Maine Lawmakers Advance Bill Providing Death Benefits to Highway Workers

The Maine Legislature’s Labor Committee voted unanimously to advance a bill that would guarantee the state’s highway maintenance workers killed on the job receive death benefits commensurate to the dangers of their profession.

The vote came nearly two months to the day after an accident that claimed the lives of two Maine Department of Transportation workers. On Jan. 13, 2026, the department’s James Brown and Dwayne Campbell died in the line of duty after a minivan crashed into a construction zone on Interstate 95.

Sponsored by Rep. Amy Roeder, the bill faces votes in the House and Senate in the coming weeks, according to a recent statement detailing the legislation.

As amended, LD 669 would highway maintenance personnel who have died in the line of duty the same death benefit that over public servants such as law enforcement receive, according to the statement. The benefit is $100,000 to surviving children, parents or a spouse, and would also allow for an interim payment of $3,000 to survivors under certain circumstances.

The same statement cited a 2026 Bureau of Labor Statistics report that finds workers in transportation and material moving occupations representing the occupational group with the most fatalities, with 1,391 fatal work injuries in 2024.

According to that same report, transportation incidents continue to be the most frequent type of fatal event, accounting for 38.2% of all occupational fatalities in 2024.

In the aforementioned statement, Roeder stressed the importance of advancing the bill, which has garnered support from organizations including the Maine Service Employees Association, the Maine AFL-CIO and the Maine Department of Transportation.

“Passing this legislation is an important step in acknowledging that highway maintenance jobs carry a higher risk of injury and death,” Roeder said in a statement.

“These risks are real and directly associated with this line of work. This bill will help ensure that we have the backs of those who put their lives on the line every day to maintain our transportation infrastructure and keep our roads safe.”