By Michael Shepherd - April 26, 2023
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📷 Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, talks with a supporter outside of the Cross Insurance Center on July 14, 2020. (BDN photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik)

Good morning from Augusta. Legislative committees are in for a long day, holding hearings on PFAS measures and Republican proposals to allow school staff to be armed. The full agenda.

What we're watching today

A sensitive effort to rein in pioneering limits on "forever chemicals" wins over some Democrats. Maine's motto, Dirigo, is Latin for "I lead," which is something the state takes pride in doing on many issues. But lawmakers are now dealing with a side effect of first-in-the-nation policies, leading to an interesting alliance between businesses and a top labor Democrat.

The Maine State Chamber of Commerce is leading a push to roll back some of the state's restrictions on the kinds of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — or forever chemicals — that are increasingly being found in land and water. These "forever chemicals" have prompted a major public health crisis and response that generally enjoys support across the political spectrum.

But it is subject to a lot of lobbying around the margins. Businesses are targeting a 2021 law that forces businesses to report their use of the chemicals and would phase out sale of most products containing them by 2030. While this law is already in effect, it has not lived up to its potential for several reasons.

One of them is that the administration of Gov. Janet Mills has granted more than 2,000 extensions to the reporting requirements that came online in January. Trade groups led by the chamber have called the rules unworkable due to lack of laboratory capacity and say businesses need more time, which has led to their signature measure this year aimed at culling the rules.

The bill, led by Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, and Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, would delay the reporting requirement until January 2024 and flips exceptions to the 2030 phase-out of products containing PFAS by saying the state must make rules determining the exact products that would be banned. Under the 2021 law, Maine would ban products by default by that time but could use state rules to allow some to be sold.

The Democratic divide on this subject has been brewing over the last few months. Sen. Stacy Brenner, D-Scarborough, said earlier this year that Maine should pressure businesses to comply with reporting requirements. She is backing a measure that would delay the reporting requirement until October and exempts smaller businesses from it but maintains stricter standards.

At the same time, Jackson, a labor Democrat who often fights the chamber, is on a bill led by Republicans in Aroostook County that aims to exempt food producers from testing for the chemicals.

Mills and her administration are likely to be caught somewhere in the middle here, as they have recognized a need to relax reporting requirement already but may be reticent to go back on the measure that was enacted a short time ago. Democrats are in control here and will have to sort things out.

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News and notes

📷 Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, listens during a Senate armed services subcommittee hearing on March 14, 2023, in Washington. (AP photo by Alex Brandon)

✋ A Maine senator wants the high court to write a code of conduct.

◉ Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, answered recent ethical questions about Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch with a Wednesday proposal to mandate the high court to come up with its own code of conduct and appoint someone to review complaints to the court. Read it.

◉ Thomas and Gorsuch, two conservative members of the court, have been criticized for different disclosures over the last two weeks. For years, Thomas has accepted luxury trips from a Republican megadonor who also bought property from the justice. This week, Politico reported that Gorsuch sold property to the head of a law firm with lots of business before the court.

◉ Experts have said Thomas' conduct may have violated disclosure laws, although the justice has said he did not think he had to disclose the trips. Gorsuch's conduct does not appear to have violated laws or court policies.

◉ But the cases have highlighted the lack of a code of conduct for the high court, which stands in contrast to judges in lower federal courts. King's proposal, which is a collaboration with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, aims to bring the court into line.

◉ "A healthy democracy requires trust: trust in systems, trust in institutions, and trust in leaders," King said in a statement.

💰 A first step on a federal budget will dictate Maine politicians' next moves.

◉ The Republican-led House of Representatives is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on a proposal from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, to raise the nation's debt limit through next May in exchange for spending cuts that Democrats oppose.

◉ It has no chance of passing the Democratic-led Senate, and McCarthy may not even be able to get it past his own party in the House. But he wants to pass it to get leverage to negotiate with the other party and President Joe Biden, who has said the debt ceiling is non-negotiable. Practically speaking, the sides are going to have to get together on something before the U.S. defaults in June, something that has never happened.

◉ Among the key players on spending issues are Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from the 2nd District. Both have said the president and House Republicans are going to need to negotiate.

◉ Collins is the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, while Golden is a centrist who put out his own framework for how the parties can resolve this. The issue lies with House Republicans and the president for now, but McCarthy's success or failure could draw these Mainers more into talks.

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What we're reading

📺 After his firing, Tucker Carlson is appreciated in his Maine summer town. Read the piece from Bryant Pond in the Sun Journal.

🚬 New BDN reporter Billy Kobin explains how Maine may ban flavored tobacco.

🐶 Lawmakers spiked a bill to allow dogs in criminal court.

🔭 Drones helped spot seven people accused of illegally entering Maine from Canada.

👵 Groups scattered across Maine find ways to help seniors thrive.

🦃 A new era for Maine hunting begins this weekend. Here's your soundtrack.

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