By Michael Shepherd - May 25, 2023
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📷 Sen. Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, speaks during debate as a member of the Maine House of Representatives on Aug. 30, 2018. (BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett)

Good morning from Augusta. The Legislature is in. Here's are the House and Senate calendars, plus a busy committee agenda that includes a 1 p.m. hearing on paid family and medical leave and work on a spending proposal in the education panel.

What we're watching today

A paid leave measure gets a huge test on Thursday with a few obstacles ahead. One of the most far-reaching efforts of the legislative session will be aired on Thursday, with dozens of people lined up to testify on both sides of a growing debate over paid family and medical leave in Maine.

Democrats are almost united on the proposal from Assistant Senate Majority Leader Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, and Assistant House Majority Leader Kristen Cloutier, D-Lewiston. But Gov. Janet Mills has been silent on their bill for more than a week after it came out. A lobbyist for businesses has said the Democratic governor shared some of their concerns about the legislation.

Under the proposal, Maine would join 13 other states that have some form of paid leave. Most of them are funded by the type of payroll tax considered under this measure, which would be capped at 1 percent of wages split evenly between employers and workers. Employers under 15 workers would be exempt from their half, while workers at those firms would not have job protections when they use leave under the Daughtry-Cloutier plan.

This is a slight compromise in the direction of businesses when compared to a version from a state commission that studied the issue, as well as a proposed referendum from a coalition of progressive groups. They do not like the lack of job protections, but they are cheering Democrats along in their effort to move such a bill through the Legislature.

They have not assuaged business groups. The Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce and HospitalityMaine came out in formal opposition to the measure this week, and business testimony against it from restaurant owners to the head of Marden's Surplus & Salvage is now flowing in. However, expect to see a lot more supporters than opponents at today's hearing. Watch it at 1 p.m.

Progressives are in the driver's seat on the issue because of their threat to put a referendum on the 2024 ballot if they do not like any product that comes out of the Legislature. Daughtry has noted solid polling in Maine for the idea as part of an argument that paid leave is going to eventually be the law here.

This makes passing paid leave a high-wire act for now. Mills' silence makes it uncertain what she will accept. Business groups have seen little incentive to join the legislative effort. Daughtry and Cloutier came up with their proposal, but those on both sides are going to want to change it.

All the while, a potential vote hangs over everybody's heads. It's a tough situation to make a law in.

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News and notes

📷 Tucker Carlson attends the final round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament in Bedminster, N.J., July 31, 2022. (AP photo by Seth Wenig)

📺 A conservative media giant is spotted at his Maine studio.

◉ Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has apparently returned to his summer home in the village of Bryant Pond in the Oxford County town of Woodstock. The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, on Tuesday published photos of him working with a crew at the studio he owns there.

◉ The photos are from last week. Patrick Feeney, a local carpenter who takes care of the property for Carlson, said Fox News came in recently to remove things from the studio after the network took the host off the air in April. A racist text message discovered in legal proceedings was the reason for that move, The New York Times reported.

◉ Carlson plans to return with a version of his show on Twitter. It's unclear what role his Maine studio will play in those plans, but it was a regular filming location for him with Fox. He has strong ties to the community in Woodstock, which he called his "favorite place in the world" in a 2019 letter.

🗳️ Republicans are winning the money battle in an election ... for now.

◉ Republicans look to be in a good position to flip a Maine House of Representatives seat in a low-key June 13 election. It is the only seat on the ballot, and it would be the minority party's first special election victory in a truly competitive district since 2015.

◉ The seat, which was vacated by former Rep. Clinton Collamore, D-Waldoboro, after he pleaded not guilty to signature fraud charges, is being contested by two solid candidates. Former Rep. Abden Simmons, R-Waldoboro, is running after a Maine Senate loss last year, and former Rep. Wendy Pieh, D-Bremen, is trying to return to the chamber after 15 years.

◉ Simmons has a jump. The district leans Republican, and his party has moved early to boost him with nearly $14,000 in outside spending that has gone unanswered by Democrats so far. That adds to the nearly $16,000 that Simmons raised himself through late April.

◉ Pieh had only a small sum then but will get a big payment from the Clean Election program. Democrats look to be waiting for the election to draw closer before spending their big money. Count on them to do so, since they are coming off a 2022 election marked by record spending and a major advantage there over Republicans.

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What we're reading

👮 They carried guns and badges in Maine schools but aren't actually police.

🧸 A top Democrat tries to save a child care overhaul with funding issues.

📍 The Maine Turnpike projects record traffic over the holiday weekend.

💱 A former Air Force base could become a foreign trade zone.

🏢 Bangor is getting 80 new affordable housing units near a school.

🔋 A lithium-ion battery is blamed for another Maine fire. Here's your soundtrack.

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