State House news and notes
— The Maine Legislature will meet for floor sessions six times in March to take up bills that have been reported out of committees, Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, and House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, announced Wednesday. That will be March 9, 17, 22, 24, 29 and 31. The scheduled end of this year's session is April 20.
— Top Maine lawmakers will hold a Legislative Council meeting at 3:30 today to review State House COVID-19 protocols after recent changes in federal mask guidelines. Masks have still been a political issue in the building after House Republicans forced a floor vote last week on keeping mask policies in effect. |
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What we're reading
— The Maine Department of Health and Human Services dropped plans to close a Wilton call center employing roughly 45 people after saying landlord agreed to fix issues with the building. The Wednesday move was a win for the local legislative delegation that came about two weeks after the plans were aired publicly, threatening jobs in a town that lost a bigger call center in 2019.
— John D. Williams, who killed a Somerset County sheriff's deputy in 2018, is seeking a new trial after his lawyer learned a state trooper was disciplined a day before testifying against Williams. The trooper was suspended a day for failing to report and document alleged misconduct after a state police lieutenant hit Williams while taking him into custody. The Maine attorney general's office is arguing the discipline is immaterial to the case.
— An ambitious Maine housing policy overhaul unveiled by House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, on Wednesday is being opposed by an advocacy group for cities and towns. The sweeping package of recommendations has much that lawmakers will likely agree on, but it would also bar municipal limits on annual building permits in a state with a long history of local control. |
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Follow along today
9 a.m. A long day of work on tribal-rights measures is on tap in the Judiciary Committee on Thursday. It is scheduled to run into the afternoon and lawmakers will move along to Mills' proposed compromise with tribes that would give them control of a new online sports betting market. Watch here.
The utilities committee will work on two broadband bills, including one to allow the Caribou Utilities District to offer broadband service. It is opposed by established internet service providers in an emerging trend. Watch here.
10 a.m. The budget committee continues to work its way through public hearings on Mills' spending proposal. The criminal justice, transportation and labor panels will join appropriators throughout the day as they take testimony on different areas of the document. Watch here.
12:30 p.m. Mills will join Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and state leaders to announce the recipients of grants under the Maine Working Communities Challenge, which will give three-year awards supporting local plans to grow economies. Register for the event here. |
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| 📷 Lead photo: President Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., watch, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Washington. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP) |
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