By Michael Shepherd - Jan. 17, 2023
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📷 Gov. Janet Mills speaks to a crowd at an abortion-rights rally in Portland's Monument Square on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. (BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett)

Good morning from Augusta. The Legislature is in session Tuesday. Read the Senate and House calendars.

What we're watching today

Democrats ready next steps on abortion while Republicans shy from the topic. The tone of Maine's abortion debate in a post-Roe v. Wade country will become clear on Tuesday, when Gov. Janet Mills and top Democrats roll out further steps to shield abortion access after a campaign season that was dominated by the issue. But we already a little bit about how it will go.

While Mills was campaigning against former Gov. Paul LePage in 2022, the Democrat often headlined abortion-rights rallies and raised the specter of restrictions if LePage and Republicans took power. They responded by mostly playing down the issue, with the former governor surprising anti-abortion supporters by saying he would oppose a ban on abortions at 15 weeks now that the Supreme Court allows states to ban abortion.

During her first term, Mills expanded abortion access by covering the procedure under Medicaid and expanding the list of health professionals who can perform abortions. In the fall, she said she was not interested in changes to the 1993 law that bans abortion after viability, which is usually around 24 weeks. More than 97 percent of Maine abortions came by the 15th week in 2021.

This summer, Mills said she and Attorney General Aaron Frey were reviewing the Maine Constitution to see whether abortion rights were protected in the document. Some lawyers think they are because of one obscure 2013 court case, though one prominent anti-abortion legal group has contested that.

We might already know the legal theory they landed on. On the list of the titles of more than 2,100 bills filed for consideration in the new Legislature, which was released over the weekend, is a constitutional amendment proposed by Senate Majority Leader Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, to protect "reproductive autonomy." It is all but certain to fail, since Republicans can block the two-thirds majorities in both chambers needed to send the question to voters.

For their part, Republicans are not proposing as many restrictions as they have in the past. At most, two bills submitted this year seem to fit that profile, with the clearest being one from Rep. Abigail Griffin, R-Levant, that would require an ultrasound and counseling before abortions. Any restrictions are all but dead on arrival in this Legislature, but it's notable that Republicans are fighting less this year than they did last year, when seven restrictive bills were filed.

All of this is to say that major changes to abortion law are unlikely this year. Democrats can only do what their simple majorities allow them do, which includes spiking Republican proposals. But the minority party has plenty of say when it comes to enshrining a clear right to abortion.

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News and notes

📷 People buy lottery tickets at the Lotto Store at Primm just inside the California border Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, near Primm, Nevada. (AP photo by John Locher)

💰 Revenue forecasters need to account for the Mega Millions jackpot.

◉ Whoever won the $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot after buying a ticket in Lebanon is one of the luckiest people in Maine history. The state is lucky too.

◉ If the person bought that winning ticket just over a mile away in income tax-free New Hampshire, they would have been richer. Maine's taxes will take an additional $52 million off the jackpot if claimed as a lump sum or $96 million if the winner takes annuity payments over 30 years.

◉ The amount going to the state also depends on who won and when the ticket is redeemed, noted Christopher Nolan, the head of the Legislature's fiscal office. The Mega Millions effect will be considered when the state's Revenue Forecasting Committee next considers projections in May.

🎤 Get to know your new committees.

◉ Some of the first legislative committee meetings of 2023 come at 1 p.m. today, with many of the new panels getting orientations and briefings from state agencies. Find them.

◉ For example, the incoming budget committee will get briefings from the state treasurer and the attorney general's office before they take up Mills' $10.3 billion spending proposal. Listen here.

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What we're reading

🎰 We asked two experts for their advice to the Mega Millions winner.

🦞 Meet the lobsterman lawmaker taking his party in a different direction.

🍺 Investors and "community spirit" fuel Augusta's downtown revival.

🚨 This small Maine town had three police shootings in just over a year.

🌞 You could be paying more for others to pay less for solar power.

🌱 A Maine woman helped begin the vegetarian movement as we know it.

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