Republican and Democratic legislative leaders outlined their top priorities for 2026 on Wednesday, kicking off a legislative session likely to be clouded by this year's high-stakes elections.
During simultaneous, competing press conferences, Democrats released a list of 20 bills that they say will lower costs for many Mainers while Republicans focused largely on their demands for accountability and answers about suspected fraud by a MaineCare provider.
One Democratic proposal would allow eligible low- and moderate-income homebuyers to receive a $15,000 grant to help lower mortgage rates. Another bill would offer tax credits to employers who offer child care to workers. Another measure would exempt diapers from the state sales tax.
"These proposals will protect families and seniors from federal health care cuts, help build the housing we desperately need in every part of our state, bring down grocery costs, make sure Maine kids get high-quality early childhood education and give working families some relief in the face of ever-rising energy costs," said House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford.
Fecteau also discussed bills he is sponsoring to mitigate the loss of federal funding to Medicaid and to nutrition assistance. One of those measures proposes an $87 million contingency fund to ensure that Maine can continue providing food assistance benefits in the event of a loss of federal funding. During the recent government shutdown, the Trump administration temporarily withheld funding to states for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.
Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, said "affordability" isn't just a political buzzword for Maine families struggling to get by.
"The federal government has pulled the rug out from hardworking Americans and Mainers," Daughtry said. "And our responsibility as state legislators is to make sure Maine people can get ahead, not just get by, despite DC's recklessness."
But the Republican leader in the Senate, Sen. Trey Stewart of Presque Isle, pointed out that Democrats have controlled both chambers of the Legislature plus the governor's office for eight years. So he said that Democrats are responsible for policies that increased electricity bills and everyday costs while making it harder for businesses to stay open.
"I think you can expect to see a lot more of that over the next few months," Stewart said. "I think you can expect to see, as people are jockeying for higher office across Maine, more and more lies, more and more complete re-writing of history."
Democrats currently hold a three-seat edge over Republicans in the 151-member House, which also has two independent members. Democrats hold 20 seats in the Senate versus 15 held by Republicans. This is the second year of a biennial legislative session, meaning lawmakers only have until mid-April to complete their work if they want to stay on schedule.
But the June primaries and the November elections are expected to loom large over the State House.
Maine voters will elect a new governor as well as all 186 members of the Legislature, two U.S. House members and a U.S. senator this fall. Gov. Janet Mills is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins while multiple lawmakers from both parties are hoping to succeed Mills or win one of Maine's two congressional seats.
But Republicans didn't spend much time focusing on their legislative agenda of lowering energy costs, reducing taxes and fully conforming Maine's tax code with the changes made by the Republican-controlled Congress as part of President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill."
Instead, for the second straight week, legislative Republicans used their weekly press conference to assert that Maine's Medicaid program is rife with fraud. They also called on Democratic leadership to remove Rep. Deqa Dhalac, a Democrat from South Portland, from the Legislature's budget committee because she briefly worked for the nonprofit arm of Gateway Community Services.
That nonprofit is technically separate from Gateway Community Services LLC, which state regulators recently referred to the Office of Attorney General for a fraud investigation. Dhalac has denied any involvement in that company's Medicaid billing practices and said that she only worked for the nonprofit arm for eight months.
Dhalac has not personally been accused by any regulator or prosecutor of any wrongdoing, but Stewart said she should be removed from the budget committee because of her association with Gateway.
"An individual who serves on the budget committee with allegations of defrauding the state's budget should probably no longer serve on the budget committee," he said.
Republican leaders also equated Dhalac to two Republican legislators who last year were stripped of their committee assignments because they're facing criminal charges that are still being litigated.
