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With Big Issues Still On The Table, Maine Lawmakers At Odds Over How To Resolve Them

Mal Leary
/
Maine Public/file
The Maine State House capitol dome, seen in January of 2015.

Maine Lawmakers are coming back Wednesday to deal with more than a dozen vetoes issued by Gov. Paul LePage. But it's not clear how they will resolve a list of other major issues, including school funding, that are still on the table.

Democratic House Speaker Sara Gideon says the law is clear: Without a special session, or an extension of the Legislature by a two-thirds vote, issues that include school funding, tax conformity and several spending bills cannot be addressed.

“If we don’t have an extension on legislative days, we will, essentially, be sending those bills to their demise because the governor will be able to pocket veto them without our ability to come back in and deal with them,” Gideon says.

A pocket veto occurs when a governor holds a bill without taking any action on it after final adjournment. Gideon prefers an extension, which would cost taxpayers $17,000 a day.  A special session, she says, would run about $31,000.

House Republican Leader Ken Fredette, however, believes an extension would have to have been approved before midnight last Wednesday, and that a special session would have to be called.  He says there is still time to negotiate some compromises.

“We should all take a deep breath and realize we are still in April," Fredette says. "The end of the fiscal year doesn’t happen until June 30.  So, we have plenty of time to get our work done.”

And Fredette says he believes there is broad support for several spending measures currently on hold, such as additional funding for direct care workers, nursing homes and opioid addiction treatment. He says as with any session there are contentious issues at the end that will fail or will be vetoed by the governor.

But Senate Democratic Leader Troy Jackson says Fredette reneged on his support for a spending bill. “I think the biggest problem is that you can’t negotiate when one group of people continues to move the goal posts even after you have cut a deal," he says, "and that is where we are right now.”

But Jackson acknowledges that he and other leaders will have to negotiate with House Republicans to resolve such key issues as school funding. He says he may propose that leaders meet in public to hammer out a package to show who is truly serious about solving problems.  

Senate GOP Leader Garrett Mason believes a compromise can be reached, but probably not until lawmakers are all back in the capitol on Wednesday.

“Get everybody back in the building," Mason says. "Pulling 186 people from all corners of the state of Maine together is a difficult process. So, I think it might be better to work when everybody is in the building.”

Meanwhile, every interest group in the state that has a stake in a bond issue or some other measure will join school groups in urging lawmakers to reach agreement on the legislation before them, and reach it soon.

Journalist Mal Leary spearheads Maine Public's news coverage of politics and government and is based at the State House.