Paul LePage
Maine Senate to take up Medicaid expansion
AUGUSTA — Legislation to expand Maine’s Medicaid program to include roughly 70,000 more people is due for a vote in the Maine Senate. Tuesday’s expected Senate vote comes a day after the House approved the bill, along with an amendment meant to draw more Republican votes. Republicans have been cool to the expansion bill, which […]
Leave Homestead Exemption alone, Twin Cities officials say
LEWISTON — The best thing state leaders could do for Lewiston-Auburn property owners is leave the Homestead Exemption program alone, according to officials from both cities. Auburn City Manager Clinton Deschene and Lewiston City Administrator Ed Barrett said they’re nervous about proposed changes to the state program, which is designed to give a property tax […]
Gov. Paul LePage moves back into State House office
AUGUSTA — Last week, the governor abandoned his State House office and decamped to the Blaine House to conduct business. With his dispute with lawmakers over a television outside his office settled, Gov. Paul LePage has returned to his State House office to conduct business. The governor was back at his desk Wednesday, nearly a […]
House sustains LePage vetoes of bills to ban smoking, study sales tax
AUGUSTA — The Maine House on Tuesday allowed two more of Gov. Paul LePage’s vetoes to stand, the seventh and eighth of this legislative session. Tuesday’s votes sustained vetoes of a bill that would ban smoking on the state’s university and community college campuses and on a measure aimed at simplifying sales tax collections for […]
Gov. Paul LePage moves his TV out of Hall of Flags but with sight of passersby
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage has complied with an order to remove a television from the hallway outside his office, sort of. The television, which caused controversy last week when LePage put it outside his State House office to pressure the Legislature to take quick action on his biennial budget proposal and plan to repay […]
Refusing Medicaid deal punishes poor
Chuck, your insurance agent, calls. “We’re running a special offer on health care insurance — three years for free,” he says. “What’s the catch?” you ask. “Nothing,” he says, “other than that the price will go up in three years.” “Hmm,” you say. “Three years for free? Then the price will go up?” “Sorry, Chuck. […]
LePage wastes no time vetoing bill linking hospital debt, Medicaid
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage handed down an instant veto Thursday, minutes after the Senate gave final passage to a bill that links repayment of Maine’s hospital debt to an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program. LePage, during an impromptu appearance in the State House Hall of Flags, also laid out the text for a […]
LePage seeks wind changes before supporting energy bill compromise
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage is withholding support for a compromise bill being worked out by the Legislature’s Energy Committee that’s aimed at expanding Maine’s natural gas infrastructure, boosting funding for energy efficiency, directly lowering businesses’ electricity costs and making it more affordable for residents to abandon oil heat. LePage won’t support the bill unless […]
Veto likely for bill to pay hospitals
AUGUSTA — Even though Gov. Paul LePage’s office made it clear Wednesday he’ll veto a bill to pay off a $484 million debt to Maine hospitals because of an amendment to expand Medicaid, Democrats professed hope the Republican governor will relent and considered passage a victory. The House gave the bill final approval by an […]