The 2023 legislative session here in Maine finally wrapped up this week, more than a month later than originally planned.
It was an unusual session in other respects as well, with some notable policy victories for progressives but also tensions, at times, between the Democrats who run the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.
Maine Public State House correspondent Kevin Miller spoke with All Things Considered host Robbie Feinberg about what was accomplished this session, what wasn’t and what it all means.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Feinberg: The House and Senate wrapped up very late — something like 5 a.m. Wednesday. But are they actually done for the year?
Miller: Well, let's hope so. Some of us have actually started referring to this as the Zombie Session, or the session that just won't die, because it has dragged on with the spurts of activity followed by hours, days or even weeks of not much happening. I've been around the State House off and on for almost 20 years now. And I will just say that this session seemed more disorganized than most. But to your question of are they really, truly done? We've been told that the full Legislature won't meet again until next year. There are plenty of commissions and and boards and things like that, and there will be some interim meetings among committee members. But unless they're called back into some sort of special session, for some reason, the full Legislature probably won't be back till January.
Staying on this week's session just for a little bit longer. What did they accomplish this week?
Well, they failed override the governor's vetoes on two bills. One dealt with foreign spending in ballot campaigns. And because they failed to override it, we're actually going to vote on that in November as a ballot initiative. And then the other bill aimed to set a minimum wage for farmworkers. Those weren't big surprises, because neither of those bills had passed with veto-proof margins.
They also passed a big offshore wind bill. There was a lot of activity on this late in this session, and the governor vetoed an offshore wind bill because she didn't like the language in it that would have guided most of the jobs toward union workers. But they came to an agreement that passed and all parties seem OK with it.
Lawmakers also found money for a long overdue overhaul of the bottle bill program. And they actually increased the governor salary from $70,000, which is the lowest in the nation, to $125,000 a year. And then they agreed to let voters decide on whether to resume printing sections of Maine's constitution that deal with the state's obligations to honoring treaties with the tribes. That language is still in effect, but it's not actually printed for various reasons.
And then finally, lawmakers also agreed to send voters another ballot initiative that asks whether we want to revert back to the old pine tree state flag or some version of it or stick with the current one that features the state seal.
Let's also just take a broader view of this session. A lot did happen over the course of the last few months. What did the Legislature ultimately achieve?
Well, I'd say two issues that will have the biggest or the broadest impact are passage of a paid family and medical leave law and then investments in the state's child care infrastructure.
Starting in a few years, many employers will have to start offering up to 12 weeks of paid time off to workers so they can care for a family member who's sick or to bond with a newborn or if they have a new adopted child. Maine was actually one of the last states in New England to pass a Paid Family Medical Leave law.
On the child care front, the Legislature found $30 million, I believe, to double the wage stipend for workers in order to keep more of them in the field and to make it more attractive to new workers. And they also expanded the eligibility window for families to qualify for subsidies for child care.
Of course, the bill to lift restrictions on abortions in the latter stages of pregnancy received a lot of attention. And that was a big win for abortion rights supporters. But lawmakers also put tens of millions of dollars into affordable housing programs. And I think one thing that got some attention, but not as much, is the changes they made to how our highway and our bridge maintenance programs are funded. This is going to provide a few hundred million dollars to road maintenance, which is of course something that anyone who drives will probably notice.
Yeah, wow, so definitely a number of notable policies there. But I know that there were a lot of other issues that were also discussed this session. What were some of the other issues that didn't end up passing?
One of the biggest was obviously the bill to ensure that the four Wabanaki tribes here in Maine have automatic access to any laws that pass Congress that apply to other federally recognized tribes. Gov. Mills successfully vetoed it, despite the fact that the bill actually passed with veto-proof margins in the House and Senate. We saw quite a few culture war battles over book bans and what content should be taught in schools. Those were mostly brought forward by Republicans and they were defeated by the Democrats. And then there were a whole bunch of gun control measures that didn't go anywhere.
Yeah, it's interesting to note too, about that tension between the governor's office and the Legislature that's happening even though Democrats they hold the House, the Senate, also the Blaine House as well. So what were some of the biggest disagreements that we saw there?
Clearly the the disagreement on the tribes bill was probably the highest profile. House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross — it was her bill — but also Senate President Troy Jackson was a major proponent, but they couldn't get it around Gov. Mills, who raised concerns about the bill having broad impacts on what regulations would apply on lands throughout Maine. So there were some pretty high-profile intraparty fights dealing with union workers. I mentioned that offshore wind bill. There was also the farmworkers bill that unions were strongly supportive of, and our Democratic governor did not support. And then there was a lot of just behind-the-scenes tensions between the governor and House speaker, as well as some frustrations between the House speaker and the Senate president about the pace of work in the Legislature, or at times that lack of pace.
And let's also turn to the GOP as well. Republicans, they're in the minority in both chambers at this point. Did they have any big victories? Or was this session mostly a wash for them? Would you say?
Well, they were certainly able to influence the budget process. Democrats ended up passing a majority budget earlier in the year because they were concerned about Republican opposition. But when the Legislature came back and negotiated the secondary budget, they were able to win some concessions, one of which was increasing the exemption for pension incomes on income tax, and that was a big win for them. It was not nearly as big as what they wanted — they wanted broad-based cuts to Maine's income tax, and those did not happen. And they also led that push, or several Republicans led that push, for changing the transportation funding mechanism that we have here. They also blocked a number of gun bills, so there were not a lot of major victories, but they did have some some policy wins or certainly had an influence.
