New Law Will Help Maine Coast Prepare for the Future

On April 22 Governor Janet Mills signed LD 1, An Act to Increase Storm Preparedness For Maine’s Communities, Homes & Infrastructure. The bill was the first introduced to the Legislature in January and was sponsored by the four leaders in the Legislature, Senate President Mattie Daughtry, House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart, and House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham. Her signature came after the bill was approved with bipartisan support in the Senate and House.

The legislation is designed to enhance emergency planning at all levels of government, prepare communities and infrastructure for severe weather, and reduce long-term storm-related risks and costs for Maine homeowners and businesses.

The devastating effects of the January 2024 coastal storms and other recent natural disasters in Maine led to the creation of LD1. Photo courtesy of the Town of Vinalhaven.

“I’m proud to sign this bill into law, a bill that will allow Maine communities, homeowners, businesses, emergency response leaders and others to prepare for the extreme weather events of the future and make Maine a safe place to live in the process,” Mills said during a signing ceremony at the State House in April.

The legislation is modeled on recommendations from the Interim Report of the Maine Infrastructure (PDF) Rebuilding and Resilience Commission, released in November 2024. Governor Mills created the commission in the aftermath of a series of natural disasters in the state in late 2023 and early 2024 that resulted in more than $90 million in damages.

LD 1 invests $39 million in resilience measures across three areas, using surplus funds from the Maine Bureau of Insurance and federal funds; it does not draw on any General Revenue funds.

Home Resiliency Program: $15 million to launch the Home Resiliency Grant Program, to help homeowners to strengthen roofs or floodproof basements in their primary residence to protect against severe weather damage and reduce insurance losses. The program is tiered to provide more support to lower-income homeowners. It will be operated by the Bureau of Insurance and focus on reducing roof damage, basement flooding and other targeted interventions to minimize storm damage and insurance losses. The program still must be set up and go through the rule-making process, with a first round of grants expected to be available by May 2026.

Enhanced Hazard Mitigation Resources and Statewide Communications: $10 million in one-time funding from the Bureau of Insurance to the Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) for the Disaster Recovery Fund, providing the state’s required match for federal disaster recovery funds. The bill also includes $750,000 to establish the Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving Loan Fund at MEMA, which will leverage additional federal funds to create a self-sustaining source of capital for infrastructure rebuilding and strengthening projects, and $800,000 to update emergency communications technology and early warning systems at MEMA.

State Resilience Office and Flood-Ready Maine Program: $9 million to launch the Flood Ready Maine initiative to improve flood models, updating flood maps, and building regional capacity for floodplain management. According to the Maine Bureau of Insurance, only 1.3% of all homes and buildings in Maine are covered under the National Flood Insurance Program, well below the national average of 3.3%. The program will be run by the new State Resilience Office, established by the bill, within the Maine Office of Community Affairs. The Office is funded through a five-year federal grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to support planning that reduces flood and storm damage, protects public and private infrastructure, and supports public safety.

“No community in Maine is immune from the impacts of extreme weather, from wind and rain storms that knock out power, to flooded inland rivers and storm surges that wash out roads and damage homes, business, and infrastructure,” said Hannah Pingree, former Director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. “LD 1 makes investments that Maine needs now more than ever. Increasingly frequent and intense storms are all but certain, while federal support for disaster response is not.