MAINE MONITOR • October 9, 2022
The Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, created by Gov. Janet Mills shortly after taking office in 2019, has become the organizational lead on many fronts, said Slovinsky. But Maine, unlike some other states, does not have a dedicated office or department for dealing with sea level rise. That’s in part because of the state’s “networked” regulatory structure, with different agencies and departments playing a role in permitting and planning, said Slovinsky, and in part because Maine is a strong home rule state, with a lot of autonomy ceded to local authorities. But that patchwork approach means some communities will have more seamless access to the available resources than others.