AUGUSTA — A proposal by two moderate Republican senators to expand Medicaid and incorporate drastic changes in the state Medicaid program has cleared the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee and will now be taken up by the full Senate. The bill — crafted by Assistant Senate Minority Leader Roger Katz of Augusta and Sen. […]
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Posted inMaine
Committee cuts out ‘shoot-to-kill’ rule for Windham prison
AUGUSTA — A proposal that would have allowed the use of deadly force against any prisoners attempting an escape from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham was stripped from a bill Monday that makes other changes to the state’s Department of Corrections. In a 12-1 vote, the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee agreed […]
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Parties clash over unemployment report
AUGUSTA — Sparks flew Friday as state lawmakers engaged in a brief but rancorous political discussion of a federal report that charged Gov. Paul LePage with interfering in the unemployment compensation appeals process last year. Debate over the report, delivered by the U.S. Labor Department a day earlier, split along party lines in what otherwise […]
Posted inMaine
Bill meant to fix MaineCare rides program passes
AUGUSTA — The Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Thursday approved a bill that would revamp the state’s non-emergency medical ride program for those on MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid system. The $40 million program has been fraught with problems since a trio of companies, at the behest of the federal government, were put in […]
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Maine budget committee eases forward with fix ideas for 2014 and 2015
AUGUSTA — State lawmakers on the budget-writing Appropriations Committee are gaining steady ground as they work to create a supplemental budget that will balance spending and revenues for 2014 and 2015. The Maine Constitution requires a balanced budget, and without a supplemental budget offering from Republican Gov. Paul LePage, the committee has been left largely […]
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LePage administration continues campaign against Medicaid expansion
Agriculture Commissioner Walter Whitcomb said the state’s natural resource agencies — Agriculture, Conservation, Marine Resources, Environmental Protection, and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife — had lost $13 million in state funding in just five years, a reduction he attributes to regular annual shortfalls in the the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers MaineCare. “We […]
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Maine GOP state senators introduce Medicaid expansion bill
AUGUSTA — A pair of Republican state senators rolled out a bill Tuesday that would expand the state’s Medicaid program, MaineCare, a proposal that so far has been largely opposed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage and rank-and-file members of the party. State Sen. Tom Saviello, R-Wilton, and Senate Assistant Minority Leader Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
LePage asks Legislature for jail money
Related: State to re-examine property tax cap for jail funding AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage wants Maine’s jails to get the money they need. In a one-page letter to legislative leaders and members of the Appropriations Committee, the governor expressed his wish that money be set aside to keep all 15 county jails operating. “The financial […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
State to re-examine property tax cap for jail funding
Related: LePage asks Legislature for jail money AUGUSTA — A six-year-old cap on property taxpayers’ share of county jail costs may be cracking as lawmakers search for more money. Members of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee put counties on notice Monday that the cap, which froze county spending on jails at 2008 levels and passed on […]
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Democratic lawmakers renew call for cancellation of Alexander Group contract
AUGUSTA — Democratic leaders on the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Monday were again calling on Gov. Paul LePage’s administration to cancel its nearly $1 million contract with a Rhode Island-based consultant. Democrats noted, so far, the state has paid the Alexander Group $378,000 for the five-part study of the state’s welfare programs, […]