The First Special Session of the 132nd Maine Legislature has adjourned, and legislators will return in 2026 to complete their work. During this session, they took up many bills that could affect timber harvesting, Maine’s oldest heritage industry.

Notably, the Legislature appropriated $2 million in the baseline budget to help combat the spread of spruce budworm. Preventing an outbreak of the destructive insect like that suffered 50 years ago in the northern half of the state will certainly help Maine’s forest economy.

The Legislature also unanimously supported, in bipartisan fashion, LD 1313, An Act to Promote Equity in the Forest Products Industry by Allowing Commercial Wood Haulers to Be Eligible for Certain Sales Tax Exemptions and Refunds. This bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Bradlee Farrin, Senate President Mattie Daughtry and Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau, is common-sense legislation to establish a permanent sales tax exemption for log trucks and trailers used primarily within the state by commercial wood harvesting companies.

LD 1313 could make loggers equal to their potato farming counterparts here in Maine, as well as logging industry competitors in New Hampshire and New York, who have enjoyed this tax treatment for decades. However, the Legislature’s work on LD 1313 is not complete, as legislators adjourned without providing funding for the bill.

The bill has a light fiscal impact compared to the $2 million price tag for spruce budworm. With a projected General Fund impact of only $269,000, beginning in fiscal year 2026-27, it is our hope that when the Legislature returns in January 2026 it can work collaboratively to recognize the importance of loggers and find a relatively small amount of money to move this vital policy forward. After all, what good are spruce trees in northern Maine if no one is around to harvest and truck them to a mill?

Logging contractors in Maine are struggling to remain afloat in a rising tide of cost increases as their profit margins shrink. Prices on equipment, labor, fuel, insurance and parts have all been going up steadily. Wood prices paid to loggers for the most part have not. Loggers have fewer mills to sell wood to and must travel farther than ever before to reach them. We are losing logging businesses to this trend, and if we are not careful, we could eventually end up losing the majority of one of Maine’s heritage industries. Letting loggers keep a little more of what they earn is one way we can help avoid that.

Currently, new or used heavy-duty trucks, trailers and parts are subject to a 17.5% sales tax rate (12% federal and 5.5% state). LD 1313 will not touch the federal tax, but exempting this equipment from state sales and use taxes will help contractors lower operating costs, reinvest in their businesses, employ rural Mainers and remain competitive with their counterparts in New Hampshire and New York.

The Maine Legislature exempted potato trucks from sales tax in 1977. It extended this treatment to logging equipment in 2013 but did not include motor vehicles or trailers associated with forest operations. Both are vital to operations, and we are grateful LD 1313 is close to finally closing a gap created in the 2013 exemptions and providing parity with agriculture.

Despite LD 1313’s unanimous endorsement by both sides of the aisle, it was not chosen as a funding priority at the end of the session. However, it is still alive, and we hope the same Legislature that voted to protect trees can do the same for those needed to harvest those trees.

The health of this industry is critical to all Mainers. Unanimous support of this bill but for funding was an affirmation of that. We strongly encourage legislative leadership, who also sponsored the bill, to help finish the job by funding LD 1313 when it returns in January so the funds to mitigate budworm are not putting good money after bad.