AUGUSTA —The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to reject Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal to eliminate all state funding for the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, saying the issue had become a “political football.”

Several committee members spoke at a Thursday night work session about the service MPBN provides as the anchor for the statewide emergency broadcast alert system and its unique role as a statewide radio and TV network.

“At the moment, it is the only radio capacity for the Allagash in English,” said Rep. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake. He said he would “always” support some state funding for MPBN so rural areas of the state could receive public radio and TV programs.

Key to the unanimous support of the committee was an amendment drafted by Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, that directs Finance Commissioner Sawin Millett and the Maine Emergency Management Agency to work with MPBN to determine what it costs to provide the emergency alert system, and produce a report from MPBN leaders on their future plans and a report on how MPBN might use its transmission bandwidth to provide other services to the state for a fee.

“Over the next five years, the appropriations to MPBN will gradually be reduced and replaced with a fee-for-services agreement,” Katz said.

Several panel members said that while they supported the amendment, they did not want that support to be interpreted as a lack of support for MPBN funding.

“I, for one, think that an appropriation is a good thing,” said Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston.

Rep. Tyler Clark, R-Easton, agreed with the amendment and the decision to restore funding, but he defended the governor for making the proposal.

“In a time of struggling economics and having to re-prioritize everything, I don’t think it’s wrong to look at MPBN,” he said. “I like the idea of fee for service. I think it is better for both the state and MPBN to say we are providing this service and this is the cost.”

Martin said the study and eventual shift to fee-for-service is a good way to address the issue, which he said has become a political football. The governor proposed eliminating funding a year ago; his proposal was reduced to a $200,000 cut to the network.

Committee members praised the new president of MPBN, Mark Vogelzang, for his willingness to work toward a new relationship between the network and the state. Vogelzang said the committee action was a good outcome for MPBN.

“We are looking for new ways to work with the state of Maine,” he said in an interview following the vote. “I am especially pleased that we have had that $1.7 million restored. It’s not all of the money we had asked for and it will still be about a 13 percent decline over this year into next year, so it will be a tough one. But, still, we are happy.”

Vogelzang said the network will work with state officials over the summer to explore areas, other than the emergency alert system, in which the network can provide services to the state. For example, he said, the network has substantial bandwidth capacity in its statewide digital transmission system and the state might be able to use some of that capacity, for a fee.

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