AUGUSTA (AP) – Amid legislative Republican warnings that Maine is engaging in deficit financing, advocates for diverse causes lined up Wednesday in the State House to defend a billion dollars worth of new borrowing proposals.

The Appropriations Committee held the second of three days of hearings on more than three dozen proposed bond issues to finance programs and projects from to alcoholism treatment, housing and rural Internet access to fish hatcheries, a passenger train purchase and a new state ferry.

They also included Gov. John Baldacci’s $197 million bond package, which would provide funds for land acquisition and conservation, highways and bridges and a statewide biomedical research and development fund.

“We are hearing all bonds, a billion dollars-plus, in three days,” the House chairman of the Appropriations panel, Rep. Joseph Brannigan, said as Wednesday’s session opened. A small hourglass on the dais in front of the Portland Democrat silently reminded speakers to keep their remarks brief.

The hearing, which drew an overflow crowd for much of the day, was held a day after Republican lawmakers packed another State House room to warn that Mainers should be cautious about piling new public debt on top of hundreds of millions of dollars in existing debts.

Republicans said existing voter-approved general obligation bond debt alone adds up to $400 million. In addition, non-voter-approved Government Facilities Authority bond debt totals $198 million, said Republicans, who also count tens of millions more in other state liabilities.

Debt payments account for more than one-fifth of annual state revenues, the Republicans contended.

But Appropriations panelists heard speaker after speaker passionately plead for new borrowing on Wednesday.

The Maine Land Bond Coalition, claiming support from 270 associations and businesses including outfitter L.L. Bean that support open space preservation, made a pitch for a $75 million bond to replenish funding for the Land for Maine’s Future Program.

“But without funding for over a year, the program can’t (conserve more land) unless the Maine Legislature acts now,” said coalition spokesman Bruce Kidman. “The need is urgent and we shouldn’t stand around as opportunities are lost and land prices head skyward.”

Former House Speaker Michael Saxl asked the committee to approve a $1 million bond issue to help build and establish a Holocaust Human Rights Center at the University of Maine at Augusta.

With Holocaust survivors and witnesses aging, it’s important to start work as soon as possible on the $2.8 million center, which would include videotapes of those who lived through the horrors of the Holocaust telling their stories, said Saxl.

Among other proposals on the long list of bonds reviewed were $20 million for affordable housing, $6 million to prepare digital town parcel maps that are used for wildlife management and regional planning, and $15 million to buy a train to be used for passenger service.

The final total to be approved by the Legislature and sent to voters is unlikely to resemble the present billion-dollar sum, the committee’s co-chair said.

“People shouldn’t panic when they hear over a billion dollars worth of bonds. There’s a lot of redundancy out there,” said Sen. Margaret Rotundo, D-Lewiston. “There will be a lot of whittling down in the next few weeks.”

Baldacci, a Democrat, said he hears Republican concerns about adding to state debt, adding that he hopes to continue a dialogue with them in order to agree on a final borrowing total on his nearly $200 million package.

The governor told his Cabinet on Wednesday morning that Maine can afford to make “these necessary investments” because the state’s economy is improving.