By Michael Shepherd - June 21, 2022 Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up.
Good morning from Augusta. We want to know how the approval of COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 will affect your family.
What we're watching today
Maine tribes have some big allies on a federal sovereignty bill. It still faces an uncertain road to passage. Two of Maine's top elected Democrats — Gov. Janet Mills and Rep. Jared Golden of the 2nd District — have had a high-profile disagreement on tribal sovereignty in recent weeks. It has manifested itself in a bill led by Golden alongside Rep. Chellie Pingree of the 1st District that would give the state's four federally recognized tribes sweeping new powers, bypassing limits in a landmark 1980 land-claims settlement.
That is the document at the heart of state-level negotiations over the last three years. They have been fraught with tension between the Democratic governor and tribes but resulted in a major agreement this year that will give the tribes control of a new mobile sports betting market, provide tax relief to tribes and set up a new consultation process on state policies affecting tribes. Mills has also allowed tribes to prosecute more crimes on their land.
But many tribal goals have been left unaddressed. That is where the federal bill comes in. Golden's approach would not immediately give Maine tribes the sweeping gaming and taxation rights enjoyed by counterparts across the country. It would make it so any future law benefiting tribes would also apply to tribes here, upending a key part of the settlement that gave the tribes money in exchange for more state oversight. The measure advanced from a House committee last week with the support of President Joe Biden's administration.
Given the uncertainties of Congress, it is unclear whether the measure will be brought up for a vote before a new crop of lawmakers is elected in 2022. Even if Democrats could advance it by then, it is hard to get anything through a Senate that has a 60-vote filibuster. It could eventually become part of a spending bill or some other omnibus measure, but it has only won Democratic support in Congress so far and would need a wider coalition to pass.
While Golden's bill may not succeed in this term, it is a signal of where Democratic politics are headed on the issue. Even as she has enshrined changes to it, Mills is one in a long line of establishment figures in Maine who have treated the land-claims settlement with reverence. Golden, who has bucked his party from the right a lot during his tenure, outflanked the governor on this issue. He lines up with a more progressive Democratic-led Legislature on it as well.
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What we're reading
— Maine lawmakers may change public-access laws after a BDN and Portland Press Herald investigation found the state police avoided clearly describing incidents that led to officer discipline in documents available to the public.
— A federal agency will investigate the potential health dangers of PFAS contamination in the heavily affected Fairfield area.
— Dover and Foxcroft merged 100 years ago. There were five merger tries before that. It only succeeded after women won the right to vote.
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News and notes
— We're waiting on two major U.S. Supreme Court decisions between this week or early July. They include the Mississippi case that could result in the end of federal abortion rights and a ruling expected to overturn Maine's ban on public funding for religious schools. The rulings should be two of the last ones issued before the high court leaves for a summer recess in late June or early July. Some rulings will be issued Tuesday and Thursday.
— The top Senate negotiators of a gun, mental health and school safety compromise bill are expected to file the text of their legislation on Tuesday, according to Punchbowl News. Senate Democrats want to vote on it this week as well as confirm Biden's pick to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is one of two Republicans already backing Steve Dettelbach, the president's nominee.
— Mills was one of the guests in the Portland Pride parade on Saturday, an event that drew thousands and was back on for the first time since 2019. The Democratic governor also marched in Hallowell's parade earlier this month.
Eleanor Bagley of Norway samples a strawberry she picked at Chipman Farm U-pick Strawberries in Minot as it opened for the season Monday. (Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham via AP)
📷  Lead photo: A group from the Wabanaki Confederacy drum and sing before a news conference in support of tribal sovereignty bills on April 20, 2022, in front of the Maine State House in Augusta. (Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan via AP)
