By Michael Shepherd - Dec. 27, 2022 Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up.
📷 Former Gov. Paul LePage speaks at the Maine Republican Party's convention on April 30, 2022, in Augusta. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty)
Good morning from Augusta. There are eight days the Legislature convenes for work in 2023.
What we're watching today
These Maine lawmakers are running point on some of the biggest issues of 2023. Legislative leaders handed down their lists of committee assignments for the new crop of lawmakers early Tuesday. They were long awaited by State House lobbyists and political observers and will set the tone for policy debate in Augusta over the next two years. The House slate and the Senate side.
Every bill gets a public hearing in the Maine State House, meaning committee chairs do not decide by themselves what lives or dies, unlike in Congress. But these trusted members will generally be the key emissaries between party leaders and Gov. Janet Mills and will be at the table during major deals.
The all-important committee that will try to whittle down Mills' two-year budget into a consensus package gets two new chairs, with Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, winning the gavel in her return to the Legislature. On the House side, second-term Rep. Melanie Sachs gets the chair. Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford, the most party-bucking lawmaker in the last term, plus old-hand Rep. Sawin Millett of Waterford will be the top Republicans on the committee.
Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, selected Sen. Mike Tipping, D-Orono, to co-chair the labor committee. Tipping's employer, the progressive Maine People's Alliance, is trying to get a sweeping paid family and medical leave referendum on the 2023 ballot as the Legislature considers a similar proposal from a state task force. The labor panel should get a crack at the issue this year and that may put Tipping in the spotlight.
A new housing panel will also be one of the key committees with a deep affordability crisis hammering coastal areas particularly hard. The two Democrats chairing it — Sen. Teresa Pierce of Falmouth and Rep. Traci Gere of Kennebunk — are from two tony areas of Maine. The median price of Kennebunkport homes on the market nearly hit $1 million earlier this year. Sen. Matt Pouliot, an Augusta real estate agent, will help lead Republicans there.
Bangor was also well-represented by the Democrats, with each of the city's lawmakers except for first-term Rep. Ambureen Rana being selected as committee chairs. Sen. Joe Baldacci gets the health panel, while Rep. Amy Roeder is on labor, Rep. Laura Supica is on the voting, marijuana and gambling panel and Rep. Joseph Perry has the tax committee.
You also see Democratic efforts to represent rural areas of the state where they have lost many seats to Republicans. Rep. Anne Perry of Calais will lead the health committee, while Rep. Stanley Paige Zeigler, D-Montville, emerged from a large pack of lawmakers to take the chair of the energy panel.
🗞 The Daily Brief is made possible by Bangor Daily News subscribers. Support the work of our politics team and enjoy unlimited access to everything the BDN has to offer by subscribing here.
News and notes
📷Pat Kosalka, left, and Mary Anne Courbron celebrate as Gov. Janet Mills arrived at her first inauguration ceremony at the Augusta Civic Center on Jan. 2, 2019. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty)
💃 The governor's second inauguration is coming.
◉ Mills' celebration will cover next Wednesday and Thursday evenings at the Augusta Civic Center. She will speak at her swearing-in ceremony on the first day. Reserve free tickets.Then, she will hold an invitation-only party on the arena floor on the second day.
◉ Finances were a major problem for Mills after her first inauguration in 2019, when it took 10 months to pay off her debt to the city of Augusta for a celebration that cost $70,000 more than the committee said it expected.
📱Want daily texts from me tipping you to political stories before they break? Get Pocket Politics. It is free for 14 days and $3.99 per month if you like it.
What we're reading
😤 A heating aid fight was also about Senate Republicans setting a tone with Mills.
