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Wednesday, April 21, 2021
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Maine Democrats in the Legislature are planning to pass a bare bones biennial budget on a partisan, majority vote on Tuesday. Spending bills typically need a two-thirds majority to pass, as this is meant to force both parties to negotiate ...
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Last Thursday, the Maine Legislature passed a supplemental budget package that will provide a full state tax exemption to federal Paycheck Protection (PPP) grants for 28,000 profitable businesses as well as tax breaks on the first ...
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Last week, Democratic leaders in Augusta presented the so-called “COVID-19 Patient Bill of Rights” (LD 1), which would require insurance plans to cover COVID-19 testing and screening and vaccines. It would also eliminate co-pays ...
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Governor Janet Mills finally caved to pressure from business groups last week when she proposed an $82 million tax break on federal relief companies received during the pandemic. Under federal law, Paycheck Protection Program ...
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The Maine Legislature was off to a bit of a rocky start this year as legislative leaders grappled with how to conduct business during the pandemic. As with most statehouses around the country, Democrats and Republicans have ...
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Legislative leaders have decided to wrap up the Maine Legislature’s second session early this Tuesday, March 17, in order to mitigate transmission of COVID-19, known commonly as the coronavirus. In a joint statement, Senate ...
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Legislative committees in Augusta are finally wrapping up work on a range of bills for the short second session, and soon the full Legislature will begin voting on several initiatives including criminal justice reform, a proposal to create a ...
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For the next two weeks, the Legislature’s powerful Appropriations Committee will continue to hold public hearings on Governor Janet Mills’ $127 million supplemental budget. The biggest-ticket item in the proposal is $32 million for K-12 ...
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As aquaculture operations continue to expand, residents in coastal towns have been fiercely debating how to balance the need for new economic development with commercial fishing and environmental concerns....
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Increasingly, large employers are requiring their employees to sign so-called “forced-arbitration” agreements, which require workers to waive their rights to sue over sexual harassment, wage theft, discrimination and other workplace ...
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The Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee will consider a measure that would ban nicotine vaping devices on February 5. LD 2052, sponsored by Sen. Rebecca Millett (D-Cumberland County), would only ...
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On January 22, the Legislature’s Labor and Housing Committee will hold a public hearing on a measure (LD 1874) that would repeal a longstanding law that allows employers to pay less than the minimum wage to people with disabilities....
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The Maine Legisla- ture will vote this week on whether to override Governor Janet Mills’ veto of a bill to legalize sports gambling in Maine. In her veto message, Mills wrote that she is “unconvinced at this time that the majority of ...
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The Maine Legislature will return to the State House next week for another session of public hearings, debate and general wonkery. There probably won’t be too many explosions when the governor doesn’t get her way — no yelling at ...
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The sun was coming up as bleary-eyed lawmakers finally emerged from the State House last Thursday after adjourning “sine die,” which means that they might come back later this summer to pass bonds, as Republicans are currently ...
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Governor Janet Mills signed a two-year state budget on Monday that neither the right nor the left is overly excited about. But they didn’t shut down the government this time, so, by that measure, it was quite an accomplishment....
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The Legislature could soon be headed for a showdown with Gov. Mills over Central Maine Power’s proposed New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission project. While Mills strongly supports the proposal, last week ...
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After several failed attempts over the years, Maine may finally be on the cusp of legalizing physician-assisted suicide. On June 3, the Maine House voted 73-72 to pass LD 1313, which would authorize physicians to prescribe medication ...
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The House and Senate voted on largely party lines last week to allow physician assistants and nurse practitioners to perform abortion services. Reproductive rights advocates argue that there is no medical justification for Maine’s ...
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The Maine Senate reversed course last week and voted 18-17 to eliminate both non-medical exemptions for man-datory childhood vaccination. Previously, the Senate voted 18-17 to preserve the religious exemption in LD 798 ...
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