MEREDA Advocacy
The Maine Real Estate & Development Association (MEREDA) is an organization whose mission is to promote an environment for responsible development and ownership of real estate throughout the State.
MEREDA accomplishes its mission through legislative advocacy, regulatory oversight, sponsorship of programs and conferences, and by serving as a unified and proactive representative for real estate and economic development interests.
We hope you find the information on this page useful. Members of MEREDA will find more detailed information in the Members-Only Section of the site.
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November 1, 2023 – MEREDA ACTION ALERT: LD 772, PERMITTING PREDICTABILITY
MEREDA NEEDS YOUR HELP! We are asking MEREDA members to provide testimony in support of LD 772, An Act to Establish a Process to Vest Rights for Land Use Permit Applicants, sponsored by Sen. Matthew Pouliot. A public hearing has been scheduled for the bill on November 14, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. before the Joint Select Committee on Housing.
HERE IS A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE BILL
This bill would help catalyze housing creation in Maine to meet the state’s current and future need. This legislation is intended to establish a fair, practical, and predictable policy landscape for housing creators. The legislation would achieve this goal by establishing the date on which a land use application has been submitted as the date after which the land use ordinance cannot be changed with respect to that application.
For more information on the proposal, and to find a few advocacy discussion points to help you with your testimony, please see the attached Advocacy Kit.
HERE IS HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED – If you would like to provide testimony in support of LD 772, we would encourage you to attend the public hearing in the Joint Select Commitee on Housing on November 14, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. in the Cross Office Building Room 216. If you plan to testify in person, please bring 20 copies of your testimony to the public hearing.
If you would like to testify over Zoom, please follow these instructions.
November 1, 2023 – FALL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Maine Housing Production Needs Study Finds Maine Must Create 84,000 Units of Housing by 2030 to Meet Current, Future Demand
MEREDA expects the publication of this report will continue to fuel conversation about improving Maine’s housing creation landscape, and MEREDA continues to be on the forefront of those conversations both in Augusta and locally
August 3, 2023 – END OF LEGISLATIVE SESSION UPDATE
Check out our End of Session Legislative Update! After one of the longest legislative stretches in recent history, the Maine State Legislature finally concluded its business on July 26, 2023 around 5:00 a.m. The general effectiveness date for non-emergency legislation will be October 25, 2023. Click to read the full report.
June 26, 2023 – SUMMER LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
MEREDA successfully worked with the Maine State Legislature to enact two bills this session: LD 975, which aligns Maine’s elevator safety standards to the standards in the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC); and LD 1289, which enables the transfer of an unfinished commercial condominium. These two bills were passed by the legislature and signed into law. Our third bill, LD 772, An Act to Establish a Process to Vest Rights for Land Use Permit Applicants, will be carried over to the Second Regular Session of the 131st Legislature for consideration next year. This bill, which would provide that a land use applicant is subject to the ordinance standards in place on the date on which the application is submitted, is intended to lower the risk and ensure greater predictability for housing creators by preventing retroactive ordinances from being adopted with the intent or killing one project.
November 14, 2022 – Inclusionary Zoning/Workforce Affordable Housing
Alternatives to a Misguided Policy Solution to Maine’s Workforce Housing Crisis
August 22, 2022 – MEREDA ACTION ALERT
MEREDA Needs Your Help!! We are asking MEREDA members to support the Enough is Enough campaign in opposition to five citizen initiatives and eight Charter Commission questions on the ballot in Portland this November. https://enoughisenoughportland.com/
July 25, 2022 – Portland Ballot to Have 13 Referendum Questions this November
This fall, Portland voters will be asked to support or oppose 13 referendum questions. As recently noted by our friends at the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce (PRCC), these 13 questions will includes provisions that would:
• Institute the 3rd highest minimum wage in the country, behind only two communities in California.
• Eliminate the tipped credit, which would imperil Portland’s world-renowned food and beverage industry by dramatically increasing restaurant prices and harming employees that currently make over $40/hr in tips.
• Double down on the failed rent control policy, which has invited the largest rent increases in our city’s history while discouraging investment in our city’s housing stock.
• Eliminate cruise ships from Portland, threatening the revenues that make our small business community and working waterfront viable.
• Drastically reduce the number of short-term rentals in Portland, punishing local homeowners trying to make ends meet and pay ever increasing property taxes.
• Install a boss mayor in Portland, who could override the democratic will of our elected City Council with a veto pen, hire and fire city staff, issue executive orders, all while receiving a double-digit pay increase over the current mayoral salary.
MEREDA is working closely with the PRCC and other allies to build opposition to the proposals and begin getting out the word to voters. With early voting taking a more prominent role in election process, we will need to move quickly and collectively if we are to succeed in defeating this radical agenda, and in building momentum against referenda as a governance method – it’s bad for Portland, and it’s bad for Maine.
The order and language of the questions has not yet been set. Members will receive more information very soon. Please keep an eye on your inboxes for ways you can help get involved in this fight.
July 13, 2022 – Local Issues Committee Ramps Up in Opposition to Rent Stabilization, Inclusionary Zoning
Following on the heels of a legislative session in which housing advocates united around the need to fix the supply shortage in Maine’s residential housing market, many towns and cities around the state have started proposing legislation that will effectively do the opposite. South Portland recently adopted an eviction moratorium and rent freeze while considering a permanent rent stabilization ordinance. Brunswick has adopted a development moratorium impacting projects over 30 units and including provisions that are effectively inclusionary zoning. At the same time, the Portland Democratic Socialists of America are proposed a referendum to change the City’s rent control ordinance to be more favorable to tenants.
May 11, 2022 — Adjournment of 130th Legislature
130th Legislature Adjourns Sine Die on May 9, 2022
The Second Regular Session of the 130th Legislature adjourned sine die (meaning “without day,” or without intent to return) on May 9, 2022. Pursuant to the Constitution of Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Section 16, the general effective date for nonemergency laws passed in the Second Regular Session of the 130th Legislature is Monday, August 8, 2022.
May 11, 2022 — New Horizons in Housing
What Public Law 2021, Chapter 672 (LD 2003), the “Housing Act” Means for Maine
A big victory for housing development in Maine. Read More >>>
April 8, 2022 —LD 201 Action Alert – Historic Tax Credit
Contact your legislators today to tell them why you support the Maine Historic Tax Credit, and why it’s so important to ensure that the bill is removed from the Special Appropriations Table now and finally enacted this year.
You can find talking points on the importance of this program here. Tell your representatives that it’s important for developers to have certainty that this tax credit will be available to ensure that they can safely put projects in the development pipeline.
Find your House Representative or Senator, listed in alphabetical order by town.
MEREDA Supports the Majority Report of LD 2003
MEREDA supports the majority report for LD 2003 and urges you to contact your House member or Senator in support of the majority report to help building more housing for Maine! The majority of the Labor and Housing Committee of the Legislature voted to support LD 2003, An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Commission to Increase Housing Opportunities in Maine by Studying Zoning and Land Use Restrictions.
