By Michael Shepherd - June 20, 2023
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When the Maine Legislature sets an end date, rarely believe it. That is the situation we're in to open the week as lawmakers only have floor votes scheduled through Wednesday but almost certainly will stay through the week.

Here is the daunting list of things they need to do before leaving.

Bring these major items to the floor. Plenty of high-profile bills have gotten to chamber floors. Check out our recent list of politics stories for many of them. But the biggest bills have not even sniffed the floors yet, and they will be the subject of heavy lobbying and lengthy debates between polarized lawmakers.

Chief among them will be Gov. Janet Mills' signature abortion-rights bill, which still needs to formally leave a legislative committee, a paid family and medical leave bill advanced by top Democrats over the governor's warnings and key tribal-rights bills led by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, that the governor opposes outright.

Mills and some in the business community are fighting legislative leaders on those final two bills and on several other priorities, making for a relatively uncertain end.

Figure out a budget, then identify the bills that will live. Lawmakers were not close last week to a bipartisan deal on Mills' $900 million spending proposal, although they have been meeting and taking initial votes on non-controversial portions. It's unclear where things will go from here, and it may be heading toward another Democratic-only package if Republican demands for tax cuts and welfare changes go unheeded.

Tied up in that are many big priorities of leaders that either have not gotten votes yet or have been passed but are piling up on a budget committee table because they are unfunded. The latter is a place where many bills die.

The paid leave program would need start-up funding that could land around $15 million. Talbot Ross also is trying to expand MaineCare to asylum seekers, something estimated to cost $17 million annually, and a child care overhaul from Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, needs $36 million or so. 

Come to last-minute deals (or not) on other complex issues. Politicians also need to work out last-minute deals on highly complicated topics, and then see where votes land. This is happening in different ways on two major subjects: solar policy and gun control.

Most Democrats look to be supporting a small shave in solar incentives led by Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-Eliot, the co-chair of the energy panel. But Public Advocate Bill Harwood says it will do little to rein in exploding costs, and he is supporting a Republican-led bill allowing regulators to cull them further. It won over two Democrats in committee, but it's unclear which will emerge.

A gun-control compromise might come by process of elimination. Talbot Ross could not even get a 72-hour waiting period bill through the House, then the Senate effectively killed a ban on certain gun modification devices. The gun bill that has gotten through for now is a National Rifle Association-backed state ban on straw purchases of guns for those prohibited from having them.

Avert a referendum on foreign money in politics. Lawmakers don't absolutely need to do this, but it looks like they are going to. After the state's high court said they could pass a referendum effort seeking to ban foreign governments from influencing referendum campaigns here, they have pushed the measure to the floor. It seems like a sure bet to go through.