AUGUSTA – Maine Gov. Janet Mills has signed her $7.5 million spending package to pay the state’s bills and repeal limits for Medicaid-funded addiction treatment.

Mills said the supplemental budget she signed Thursday will help the state fight the ongoing opioid epidemic. The Legislature’s appropriations committee had unanimously supported the spending plan, which will also pay Maine’s bills through July 1.

Mills’ plan includes $1 million to celebrate Maine’s upcoming 2020 bicentennial, roughly $350,000 to pay for experts helping the Office of the Public Advocate, and $2.5 million to meet Maine’s required share of estimated disaster recovery costs. That includes $1.6 million for the October 2017 windstorm and $900,000 for coastal flooding in York County in March 2018.

Lawmakers have started holding hearings on Mills’ $8 billion, two-year proposed budget.


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