More bills headed to Gov. Mills’ desk, though dozens remain unresolved

The Senate chamber in the Maine State House in Augusta. (Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star)

Maine lawmakers enacted a number of bills on Friday that they’d previously left in limbo when the Legislature adjourned last month.

As of 6 p.m., the Legislature enacted bills that would establish a unit to enforce violations of the Maine Civil Rights Act, expand health insurance options for childcare providers, increase the state’s clean elections program, and formalize the renaming of places through a designated state board, among others. However, dozens of other bills still await enactment votes in the Maine House of Representatives, which broke for caucus around 1 p.m. and had yet to reconvene. 

The decision as to whether bills the Legislature enacts ultimately become law is up to Gov. Janet Mills, who previously urged lawmakers to only take up vetoes Friday and voiced concern that the additional spending could threaten the state’s long-term financial stability 

If the Legislature adjourns for the year after Friday, as is expected, the governor will not be able to formally veto bills, however legislation that she chooses not to sign will automatically die. This is known as a “pocket veto.”

There is, however, an exception if the Legislature were to return for a special session. If such a session lasts more than three days, the governor would have to deliver a veto message on the fourth day, otherwise the bill would become law. 

More than 200 bills had initially been stuck between passage and funding when the Legislature wrapped much of its work last month, but the budget committee opened up the possibility to enact about 80 earlier this week.

These bills were left on what is known as the “appropriations table,” where lawmakers place bills after they pass both chambers if they aren’t explicitly funded in the state budget and need to be paid for using remaining unappropriated money. Bills left on the table when the Legislature adjourns for the year will automatically die. 

The unappropriated balance this year — $11.4 million — wasn’t known on April 17, the day of statutory adjournment, because the Legislature did not pass budget changes until the early morning of the next day. The governor subsequently signed the supplemental budget into law on April 22. 

Bills headed to the governor

By early afternoon Friday, the Senate had determined the outcomes of the 31 bills that the Appropriations Committee voted to fund without any changes, meaning they only needed enactment votes in the Senate before being sent to the governor. 

The Senate enacted all but two of the 31. 

Among these measures are the expansions of the state’s clean elections program and health insurance options for childcare providers, as well as the proposed civil rights unit and board of place names. 

The Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous & Tribal Populations in Maine and House Speaker Talbot Ross (D-Portland) put forth the latter as a means to formally establish the renaming process after Talbot Ross’ father, Gerald Talbot, sponsored a bill in 1977 that prohibited the use of the n-word in the names of places. The continued existence of offensive names in the state show oversight is still lacking. 

“As co-chair of the Permanent Commission and someone who has worked on educating about the effects of symbols and words, I am personally glad that this work continues and feel it is important,” Penobscot Nation Tribal Ambassador Maulian Bryant told Maine Morning Star.

Upon the governor’s signature, Maine could also establish a statewide sexual assault forensic examination kit tracking system, make improvements to family court procedures, and set a standard for more informed lawmaking by increasing the inclusion of demographic data from state agencies in the legislative process. 

Other enacted bills include measures to expand health insurance options to childcare providers, make megayachts subject to impact fees, provide Indigenous people free access to state parks, and expand property tax relief for veterans.

Senators only called for roll call votes on a few measures, including a bill to require public employers to provide long-term disability insurance coverage, with a vote 20-11, and another that would establish a pilot program to provide transitional housing for people recently released from prison, with a vote 18-12.

Bills that failed enactment

As for bills that have failed enactment so far, one would have sent a referendum to Maine voters to add an amendment to the Maine Constitution protecting the right to reproductive autonomy, including abortion. With a vote 21-13, the Senate failed to get the two-thirds support needed on Friday, after the House failed to pass the measure in April.

The other bill failed by much wider margins. With only 12 senators in favor and 20 opposed, the Senate rejected a proposal to push a referendum question to determine the new state flag from the upcoming November election to November 2026. The measure would have also established a commission to assist the Secretary of State in determining the design of the flag.

Last year, the Legislature passed a bill amended by Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Auburn) to send the question to voters. On the floor Friday, Brakey, while sporting a large 1901 state flag pin, urged his fellow lawmakers to vote against the proposal to push back the referendum. 

“I don’t know why we need to have an entire commission to decide what the flag is going to look like when we already have a very popular design for the flag that’s everywhere,” Brakey said, referring to the historic pine tree design.

Bills still awaiting action

The Appropriations Committee amended the majority of the bills (50 of 81 total) it voted “off the table” earlier this week. Any bills the committee made changes to need to be approved again by both the Senate and House. 

The Senate approved most of these amended bills by Friday afternoon, with seven not yet acted on as the chamber was awaiting the text for amendments. Appropriations Committee co-chair Sen. Peggy Rotundo (D-Androscoggin) motioned to add the amendments as decided by the committee on Tuesday and the chamber enacted them without any discussion or roll call votes.  

These measures will next need two-thirds approval in the House and, ultimately, the approval of the governor to become law. 

Some of these bills include proposals to create an advisory council to ensure African American and Wabanaki studies requirements are effectively taught in schools, a pilot project to help alleviate the staffing crisis in the child welfare system, require MaineCare reimbursement for treatment for emotional dysregulation disorders, and fund free health clinics. 

The Senate also took up a handful of bills it had tabled during its final hours of work in April. 

On April 17, the Appropriations Committee amended several bills to remove their costs but maintain the policy changes proposed. This was the case for several bills aimed to improve workers’ rights. On Friday, the Senate took these measures back up, which would require minimum pay for reporting to work, the disclosure of pay ranges in job advertisements, protect workers from employer surveillance, prevent employers from holding workers liable for repaying training costs and allow employees to request flexible work schedules. While the Senate voted to enact the bills, they’ll need to get the approval of the House. 

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