AUGUSTA — A legislative committee paved the way for a potential funding debate on a bill that would arm the state’s forest rangers, recommending its passage while admitting that funding for the measure had not yet been nailed down. The committee voted 9-2 (with two absent members allowed to vote until noon on Friday) to […]
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Bill would help towns withdraw from Regional School Units
AUGUSTA — A bill that would ease the requirements for municipalities that want to pull out of their regional school units is headed to the Legislature with a unanimous show of support from the Education Committee. LD 783, An Act to Change the Voting Requirements for the Withdrawal of a Municipality from a Regional School […]
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Maine House speaker offers ‘compromise’ Medicaid expansion bill
AUGUSTA — The House’s top Democrat on Wednesday morning presented what he called a “compromise” bill to expand Medicaid in the state to roughly 70,000 of the poorest Mainers. It’s the first glimpse at what Democrats, who hold a majority in the Legislature, hope will be a bill that can gain enough Republican support to […]
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Maine House overrides LePage’s veto on food bill
AUGUSTA — The House of Representatives voted by a thin margin Tuesday to override Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of a bill that would encourage schools and state government agencies to purchase food produced in Maine. LD 1254, An Act to Increase Consumption of Maine Foods in All State Institutions, was vetoed by LePage on Friday along […]
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LePage says Maine must find $119 million to balance budget
AUGUSTA — Republican and House Minority Leader Kenneth Fredette, R-Newport, said late Monday afternoon that new data show a general fund revenue shortfall of $119 million in the two-year budget that started July 1, 2013, and ends June 30, 2015. The Department of Health and Human Services accounts for the vast majority of the shortfall. […]
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Proposed bill would extend scenic impact of wind projects
AUGUSTA — Maine must strengthen its laws to ensure wind power development doesn’t hinder the beauty of its natural resources, supporters of a bill to amend the state’s wind energy laws said Monday. Under a bill being considered by the Energy, Utility and Technology Committee, the state could seek an assessment of the visual impact of […]
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Maine Democrats say there is a $100 million shortfall in DHHS budget
House Majority Leader Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, told reporters during a news conference Friday that in addition to rumors he and his colleagues have heard this week, LePage confirmed the $100 million DHHS shortfall to legislative leaders during a meeting on Thursday. “This has been going around the building and through the grapevine,” said Berry. “The […]
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Casinos argue against expanding gambling in Maine
BANGOR — Leaders of Maine’s two casinos told members of a legislative committee Wednesday that the state has reached its saturation point with gambling and opposed a series of bills seeking to expand the industry. Representatives of some of the groups behind the proposals, which include two of the state’s Indian tribes, told members of […]
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Maine House GOP leader has ‘low expectations’
AUGUSTA — What a difference a year makes. Or not. The legislative session that began Wednesday will pick up where the previous session left off in June, with much of the attention on Medicaid expansion and the state budget. The question is whether there is any chance that lawmakers, whose disagreement last year nearly shut […]
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Hundreds rally at State House in full-court press on Medicaid expansion
While Mainers who have lost their health care coverage or are not eligible for MaineCare without expansion told their stories, the political challenge of winning expansion this session was as clear as the broadcast from Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s television, beaming down his welfare-reform message on the assembled activists: “Maine’s Medicaid program is crowding out […]