Good day from Augusta, where we’re looking forward to tomorrow to see whether lawmakers are any closer to compromise on a new spending package than they were in April when they adjourned with dozens of unfinished bills on the table.
The committee is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. Wednesday after being absent from the State House for weeks. On its agenda are possible decisions on dozens of unfunded bills, a number of bills that were carried over from the regular session, 37 general obligation bond proposals and various other measures that have bipartisan support but lie in legislative limbo.
Some of the proposals face deadlines that are now weeks away. Some of the unfinished work needs to be done before the end of the current state fiscal year on June 30. That includes the maintenance of raises for direct care workers, which were included in last year’s state budget bill but not funded for the fiscal year that begins July 1, state support subsidies for county jails, and funding for public schools. Those bills will all need approval from two-thirds majorities to go into effect immediately.
There are also a number of other bills proposals in stasis — which if you’ve been paying attention should be well known by now. They include a $100 million transportation bond to send to a November referendum, a tax conformity package that at the very least would clear obstacles for filers, a technical fix to Maine’s public campaign financing system and a number of bills written to combat the opioid epidemic crisis.
The big question is whether Republicans and Democrats have been able to eliminate poison pills. One is $3.8 million in funding to cover start-up administrative costs for Medicaid, which Democrats have insisted be vote on as part of a spending package which includes a number of proposals both parties want. Another is slowing down scheduled increases in the minimum wage, which Republicans have wielded as an ultimatum in the past.
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “Maine legislative budget panel to meet, but with no clear sign that feud has ended,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Christopher Cousins, please follow this link to the BDN online.
