The Maine Legislature is headed into what is supposed to be its final few days of the 2023 session. But lawmakers still have a long list of major issues that they've yet to resolve.
All Things Considered host Robbie Feinberg spoke with Maine Public State House correspondent Kevin Miller about the end of the session.
Feinberg: Kevin, talk us through all of this. There's still a lot up in the air. We did see the House and Senate meet every day last week. And it sounds like there were some pretty long floor sessions.
Miller: Yeah, that's right — long and at times contentious, especially in the House, where Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross actually kept them working for several days until after 10 p.m., and on one occasion until after midnight. And things really got feisty at times. People were tired and they were frustrated. And they were also debating some of these really emotional, partisan issues.
What are all of these fights over?
Well, a lot of is what we have often called culture war stuff. The House spent hours debating bills dealing with what types of books should be allowed in school libraries. Republicans in Maine and across the country are going after what they consider to be obscene or inappropriate content for kids. And there's the sense, at least on the right, that the parents have somehow lost any say about what is being taught in schools. Now, a lot of these books have to do with LGBTQ issues. And it's to the point where gay, lesbian and transgender communities across the country feel like they are under attack from conservatives on these issues. But there were also lengthy debates over COVID-19, vaccines, guns, welfare programs — you name it.
Where do things stand in the Legislature around all of these different issues? Are we seeing many bills actually get through the Legislature, getting to the governor, that would make big changes on something like guns or book bans?
Democrats control both the House and the Senate by pretty comfortable margins, so they were able to defeat all the Republican-backed bills that dealt with the types of books that should be available to students in schools. And a big part of the Democrats’ reasoning is that, as you know, state school boards already get to decide to a pretty large extent what can be taught in classes and what books are allowed in libraries. And what Democrats said was, if parents are unhappy with those things, they can take those concerns directly to the school board, as we're certainly seeing happening in towns across the state. And if they're still unhappy, they can vote school board members out during the next election. Likewise, I think a lot of the bills dealing with vaccinations are dead or appeared headed for defeat.
One of the big exceptions, though, has been guns. Maine is still a pretty gun-friendly state, even though as a whole, we seem to be taking a much more leftward lean politically in the past few elections. And while gun control advocates really went into the session feeling like they had some momentum, the bills dealing with expanded background checks and additional restrictions on guns have not done well. And that was most striking in the Senate, where Democrats have an even larger majority than they do in the House. But in vote after vote, these bills to increase gun regulations failed by very large margins. So that kind of does tell you that although we do lean a little left politically, when it comes to guns, we're still a fairly conservative to moderate state.
So lots of fights, as you're talking about. But we did see a moment of big bipartisan agreement came out last week. I'm thinking of the bill that overhauls the state's highway budget. Gov. Janet Mills and lawmakers were very quick to celebrate that accomplishment, but what did they actually accomplish? What is inside of that bill?
This was a pretty big deal. And it was absolutely a product of bipartisan negotiation. As part of the transportation budget, lawmakers changed the way that we pay for road and for bridge maintenance. We're still going to pay for it with the gas tax, in part, which is the way we pay for more than two thirds of the road construction now. But this time around, they also agreed to start siphoning off 40% of the sales tax on current truck purchases, as well as other taxes that are collected by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. And that will all go into the highway fund that's supposed to generate about $200 million over the next few years. And that will actually lead to one of the largest state investments in highway and bridge maintenance in many, many years. And it also means that voters won't be asked to approve borrowing money through bonds for roads, at least not this year.
Oh, yeah, so a pretty big accomplishment there. But it does still feel like there is a lot hanging out there. There's the governor's abortion bill that hasn't passed yet. Neither has the paid family and medical leave proposal. What is the latest on where these really big issues still stand?
So the governor's abortion bill is probably going to be the biggest political fight of the year, even though the outcome seems fairly secure at this point. Just as a reminder, this bill would actually allow doctors to perform abortions much later into pregnancy — we're talking after the 24-week point where a fetus could be viable. And that could happen anytime a doctor says that it's medically necessary. Right now, those procedures can only be done to protect the life or the health of the mother. And as a result, we almost never see them done here in Maine. Women have to travel to other states to have those procedures done. What abortion rights advocates say is that puts a huge financial and emotional strain on women.
The governor appears to have the numbers for her bill. But this issue has really motivated the anti-abortion crowd, who were looking at this bill as allowing abortions potentially right up to the point of birth. And both sides are already telling their supporters to show up in big numbers in the State House this week.
On the paid family medical leave side, that's a different case. That bill would ensure that many workers in the state can have access to paid time off if a family member gets sick, or if they want to spend more time with a newborn. It has strong support in the Democratic caucus. But business groups say the proposal goes too far. And the big question in this case is what Mills would do. She says anything that comes out of Legislature can't place too much of a burden on businesses. And if she agrees with the business community that this bill does go too far, and she vetoes it, supporters wouldn't have the numbers to override that veto.
Yeah, and this paid family medical leave program also costs quite a bit of money. And we know that there are a lot more measures out there that also cost quite a bit of money as well. Overall, what's your sense for what might wind up getting funded? And what could get passed over?
Yes, with all these late days that we had last week, the committee that's responsible for actually putting together the budget, they really haven't had that much time to meet. And a lot of the discussions that they have been having have happened behind closed doors. So as a result, we actually don't really know too much about how they plan to divvy up the additional money the state has on hand because of the surpluses. Those talks are happening. And they'll continue to happen this week. And I think the pace of those discussions will get much more intense as the week goes on.
And are there any other big issues that are still floating out there right now?
Oh, yeah, there likely will be some pretty contentious debates over what to do with the solar energy program known as net energy billing. So critics say that all these solar farms that are popping up all over the state are going to start driving up costs for electricity ratepayers. And we're actually are starting to see some increased costs from CMP and Versant tied to this program. But there has been no agreement about what to do about that.
One of the other big closely watched bills would allow the Wabanaki Nation tribes to take advantage of laws that passed Congress to benefit federally recognized tribes. This is pretty much the top priority for tribal leaders this year. But the Mills administration has made it clear that they don't support it. And they say it will lead to all sorts of confusion if it goes into effect. So those are a few other things that are still pending.
I understand that Talbot Ross and Senate President Troy Jackson have been aiming to finish up the legislative session by this Wednesday, though you have just talked through so many different issues here. Is it actually realistic that this is all going to get wrapped up by then?
It's looking very unlikely at this point. A lot of the delays we've seen have been in the House where, as I mentioned, we've had these long debates on bill after bill. That was especially true earlier in the week. But by Wednesday, and especially Thursday, the House was moving a lot faster, or as they say moving a lot more paperwork. But on Friday as the Senate was adjourning for the week, Jackson really didn't sound overly optimistic that they'd be able to get out on Wednesday even though, as he made clear several times, the Senate has been very efficient in moving paper.
"I don't really know what's going to happen on Wednesday," Jackson said, "so I just want to thank you for your work. And I certainly want to make this public that the Senate is doing everything it can to get finished on an appropriate time. And I know the Appropriations Committee is doing all they can to try and put together a budget for us before that, which has got to be incredibly hard."
So do you have any predictions about when they might finish then?
I guess none that I would put any money on at this point. But as one senator pointed out this week when the Legislature is supposed to adjourn early in the week and then don't, they usually end up sticking around for the whole week. So I'd say possibly by Friday, if we're lucky.
Maine's Political Pulse was written this week by State House correspondent Kevin Miller and chief political correspondent Steve Mistler, and produced by digital editor Andrew Catalina. Read past editions or listen to the Political Pulse podcast at mainepublic.org/pulse.
