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By Michael Shepherd - March 20, 2023
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📷 A hat is displayed at Theory Wellness, a cannabis retail store, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, in South Portland. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty)
Hello from Augusta. Legislative committees are in today. Here's the agenda.

What we're watching today


Talks on Maine's two-year state budget are moving quickly, with legislative committees having finished their key sets of recommendations.

While they remain incomplete with lawmakers needing time to settle bigger issues from a property tax freeze program for seniors and one top housing initiative, we are seeing alliances and divisions for on big policy areas.

Here are three lessons so far from the committee reports.

Both Democrats and Republicans are upset with marijuana regulation. One bipartisan area of disagreement with Gov. Janet Mills' administration is the Office of Cannabis Policy, which regulates the medical and adult-use marijuana markets.

Members of the committee overseeing the office have been vocal about what they see as regulatory discrepancies between the markets. For example, one state official said during testimony earlier this month that his office is not doing underage checks on adult-use stores like those done for alcohol. At the same time, the state's major enforcement priority is on medical market diversion.

Citing regulatory issues, the panel voted 7-2 to reject a line item in Mills' budget for legal services, saying it wants rework the law to reduce the need for enforcement actions by the office. It also voted out money to rework a contract for tracking marijuana in the adult-use market, seeking more information.

Welfare remains one of the more divisive issues. That bipartisan spirit does not exist everywhere. Democrats and Republicans on the health committee broke down along party lines on a proposal from House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, to expand Medicaid coverage to all Mainers over age 21 regardless of immigration status, a $7.2 million initiative that Republicans vehemently oppose.

It is worth remembering that the vast majority of a budget is continued and widely supported spending, so these kinds of reports from committees are often unanimous. That has not been the case in the Judiciary Committee, where at least two Republican members have voted against more than 100 items, including many relatively small ones.

Members of a new housing panel push the governor to spend more. The committee formed to address Maine's housing crisis wants a lot more money dedicated even to some of Mills' biggest new priorities.

Lawmakers suggested raising new allocations to a rural rental program and a low-income tax credit from $30 million in Mills' proposal to $80 million, saying the smaller amount of funding would be quickly exhausted. The panel also said its work has "barely begun," so it should make other big moves this year.
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News and notes

📷 Rep. Sawin Millett, R-Waterford, is pictured in the House chamber at the Maine State House in Augusta on June 30, 2021. (BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett)

 

📻 A veteran Republican budget negotiator tries to keep talks on track.

◉ Rep. Sawin Millett, R-Waterford, one of the Legislature's leading dealmakers and a member of the budget committee, used the weekly Republican radio address on Friday to respond to our coverage of the possibility that Democrats could pass a two-year budget by a simple majority. 

◉ That is far from a done deal, as noted in Friday's Daily Brief. Millett's caucus has been more hopeful than Senate Republicans that a bipartisan deal can be reached, and he said he hoped Democrats do not go it alone.

◉ "Like most of my Republican colleagues, I am here to seek solutions and solve problems," Millett said. "We highlight differences and vote accordingly when necessary."

◉ There are plenty of questions remaining on the budget. If Democrats are going to run a majority budget, they would effectively to start preparing it this week. The budget committee has scheduled regular votes on Monday and Tuesday, but it has "TBD" on the loose agenda for the rest of the week. 

🪖 This bipartisan coalition is behind a "defend the Guard" bill.

◉ A far-reaching Maine bill that is getting attention from national libertarians would prohibit National Guard members here from being called to serve in overseas conflicts not subject to a congressional war declaration.

◉ These types of "defend the Guard" bills have been recently introduced across the country. The last one here came in 2011. None have been passed, but the Arizona Senate recently advanced the idea there. 

This year's measure is from Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, who has cobbled together a mix of co-sponsors from across the political spectrum, including progressive Reps. Ben Collings, D-Portland, and Maggie O'Neil, D-Saco. It has a public hearing at 1 p.m. Watch it.
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What we're reading


🏢 We go inside the "housing first" model that Mills wants to take statewide.

💰Political disagreements are behind Bangor's COVID-19 aid inaction.

⛺ Bangor's "Tent City" threatens an inn's transition to affordable housing.

🧠 A hospital tries to ease Maine's psychiatric crisis with an expansion.

☕ A Ukrainian coffee roaster brings nuanced beans to Camden. Here's your soundtrack.
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