It ain’t over in Augusta ‘til it’s over
“What a long strange trip it's been” is one way you could describe the first session of the 127th Legislature.
From start to finish there's been lots of drama and complicated political maneuverings that have made several controversial bills constantly moving targets. At press time on June 24, it technically still wasn't finished, with lawmakers voting early that morning to return on June 30 to address unfinished business. Among the items awaiting lawmakers when they return from their one-week recess is the likely override vote on Gov. Paul LePage's expected veto of the biennial state budget, completion of the state bonding plan for the next two years and bills that include a proposal to create a Cabinet-level energy commissioner.
Even that extension might not be enough to close the book on the first session, since lawmakers already plan to come back on July 16 to deal with any late vetoes LePage might make on approved bills not yet signed into law.
The session's statutory adjournment date was June 17, but LePage's veto of several dozen bills and his 64 line-item budget vetoes forced a one-week extension to give the Maine House of Representatives and the Senate time to take two roll-call votes on each and every veto, once for each year in the two-year budget.
LePage didn't exactly endear himself to lawmakers with that approach, openly telling State House reporters his unprecedented number of line-item vetoes on the bipartisan $6.7 billion two-year budget was a deliberate effort to “waste a little of [lawmakers'] time.” He also staged a bit of street theater to underscore his displeasure with that budget, squeezing a rubber pig he took from beneath a Christmas tree arranged outside his office and decorated with ornaments adorned with photos of lawmakers who apparently irk him.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle easily overturned the budget line-item vetoes, sending the 700-page $6.7 billion budget back to LePage for his signature. That seems unlikely, given his characterization of it as a “business-as-usual budget.” A budget must be in place by July 1 in order to avoid a shutdown of state government.
The bipartisan budget includes a middle-class tax cut that's fully paid for, with 75% going to the bottom 90% of families. It makes the earned income tax credit refundable up to 5%.
New Markets tax credits bill dies
LD 297, legislation that originally would have doubled the aggregate cap on loans made through the New Markets Capital Investment Program from $250 million to $500 million, ended up as a dead bill. One sticking point was that Republicans and Democrats couldn't reach agreement on closing a loophole in the program allowing one-day loans for the benefit of investors that a Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram investigative story by Whit Richardson revealed had been used as part of Cate Street Capital's financing for its ultimately unsuccessful effort to revitalize the Great Northern Paper Mill in East Millinocket.
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