Political analysis

The failure to advance the bill after four months of negotiations ensures that immigration will remain a key campaign issue in the 2024 presidential and congressional election with possible implications for down ballot contests in state legislatures.

The Conservation Law Foundation said the proposal for a statewide, consumer-owned electric utility would create too much uncertainty at a time when Maine must move aggressively to address the climate crisis.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills will likely be forced to choose between allowing a paid family leave bill to become law or risk a statewide referendum on the issue next year, financed by progressive megadonors.

Two major news developments this week – one tragic, the other more political – overshadowed other events in Maine this week. And both could impact policy debates in Augusta and around the state in the coming months.

One week after budget negotiations suddenly broke down, Democrats in the Legislature passed a $9.8 billion spending plan late Thursday that will keep government offices open after July 1 but that left Republicans fuming.

Such a move – “majority budget” in Augusta-speak – is rare, but it happened as recently as 2021. And it could happen next week.

In many ways the address mirrored the first one that took place 21 years ago. This time, however, the tribes addressed state lawmakers who are far more receptive to their main goal — greater self-governance — than the legislators who preceded them.

Notwithstanding independent U.S. Sen. Angus King’s inclusion in the very online “Twitter Files” hullabaloo, the final full week of February was relatively quiet in Maine politics. For that reason, this week’s edition of the Pulse will be brief as we empty the notebook.

There were a few hot topics that the governor did not mention despite her potentially pivotal role in the policy outcomes.

In this week's Pulse: the debate on paid family leave, Mills to address the state next week, Penobscots ‘open for business’ as Biden emphasizes American-made, and aballot battle update.