AUGUSTA, Maine - The new Republican senators in the Maine Legislature met today at the State House to elect their leaders.
They are familiar faces. Current Senate President Mike Thibodeau is the GOP nominee for president in the 128th session, which convenes next month. Both Majority Leader Garret Mason and Assistant Leader Andre Cushing are going to continue in those posts.
Mason says the voters have given them a lot of extra work to do, such as writing the regulations to implement the marijuana measure. “You wrote major substantive rules into this process. It’s going to take a long time. Major substantive rules sometimes take a year to complete so that time line is what it is.”
Mason says lawmakers will likely consider making some changes to the minimum wage measure voters approved. He says the ranked choice voting measure voters approved is probably unconstitutional and lawmakers might ask the Supreme Court for guidance before they waste time figuring out how to implement the measure.
