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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Farmworker minimum wage on track to become Maine law
Jun. 3—AUGUSTA — Maine farmworkers could soon be covered by the state's minimum wage law for the first time after lawmakers voted this week to extend the law to the state's agriculture industry. The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, is similar to one proposed last year by Gov. Janet Mills. That effort fell short after lawmakers passed an amended version of the bill and Mills vetoed it. The new legislation, LD 589, passed 74-72 in the House of Representatives on Tuesday and 22-12 in the Senate on Monday. The bill got final passage in the House in the afternoon on a 74-73 vote and was enacted in the Senate with no roll call. It is now headed to the governor. While the governor is expected to sign the bill into law, aides did not respond Tuesday to a question about whether she supports it. Meanwhile, a separate bill that would provide legal protections to farmworkers who discuss their working conditions and pay with other farmhands was rejected by the House, 75-71. That same bill had been previously approved by the Senate, meaning the bill will die between chambers unless a compromise is reached. Under existing law, Maine farmhands can earn as little as $7.25 an hour. That is the federal minimum wage, which has not been raised since 2009. Talbot Ross' bill, which was supported by a range of agricultural associations, would require farmworkers be paid at least the state minimum wage, which is currently $14.65 an hour and increases automatically with inflation. Advocates have been trying to persuade lawmakers to require the state minimum wage for farmworkers for years. They came close to succeeding last year after a stakeholder group proposed a compromise that Mills introduced to the Legislature. A version of Mills' bill was enacted in both chambers, but the governor vetoed it, citing changes made during the committee process, including a provision that would have allowed workers to sue over alleged violations. During floor debates this week, supporters argued the exclusion of farmworkers from minimum wage laws was a long-standing injustice that needs to be corrected. Many farmers are already paying the state minimum or more, and the others should be required to do the same, they argued. The version of the bill working its way through the Legislature doesn't allow workers to sue over violations. It also would allow farmers to continue paying employees based on piecework, or the amount they can harvest or process in a shift, as long as they earn at least the minimum hourly wage. Opponents said the bill would hurt farmers and put them out of business, and that it would jeopardize piecework positions for some who do it to supplement their incomes but don't meet the minimum wage standard. Rep. Gary Drinkwater, R-Milford, said the bill would make it more difficult for seniors or teenagers to be paid by piecework, because they may not be able to harvest enough blueberries to justify their employment. "Anyone who cannot rake enough blueberries to meet the hourly wage simply won't be hired," Drinkwater said. "This bill shuts out the very people who depend on seasonal work." Rep. Rafael Macias, D-Topsham, said the bill sends a message to farmworkers that they and their work are valued. "For too long, agricultural workers, those who plant our food, harvest berries, wrap wreaths, milk cows and work long hours under the sun, have been excluded from basic wage protections most of us take for granted," Macias said. "These exclusions are rooted in a shameful legacy, and they have no place in the Maine of today. All of our hearts should hurt for this long injustice." During a Senate floor debate Monday, Talbot Ross argued that the bill was necessary to correct the historical injustice of underpaying farm hands. She said passing the bill would send the message that Maine would "no longer tolerate a system built on exclusion and inequity." After that, the floor debate devolved when Republicans took offense to references to historical discrimination. "I planned to sit this one out," said Sen. James Libby, R-Standish. "But I can't sit in my chair and listen to people talk about, 'you must support this bill this or else you don't care about minorities.' That is not true." Sen. Joseph Martin, R-Rumford, said he was offended that "somebody would call it racist for someone to pick blueberries or strawberries." And Sen. Scott Cyrway, R-Albion, fondly recalled doing piecework as a child, saying such work was not "slave labor" and "we are not second-class citizens." Those inferences drew a sharp rebuke from Talbot Ross, who said Republicans twisted her words and that listening to the debate was "some of the hardest moments for me to sit in this chair." She stressed that she was criticizing systems, not individuals. "Calling people racist? I work very hard every single solitary day not to do that because I do not believe that's where the discussion should start," Talbot Ross said. "Maybe read United States history, because I am talking about a pattern of discrimination, not individual people who may be of a certain ideology. I'm talking about patterns that history cannot deny. And I will not sit here and have you twist my words to claim otherwise." Despite the votes in favor of the minimum wage, a bill that would afford legal protections to farmhands who discuss their working conditions and pay with each other appears doomed. Those protections are guaranteed to private sector workers through the National Labor Relations Act, but farmworkers are excluded and state lawmakers have made repeated attempts to protect what is known as "concerted activity." Opponents of LD 588 argued that it would allow farmworkers to form unions, citing testimony from labor unions advocating for collective bargaining rights for farmers. Supporters argued that the bill would simply allow workers to talk about wages and working conditions, but would not give them collective bargaining rights. While previously supported in the Senate, the House voted 75-71 to reject the bill Tuesday. It will likely die between the chambers unless a compromise is reached or enough House members change their votes. Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Latest attempt to add Equal Rights Amendment to Maine Constitution languishes
Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Cumberland) rallies outside the State House to voice her support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Maine Constitution on March 4, 2025. (Photo by Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star) The latest attempt to add an Equal Rights Amendment to the Maine Constitution has all but failed, though a procedural move on Thursday technically leaves it in limbo until appropriations are settled at the end of session. Constitutional amendments are ultimately decided by the voters but first need to receive the support of two-thirds of the Maine Legislature. On Wednesday, the House voted 74-65 to enact the measure, failing to meet that threshold. The reason Republicans were opposed: gender identity. 'The question before us is not whether equality matters,' Rep. Jennifer Poirier (R-Skowhegan) said on the House floor on April 17. 'It's whether this amendment helps or harms that cause, and I submit that it does more harm than good.' The proposed amendment would prohibit 'the denial or abridgment by the state or any political subdivision of the state of equal rights based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, physical or mental disability, ancestry or national origin of an individual.' Echoing prominent opposition to the federal Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, several of the Republicans who voted against the measure claimed it was a threat to women's rights because of the protections it would afford against discrimination based on gender identity, which is a protected class under the Maine Human Rights Act. Gender identity has become a major flashpoint in Maine since President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding unless the state complies with his executive order banning transgender girls from playing in girls' sports. The state is currently being sued by the Department of Justice and has been the subject of several probes and funding cuts that have been widely interpreted as retaliatory. The Legislature is also considering a few individual bills to restrict transgender students' access to sports, bathrooms and locker rooms. Despite this new context, state efforts to pass an ERA are longstanding. LD 260, proposed by Rep. Holly Sargent (D-York) and more than 90 Democratic and independent co-sponsors, continues the work of the late state Rep. Lois Galgay Reckitt, who pressed for a state ERA for five decades, with the last attempt failing to pass in 2023 during her final term in the Maine Legislature. On the House floor on April 17, Sargent argued constitutions are not static documents. 'Our Constitution began with a narrow vision of to whom equal rights were given,' Sargent said. 'But our national and state constitutions are living evolving and expanding pronouncements of what Americans believe throughout our history. Our constitutions have gradually redefined who is worthy of all of the rights to be bestowed and who can be excluded, who is viewed as less than human.' Lawmakers are not considering with this bill whether to enshrine rights in the Constitution, said Rep. Amy Roeder (D-Bangor), but rather whether to let the voters decide. 'I, for one, am not afraid of the will of the people,' Roeder said, 'and I hope the rest of this body will join me in that.' The Democratic majority in the lower chamber did. But instead of casting an enactment vote on Thursday, the Senate sent the legislation to the 'Appropriations Table.' This is typical for constitutional amendments, as they will have fiscal notes associated with election costs. If bills aren't explicitly funded in the state budget, they need to be paid for using remaining unappropriated money, which is divided up usually near the end of session when the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee 'runs the table.' While bills placed on the table can still pass, precedent shows that most will die, left on the table without final action by the time the Legislature adjourns. Regardless, initial votes in both chambers and the enactment vote in the House signal the two-thirds threshold will not be reached even if appropriators do eventually decide to take it off the table. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maine homeless advocates, emergency shelters call for more state funding
Mar. 18—AUGUSTA — Advocates for the homeless and emergency shelter providers asked lawmakers for an increase in state funding Tuesday, saying shelters are struggling to meet demand and that without additional resources homelessness will worsen. A bill before the Legislature is proposing a $5 million annual increase to the state's Emergency Shelter and Housing Assistance Program, which is used to help cover operating expenses and services at 40 emergency shelters around the state. The program has been flat-funded in the state's general fund budget at $2.5 million since 2016, according to the bill's sponsor, Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland. "This bill is a practical, fiscally responsible step to prevent shelter closures and ensure that Maine's emergency response system remains functional," Talbot Ross told the Housing and Economic Development Committee during a public hearing. The program is just one piece of how shelters pay for their operating costs, contributing about $7 of the average per-night cost of operating a shelter bed in Maine, which is $102 per night, according to a recent study from MaineHousing. The remainder of shelter funding typically comes from fundraising, grants and municipal aid, according to Talbot Ross. Shelter providers as well as MaineHousing, an independent, quasi-governmental agency that works to address housing needs, testified in support of the bill, LD 698, on Tuesday, saying the increase in funding is needed to sustain operations amid rising costs and a persistent housing crisis. The $5 million increase would bring state funding to $19 of the $102 per bed nightly cost. But Gov. Janet Mills' administration has also warned that this is expected to be a tight budget year, and while no one testified against the bill Tuesday, the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future said in written testimony that the administration has been unable to identify sufficient revenues to fund the bill's proposal. While funding for the program has not increased in the state's baseline budget since 2016, the office wrote that the administration and Legislature have in recent years provided $15 million in one-time funding, authorized emergency funds for warming shelters and last year made $10 million available to ensure the continued viability of five low-barrier shelters. "We understand, however, that the 35 non-low-barrier shelters in the ESHAP network which did not benefit from last year's investment continue to struggle — as do their peers in states across the country — with highly limited budgets, rising costs and increasing needs," the office wrote. "We are committed to working with the Legislature, shelter providers, MaineHousing, and local and federal government agencies to identify a more sustainable financial path for the Maine's emergency shelters," it added. In addition to funding in the baseline budget, the program also gets federal support from Maine's HOME Fund, which is funded with a dedicated portion of the real estate transfer tax. Shelter providers and several formerly homeless Mainers testified that the increase in state funding is critical. Katie Spencer White, president and CEO of the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville, said emergency shelters are facing an "existential crisis" without new funding. She said her board recently approved a loan for $200,000 to help the shelter meet operating costs. "If we don't take out that loan, we will close," Spencer White said. "If we close, people will die. We've reversed 30 overdoses since Jan. 1... What we do matters and not just to the people of Waterville." Shelter operators said Tuesday that in addition to the funding from the state program, they also seek funding from municipalities, local businesses and churches and other philanthropic donors, and grant funding, but it can be difficult to cobble together enough. Some shelters utilize the state's General Assistance program to help pay for shelter nights, but Spencer White said her shelter and many shelters in smaller communities around Maine do not, in part because the program also requires a municipal reimbursement that can be burdensome for the communities the shelters are based in. Many people staying at shelters also don't qualify for General Assistance for reasons including, for example, if they have income from a disability or Social Security, Spencer White said. Karen Gonya, a board member at Homeless Services of Aroostook, which operates the only homeless shelter north of Bangor, said the organization served 216 adults and 18 children last year in its shelter programs, and helped 90 people with its warming shelter. "We are struggling right now to meet payroll," Gonya said. "We are limiting expenses, from basics like turning down heat to the more drastic step of cutting staff hours. But without more reliable funding, we are worried about the future of our shelter. It would be such a tremendous disservice to our region... to not have a homeless shelter." Lisa Franklin, a Portland resident who was formerly homeless for a year after leaving an abusive relationship, told the committee that it was her stay at the former Oxford Street Shelter that allowed her to access critical medical and social services and rebuild her life. "People of all ages, races and genders experience homelessness for a variety of reasons," Franklin said. "As the rate of homelessness continues to rise across our state, it is imperative that our homeless shelters remain open and funded." Copy the Story Link We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion. You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs. Show less
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maine homeless advocates, emergency shelters call for more state funding
Mar. 18—AUGUSTA — Advocates for the homeless and emergency shelter providers asked lawmakers for an increase in state funding Tuesday, saying shelters are struggling to meet demand and that without additional resources homelessness will worsen. A bill before the Legislature is proposing a $5 million annual increase to the state's Emergency Shelter and Housing Assistance Program, which is used to help cover operating expenses and services at 40 emergency shelters around the state. The program has been flat-funded in the state's general fund budget at $2.5 million since 2016, according to the bill's sponsor, Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland. "This bill is a practical, fiscally responsible step to prevent shelter closures and ensure that Maine's emergency response system remains functional," Talbot Ross told the Housing and Economic Development Committee during a public hearing. The program is just one piece of how shelters pay for their operating costs, contributing about $7 of the average per-night cost of operating a shelter bed in Maine, which is $102 per night, according to a recent study from MaineHousing. The remainder of shelter funding typically comes from fundraising, grants and municipal aid, according to Talbot Ross. Shelter providers as well as MaineHousing, an independent, quasi-governmental agency that works to address housing needs, testified in support of the bill, LD 698, on Tuesday, saying the increase in funding is needed to sustain operations amid rising costs and a persistent housing crisis. The $5 million increase would bring state funding to $19 of the $102 per bed nightly cost. But Gov. Janet Mills' administration has also warned that this is expected to be a tight budget year, and while no one testified against the bill Tuesday, the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future said in written testimony that the administration has been unable to identify sufficient revenues to fund the bill's proposal. While funding for the program has not increased in the state's baseline budget since 2016, the office wrote that the administration and Legislature have in recent years provided $15 million in one-time funding, authorized emergency funds for warming shelters and last year made $10 million available to ensure the continued viability of five low-barrier shelters. "We understand, however, that the 35 non-low-barrier shelters in the ESHAP network which did not benefit from last year's investment continue to struggle — as do their peers in states across the country — with highly limited budgets, rising costs and increasing needs," the office wrote. "We are committed to working with the Legislature, shelter providers, MaineHousing, and local and federal government agencies to identify a more sustainable financial path for the Maine's emergency shelters," it added. In addition to funding in the baseline budget, the program also gets federal support from Maine's HOME Fund, which is funded with a dedicated portion of the real estate transfer tax. Shelter providers and several formerly homeless Mainers testified that the increase in state funding is critical. Katie Spencer White, president and CEO of the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville, said emergency shelters are facing an "existential crisis" without new funding. She said her board recently approved a loan for $200,000 to help the shelter meet operating costs. "If we don't take out that loan, we will close," Spencer White said. "If we close, people will die. We've reversed 30 overdoses since Jan. 1... What we do matters and not just to the people of Waterville." Shelter operators said Tuesday that in addition to the funding from the state program, they also seek funding from municipalities, local businesses and churches and other philanthropic donors, and grant funding, but it can be difficult to cobble together enough. Some shelters utilize the state's General Assistance program to help pay for shelter nights, but Spencer White said her shelter and many shelters in smaller communities around Maine do not, in part because the program also requires a municipal reimbursement that can be burdensome for the communities the shelters are based in. Many people staying at shelters also don't qualify for General Assistance for reasons including, for example, if they have income from a disability or Social Security, Spencer White said. Karen Gonya, a board member at Homeless Services of Aroostook, which operates the only homeless shelter north of Bangor, said the organization served 216 adults and 18 children last year in its shelter programs, and helped 90 people with its warming shelter. "We are struggling right now to meet payroll," Gonya said. "We are limiting expenses, from basics like turning down heat to the more drastic step of cutting staff hours. But without more reliable funding, we are worried about the future of our shelter. It would be such a tremendous disservice to our region... to not have a homeless shelter." Lisa Franklin, a Portland resident who was formerly homeless for a year after leaving an abusive relationship, told the committee that it was her stay at the former Oxford Street Shelter that allowed her to access critical medical and social services and rebuild her life. "People of all ages, races and genders experience homelessness for a variety of reasons," Franklin said. "As the rate of homelessness continues to rise across our state, it is imperative that our homeless shelters remain open and funded." Copy the Story Link We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion. You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs. Show less
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
From equal rights to parental rights, Maine lawmakers consider constitutional amendments
Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Cumberland) rallies outside the State House to voice her support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Maine Constitution on March 4, 2025. (Photo by Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star) Democratic lawmakers and members of the public turned out en masse on Tuesday to testify in favor of the Legislature passing a bill to put an Equal Rights Amendment out to voters, arguing that attempts to strip discrimination protections at the federal level make the codification ever more essential. The late state Rep. Lois Galgay Reckitt pressed for the Equal Rights Amendment in the Maine Constitution for five decades, with the last attempt failing to pass in 2023 during her final term in the Maine Legislature. LD 260, proposed by Rep. Holly Sargent (D-York) and more than 90 Democratic and independent co-sponsors, seeks to continue her dogged efforts. Echoing prominent opposition to the federal Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, the one opponent who turned out on Tuesday argued the amendment was a threat to women's rights because of the protections it would afford against discrimination based on gender identity, which is already protected under state law. During the same hearing in the Judiciary Committee, legislators also heard proposed constitutional amendments related to parental rights, which received little to no testimony from the public but a surplus of questions from lawmakers about possible implications. When asked whether the ERA proposal would exacerbate President Donald Trump's threat to withhold federal funding to Maine over allegations that the state is defying his executive order barring transgender athletes from competing on women's sports teams consistent with their gender identity, Sargent said, 'It doesn't,' before adding, 'Well, other than basically saying that all people, including trans people, deserve basic human rights under this law.' Referring to when Maine ratified the federal Equal Rights Amendment in 1974, Sargent said Democrats and Republicans came together to put principle and people over party. 'That is what we all need to do,' Sargent said. 'If they could do it 50 years ago, we can do it now.' The federal ERA has not been adopted because it wasn't ratified by three-quarters of states by the congressional deadline, attributed mainly to an opposition campaign headed by Phyllis Schlafly, who framed it as a threat to traditional family roles and women's rights. Although the country has now technically reached that threshold, lapsed deadlines and some rescinded approval has meant the U.S. Constitution still doesn't have such an amendment — and neither does Maine's. Constitutional amendments in Maine have high bars for passage. This bill will have to secure the support of two-thirds of the Legislature and would then be sent to the voters, who would ultimately decide. Voters would be asked the following on the ballot: 'Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to prohibit the denial or abridgment by the State or any political subdivision of the State of equal rights based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, physical or mental disability, ancestry or national origin of an individual?' Tuesday was the fifth time former Sen. Eloise Vitelli testified in support of an Equal Rights Amendment, though the first was as a regular voter when she arrived in Maine shortly after the National ERA passed. 'As we've all seen, progress does not happen in a straight line,' Vitelli said. 'And it is not guaranteed. Laws can and do change.' Others supportive of enshrining the protections of the Maine Human Rights Act into the state Constitution similarly argued that laws passed by the Legislature can be more easily overturned depending on who wins elections. Referencing efforts at the federal level to roll back discrimination protections, Vitelli said, 'It is time now to lay a strong foundation for our future to protect the human rights of all of us who live here.' Student Brennan Edwards said passing an Equal Rights Amendment is not just a legal necessity but a moral imperative. Edwards identified himself as a gay minor living in the district represented by Rep. Laurel Libby, who the Maine House of Representatives voted to censure last week for posting on her legislative Facebook page photographs and personal details about a transgender high school athlete. Days after the post, Trump threatened to withhold funding from Maine. 'The rising tide of intolerance is not just unsettling, it is terrifying,' Edwards said. 'I see it in my school, in my community and across the country. It is emboldened by rhetoric that seeks to raise, diminish, or dehumanize people like me.' Gender discrimination is not a historical artifact. The impact of gender-based discrimination and the lack of equal rights is with us today. – Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows Progress toward gender equality has been made in Maine and throughout the nation's history, said Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. Bellows highlighted some of the ways women's equal status was left out of the early drafts of the constitution, for example, pointing to the section on the secretary's role, which was written entirely with he/him pronouns. 'Our founding statesmen could not even conceive of someone like me holding this office,' said Bellows, Maine's first female Secretary of State. However, she added, 'Gender discrimination is not a historical artifact. The impact of gender-based discrimination and the lack of equal rights is with us today.' Only one person testified against the proposal on Tuesday, Lisa Lane on behalf of New England Women's Solidarity, a group founded in 2023 to oppose what they perceive as threats to women's rights from transgender protections. 'We believe that this bill would result in a regression of women's rights,' Lane said, 'Including gender expression and gender identity as protected categories in the Maine Constitution would undermine women's ability to defend our rights as a sex-based class.' While speaking neither for nor against the bill, Kristen Chapman, a resident of Sumner, raised concern about the word 'perceived' in the proposed amendment, arguing it is too ambiguous and could lead to unintended consequences. In contrast to the ERA bill, no one testified for nor against a proposed amendment from Rep. Jennifer Poirier (R-Skowhegan) to 'provide for parental rights.' However, legislators on the Judiciary Committee had a litany of questions about the possible far reaching consequences of the measure. LD 492, which also has nine Republican co-sponsors, proposed an amendment that reads, 'The natural, inherent and unalienable rights of minor children are held by their parents or guardians until the age of majority or a grant of emancipation,' and that the 'state, its political subdivisions and all governmental entities may not infringe on the authority of parents to direct the upbringing, education and care for the physical, mental and spiritual health of their children, absent abuse or neglect by the parent or guardian or criminal acts by the minor.' Poirier told the committee her bill is 'common sense law that affirms parental rights as fundamental.' Committee members seemed to disagree, as they asked a multitude of questions to clarify where the amendment would draw the line between parental and state rights, particularly when it comes to physical and sexual abuse. Committee co-chair Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland), who early in her career worked in a group home for children who faced such abuse by their parents, said those parents would have said 'when they were physically abusing their kids, they were just disciplining them and when they were sexually abusing their kids, they were just loving them. And that's what I think about when I look at this.' Carney said, to her, this amendment seemed to indicate the state doesn't get to draw that line. Rep. Dylan Pugh (D-Portland) further questioned how such a line would be drawn when abuse isn't obvious per se, such as if a parent isolates a child so they are less likely to be able to expose abuse or have access to resources to initiate emancipation proceedings. 'My feeling on that is that we have laws in place now and a system in place to investigate those sorts of activities, I guess you could call them, and I don't see this as changing that,' Poirier reiterated. Another line of questioning centered on how the amendment would impact children's rights. 'I think all people have rights regardless of age, but I think when you're talking about people under 18, it's up to the parents to guide that child,' Poirier said. Rep. Dani O'Halloran (D-Brewer) asked, 'Where does the guiding stop if the child wants something totally different than what the parents want?' For example, O'Halloran pointed to some religions that don't believe in providing some lifesaving treatments and asked how such a case would be handled. When Poirier said she felt the line of questioning was headed down a rabbit hole, O'Halloran pushed back. 'When I look at this,' she said of Poirer's bill, 'it doesn't really say anything about guiding. It seems like it's pretty concrete.' Poirier said it is her firm belief that the majority of parents have good intentions and do a good job raising their kids. 'I don't think it should be up to the state to place guardrails on what a parent can and cannot do,' she said. Continuing the push for greater parental authority over their children, Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport) proposed LD 410, titled, 'An Act to Require Parental Consent to Withhold Life-sustaining Measures for a Minor or to Comply with a Do-not-resuscitate Order for a Minor.' 'There is a Nazi-style, eugenics-driven genocide of children happening in our nation's hospitals, which blatantly disregards parental rights,' Paul said. Paul's bill is based on a model known as Simon's Law, which a couple in Missouri is advocating for passage across the country after the death of their child, Simon, who had Trisomy 18 and congenital heart defects. Simon's parents testified in Maine on Tuesday that a 'do-not-resuscitate order' had been placed on Simon without their consent. Allies of Simon's Law also advocated against the passage of Missouri's Right to Reproductive Freedom initiative, arguing it would allow people to terminate the pregnancy of a potentially disabled fetus and a baby after birth by withholding medical care. Carney asked Paul, 'Are you or are you not saying that Nazi-style, eugenics-driven genocide of children is happening in our state?' Paul responded, 'I'm saying the possibility is there.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
