The 73 members of the House Republican caucus have re-elected Rep. Ken Fredette of Newport as minority leader and Rep. Ellie Espling of New Gloucester to serve as the assistant minority leader.
It’s Fredette’s last term in the Legislature because of term limits. He says the increase in the number of Republicans in the House gives them more leverage in getting legislation adopted.
“People have to talk more. And if we want to pass legislation, we have to do that together. Now what it also means is if the Democrats don’t want to negotiate with us, it will be awfully easy to sustain vetoes,” he says.
Fredette says the session already faces a heavy workload, and that’s before they see the governor’s budget and the hundreds of bills lawmakers will propose.
“We have rules for marijuana we need to look at, we have the referendum on the minimum wage we have to look at, so we have a lot on our plate and we haven’t seen the governor’s budget yet,” he says.
