5 days ago
Legislative recap for Wednesday, June 4
Members of the Maine House of Representatives during the first session of 2024 in the State House in Augusta. Jan. 3, 2024. (Photo: Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star)
Lawmakers are divided on what to do with a proposal to modify the law born out of a 2021 referendum question requiring the Maine Legislature to approve any new high-impact transmission lines.
Although legislators who worked on the campaign saw it as an effort to clarify the law, LD 810 fell shy of passage in the House of Representatives on Tuesday with lawmakers voting 72-75 before ultimately killing the bill under the hammer. However, the Senate passed the bill 18-16 on Wednesday.
It is now up to the House to determine if it will hold its ground or join the Senate in supporting the bill.
With papers shuffling between chambers this week, Maine Morning Star has compiled a slightly more pared down roundup for Wednesday, forgoing the list of all bills voted on and focusing on the biggest items of debates as well as legislation and issues that we've followed all session.
Here's an overview of what happened Wednesday.
Both chambers
The Maine House of Representatives and Senate have now backed LD 1668, which would change the voting requirements to extend the data of adjournment for the Legislature. Currently, a two-thirds vote in each chamber is needed to do so. The bill would change it to only an affirmative vote of a simple majority in both chambers. After the Senate voted 20-14 in favor of the bill on Monday, the House narrowly voted 72-71 in favor on Wednesday.
Both chambers also passed a bill that would expand summer school programming, LD 1624, with the Senate approving it without a roll call after it passed the House with a 75-71 vote on Tuesday.
The Senate also followed the action taken by the House earlier this week to reject LD 1982, a late-session bill that wanted to change how perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, are defined in state law. (Read more on that proposal here.)
After the House backed it, the Senate approved LD 1248, a bill proposing to loosen the restrictions on restraint and seclusion in schools. (Read more about restraint and seclusion here.)
Both chambers have also now passed LD 437, which would develop a pilot program to place child care facilities in a few school districts statewide.
Legislation (LD 10) that would add political affiliation as a protected class to the Maine Human Rights Act. The House voted against it on Wednesday, after the Senate did on Tuesday. (Read more about this bill here.)
The chambers can't agree on LD 1960, which would exempt electronic smoking devices or other tobacco products containing ingestible hemp from the tax imposed on tobacco products. The House voted against the bill on Wednesday after the Senate voted for it on Tuesday.
The chambers also still can't agree on a bill submitted by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (LD 402), which would move the Natural Areas Program from the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, among other technical tweaks. Earlier this week, the House passed the bill with one amendment, while the Senate passed it with another. On Wednesday, the House and Senate insisted on their positions, essentially killing the bill.
On Wednesday, the House also insisted, 81-61, on its vote against LD 544, aimed to create parity in the taxation of medicine by exempting sales of cannabis for medical use. This position is counter to the committee recommendation and Senate vote in favor of passage. With the Senate insisting on its position Wednesday, this bill is also essentially dead.
With a narrow 72-71 vote, the House did change its position on LD 588. The bill seeks to grant agricultural workers the right to engage in concerted activity. After initially voting against its passage, the House on Wednesday receded and concurred with the Senate, which passed it. The bill now heads back to the Senate.
Though the Housing and Economic Development Committee was evenly split, the Senate passed a proposed pilot project that would allow 30 small businesses from the farming, fishing and logging industries to set aside up to $250,000 of revenue, sheltered from income tax, to use for capital expenses in the future.
Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook) said he introduced this bill again this session because it could provide flexibility for the most critical components of Maine's economy: its heritage industries. LD 195 includes a sunset date of 2029.
Sen. Jeff Timberlake (R-Androscoggin),whose family has been farming in Maine since 1803, encouraged his colleagues to let the state try this out because it could help counter the year-to-year financial swings farms experience.
The Senate voted 17-16 to reject a bill (LD 1535) that would require the Public Utilities Commission to gather a group of municipal, police and fire officials to discuss the high electricity usage related to illegal cannabis grows in the state. While Sen. Craig Hickman (D-Kennebec) agreed the state should look into that issue, he said the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee is carrying over legislation into the next session that could provide a more comprehensive approach, including this sort of study.
The House passed a bill, LD 957, that would require Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander history to be included in the next review of content standards and performance indicators. (Read more about this bill here.)
The House passed and enacted LD 1664, a proposal to amend the Dirigo Business Incentives program, which offers eligible businesses the opportunity to greatly reduce state taxes for up to five years. While the bill initially sought to repeal the program, the amended version passed would only change some program criteria.
LD 613, a bill supported by the Maine Medical Association that allows terminally ill patients to waive the current 17-day waiting period for access to life-ending medication, also the House 74-64 Wednesday. Several members shared stories about their loved ones' end-of-life care. However, Rep. Kathy Irene Javner (R- Chester) argued the bill 'removes the very pause that gives patients, families and physicians, the opportunity to reflect, to seek counsel to consider alternative palliative options.'
After a lot of discussion, lawmakers voted 72-70 to pass LD 1036, which would prohibit landlords from refusing to rent to tenants solely because they rely on programs such as General Assistance or housing vouchers.
Some lawmakers objected to the restrictions the bill would put on landlords, but others, including bill co-sponsor Rep. Cheryl Golek (D-Harpswell) said many residents relying on General Assistance are rejected from renting because of stigma, which the bill aims to address. (Read more about the proposal here).
'We as a state can only create fair housing once we take the steps to remove the discrimination within the housing opportunities,' Golek said. 'Protection from source-of-income discrimination, protection is one significant way we can apply and protect this to people.'
The House also passed an amended version of LD 396 that would establish a grant program to encourage schools to adopt start times at 8:30 a.m. or later.
A heavily amended version of LD 1787, passed the House. The bill initially sought to allow candidates for district attorney, sheriff and county commissioner to participate in the Maine Clean Election Act, but the version now being considered was amended to increase the contribution limits for gubernatorial seed money donations. (Read more about other proposals related to changing Maine's clean elections here.)
The House also passed an amended version of LD 1726, which seeks to improve planning for the future of the energy grid, with a 75-69 vote.
Legislation (LD 1900) to grant authority to certain Wabanaki Nations to develop tribal power districts and recognizes the authority for child support enforcement passed the HOuse fter heated discussions about the effectiveness of masks in schools during which Rep. John Eder (R-Waterboro) asked Speaker Ryan Fecteau if he would like to apologize for mandating masks, the House voted 73-69 to reject a proposal (LD 1461) to prohibit school boards from instituting future mask mandates.
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