal year, all unencumbered appropriation balances representing state money carry forward. Bond proceeds that have not been expended within 10 years after the date of the sale of the bonds lapse to the Office of the Treasurer of State to be used for the retirement of general obligation bonds. Sec. 8. Bonds authorized but not issued. Any bonds authorized but not issued within 5 years of ratification of this Act are deauthorized and may not be issued, except that the Legislature may, within 2 years after the expiration of that 5-year period, extend the period for issuing any remaining unissued bonds for an additional amount of time not to exceed 5 years. Sec. 9. Referendum for ratification; submission at election; form of question; effective date. This Act must be submitted to the legal voters of the State at a statewide election held in the month of November 2017. The municipal officers of this State shall notify the inhabitants of their respective cities, towns and plantations to meet, in the manner prescribed by law for holding a statewide election, to vote on the acceptance or rejection of this Act by voting on the following question: "Do you favor a $105,000,000 bond issue for construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of highways and bridges and for facilities or equipment related to ports, harbors, marine transportation, freight and passenger railroads, aviation, transit and bicycle and pedestrian trails, to be used to match an estimated $137,000,000 in federal and other funds, and for the upgrade of municipal culverts at stream crossings?" The legal voters of each city, town and plantation shall vote by ballot on this question and designate their choice by a cross or check mark placed within a corresponding square below the word "Yes" or "No." The ballots must be received, sorted, counted and declared in open ward, town and plantation meetings and returns made to the Secretary of State in the same manner as votes for members of the Legislature. The Governor shall review the returns. If a majority of the legal votes are cast in favor of this Act, the Governor shall proclaim the result without delay and this Act becomes effective 30 days after the date of the proclamation. The Secretary of State shall prepare and furnish to each city, town and plantation all ballots, returns and copies of this Act necessary to carry out the purposes of this referendum.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2017

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The Maine State Legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure. The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 27, and the FRE is 5. The word count for the ballot title is 59, and the estimated reading time is 15 seconds.

Campaign finance

Total campaign contributions:
Support:	$0.00
Opposition:	$0.00

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Maine ballot measures

No ballot question committees registered to support or oppose the amendment.

Media editorials

See also: 2017 ballot measure media endorsements

Support

• Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel (CentralMaine.com) said: "Maine’s transportation infrastructure — and by extension, its economy — are screaming for greater investment. Voters can take an important, if not wholly sufficient, step in the right direction by approving Question 3 Nov. 7."

• Bangor Daily News said: "The funding in this year’s Question 3 is the second installment of funding for priority projects on a long list of state transportation maintenance and improvement needs. We recommend a 'yes' vote."

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not find media editorials opposing the measure. If you are aware of an editorial, please email it to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Background

Bond issues on the ballot in Maine

See also: Bond issues on the ballot

Voters of Maine cast ballots on 33 bond issues, totaling $1,017,925,000 in value, from January 1, 2007, through June 30, 2017. All but one bond issue, an $11 million bond to expand the state's community college system, was approved. This means that Mainers approved 97 percent of bond issues on the ballot between 2007 and 2017.

Prior to the election on November 7, 2017, the most recent bond issue that citizens voted on was a $105 million business investment and loans bond titled Question 1.

The following table contains information on the 33 bond issues that appeared on the ballot in Maine between 2007 and 2017:

Year	Measure	Amount	Primary purpose	Outcome
2007 (June)	Question 1	$112,975,000	Transportation projects	a
2007 (June)	Question 2	$18,300,000	Water facilities	a
2007	Question 2	$55,000,000	Economic development	a
2007	Question 3	$43,500,000	Higher education	a
2007	Question 4	$35,500,000	Environmental conservation and recreation	a
2008 (June)	Question 1	$29,725,000	Water facilities and transportation projects	a
2008	Question 3	$3,400,000	Water facilities	a
2009	Question 6	$71,250,000	Transportation projects	a
2010 (June)	Question 2	$26,500,000	Energy projects and higher education	a
2010 (June)	Question 3	$47,800,000	Transportation projects	a
2010 (June)	Question 4	$23,750,000	Economic development	a
2010 (June)	Question 5	$10,250,000	Water facilities	a
2010	Question 2	$5,000,000	Healthcare services	a
2010	Question 3	$9,750,000	Environmental conservation and recreation	a
2012	Question 2	$11,300,000	Higher education	d
2012	Question 3	$5,000,000	Environmental conservation and recreation	a
2012	Question 4	$51,500,000	Transportation projects	a
2012	Question 5	$7,925,000	Water facilities	a
2013	Question 1	$14,000,000	Military facilities	a
2013	Question 2	$15,500,000	Higher education	a
2013	Question 3	$100,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2013	Question 4	$4,500,000	Higher education	a
2013	Question 5	$15,500,000	Higher education	a
2014	Question 2	$8,000,000	Agricultural research	a
2014	Question 3	$12,000,000	Economic development	a
2014	Question 4	$10,000,000	Healthcare research	a
2014	Question 5	$3,000,000	Healthcare research	a
2014	Question 6	$10,000,000	Water facilities and environmental conservation	a
2014	Question 7	$7,000,000	Economic development	a
2015	Question 2	$15,000,000	Housing projects	a
2015	Question 3	$85,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2016	Question 6	$100,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2017	Question 1	$50,000,000	Economic development	a

Debt from voter-approved bonds

The Maine state treasurer provides an overview of the state’s debt resulting from general obligation bonds, which include all voter-approved bonds. A general obligation bond constitutes public debt and is paid for through state funds. Section 14 of Article IX of the Maine Constitution requires that general obligation bonds exceeding $2 million be referred to the ballot for voter approval.

According to the state treasurer's overview on June 30, 2017, Maine had $460.24 million in debt from general obligation bonds. An additional $85.21 million had been approved by voters at the ballot box but not yet issued. The June 2017 debt from general obligation bonds was higher than the June 2016 debt, which was $380.99 million with an additional $49.88 million in unissued bonds. The graph below provides an illustration of state debt from general obligation bonds and the annual amount of unissued bonds in millions of dollars between June 30, 2005, and June 30, 2017:

Path to the ballot

See also: Legislatively-referred state statute

Section 14 of Article IX of the Maine Constitution requires that state bonds exceeding $2 million be referred to the ballot for voter approval. A two-thirds vote in both chambers of the Maine Legislature is required to put bond issues before voters.

The bond issue was introduced into the Maine State Legislature as Legislative Document 1552. On June 20, 2017, both the state House of Representatives and state Senate approved the bill. The measure was certified for the ballot on August 2, 2017, when LD 1552 became law without Gov. LePage's signature.

Vote in the Maine State Senate June 20, 2017
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of those present in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 18  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	26	0	0
Total percent	100.00%	0.00%	N/A

Vote in the Maine House of Representatives June 20, 2017
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of those present in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 88  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	127	5	19
Total percent	96.21%	3.79%	N/A

State profile

Demographic data for Maine
	Maine	U.S.
Total population:	1,329,453	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	30,843	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	95%	73.6%
Black/African American:	1.1%	12.6%
Asian:	1.1%	5.1%
Native American:	0.6%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	1.5%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	91.6%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	29%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$49,331	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	16.6%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Maine. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Maine

Maine voted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, eight are located in Maine, accounting for 3.88 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Maine had seven Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 4.42 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Maine coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Maine
• United States congressional delegations from Maine
• Public policy in Maine
• Endorsers in Maine
• Maine fact checks
• More...

Related measures

Bond issues measures on the ballot in 2017
State	Measures
Maine	Maine Question 1: Technology Sectors Funds and Business Loans Bond Issue a
West Virginia	West Virginia Amendment 1: Bonds for Roads and Bridges Measure a
New Jersey	New Jersey Public Question 1: Bonds for Public Libraries Measure a

See also

Suggest a link

• Maine 2017 ballot measures
• List of Maine ballot measures
• 2017 ballot measures
• Bond issues on the ballot
• Transportation on the ballot

External links

• Maine LD 1552
• Maine Citizen’s Guide to the 2017 Referendum Election

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Maine 2017 Transportation Bond. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Maine Question 3, Transportation Bond Issue (2017) - Google News