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| 📷 House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, gets emotional while speaking with tribal members including Chief Maggie Dana of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point, left, following a vote on a tribal sovereignty bill at the State House in Augusta on April 12, 2022. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty) |
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🎤 The new House speaker elevates tribal voices ahead of the 2023 session.
◉ House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, said she was traveling to tribal lands in Penobscot, Aroostook and Washington counties this week and is looking to bring back a State of the Tribes address that would allow chiefs to speak to a joint session of lawmakers.
◉ Those are symbolic steps, but Talbot Ross, who sponsored the sweeping sovereignty law that failed to pass over Mills' opposition this year, has indicated she wants to make progress on the law during her term as speaker beyond the compromise law giving a new mobile sports betting market to tribes.
◉ How far to go on this could be a sticking point between Mills and Talbot Ross, the latter of whom has been one of the most progressive members of the House. Both sides have downplayed any tension going into the session, with the governor's office saying Mills considers the new speaker a friend.
💂 Committee assignments for the new Legislature come Friday.
◉ After a new Legislature is seated, the new list of committee members typically drops at the last minute before Christmas. In keeping with that proud tradition, a Ross spokesperson said they will be announced on Friday.
◉ The important appropriations committee, which will work out the two-year budget, is always watched closely. The last Senate chair, Cathy Breen of Falmouth, was termed out in 2022, and House chair, Teresa Pierce of Falmouth, assumed Breen's Senate seat. We are in for at least one new chair.
◉ Also of interest to State House observers is who will take over a new housing committee, plus who will lead the energy panel on the House side. Democratic members including Reps. Melanie Sachs of Freeport and Chris Kessler of South Portland could be in the mix. |
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What we're reading
👍 A heating aid package with $450 relief checks for most Mainers is set to pass after a top Maine Senate Republican signed off on Wednesday.
📁 Two men who attended Catholic schools in Bangor claim a priest and a nun sexually abused them decades ago.
🏣 Penobscot County put $2.2 million toward housing in a new round of federal relief allocations.
🌅 Eastport wants to attract an airline offering flights to Portland.
💥 Mills' race with former Gov. Paul LePage easily smashed the record for Maine's priciest-ever gubernatorial election. |
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