Good morning from Augusta. The Legislature will meet at 10 a.m. today for the last round of floor sessions at the Augusta Civic Center before a planned return to the State House.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “If we couldn’t get everybody to wear a mask before the vaccine, how are we realistically going to make sure every person is vaccinated now?” Nick Turner, executive director of the Grand Theatre in Ellsworth, said of the theater’s reopening plans. “At the Grand, we are going to follow Broadway’s lead, and not try to return to indoor, unmasked shows until September.” Here’s your soundtrack.

What we’re watching today

With less than a month to go before a scheduled June 16 adjournment, the Legislature has a ton of thorny issues it still needs to address. Lawmakers have until this Friday to finish reporting bills out of committee, a process that has caused members to be critical about what fights they are going to have during the special session. The first one was largely dominated by the supplemental and initial two-year budget discussions — and while that will continue to be a driving force for the rest of the session, lawmakers still have a variety of topics they need to weigh in on.

For one, there are the efforts aimed at Central Maine Power’s controversial corridor project. A major bill on creating a consumer-owned utility will get a public hearing tomorrow, a proposal the utility companies have rallied against. But two bills concerning the use of public lands have been tabled in committee and likely will not be heard until next year as a referendum on the subject goes to voters in November. Efforts to ban foreign contributions from spending money in Maine elections have gotten mixed reception in the Legislature’s voting committee.

The challenge of wading through the budget cannot be overstated. Lawmakers have to hash out a new $8.8 billion two-year budget, a $1.1 billion proposal on how to spend coronavirus stimulus money from the federal government and a series of bond issues. We will see a preview of some of those discussions as the Legislature is set to vote today on bills allowing Maine to disburse federal aid to municipalities and to homeowners.

Then there are a myriad of unattached issues: a bill that would allow the tribes in Maine to conduct gaming is up for a work session tomorrow. Other tricky bills around tribal rights have been pushed to next year, making the fate of this bill uncertain as well. 

But we are not likely to see those discussions yet as the Legislature meets at the Augusta Civic Center on Wednesday to wade through a ream of bills recently passed out of committee. We could see votes on bills banning firearms at voting locations, a commission to study zoning and land restrictions to increase housing, and a host of minimum wage bills.

The Maine politics top 3

— “FBI investigating alleged illegal donations to support Susan Collins in 2020,” Jessica Piper, Bangor Daily News: “The warrant application alleges that Martin Kao, the CEO of Martin’s Defense Group, created a shell company to funnel $150,000 in funding from his company, then called Navatek, to the 1820 PAC, a super PAC created to support [U.S. Sen. Susan] Collins. Government contractors are not allowed to make political donations, a ban that the shell company could have helped Navatek circumvent.”

Nothing suggests Collins’ team had knowledge of any scheme. Kao’s connection to Collins’ reelection bid via the shell company was first reported by Honolulu Civil Beat last February. Annie Clark, the senator’s spokesperson, said the campaign had “absolutely no knowledge” of the alleged criminal activity. Kao emailed Collins’ campaign finance director in September 2019 to say he was happy to help financially. The employee replied that Kao had donated what he could, but that he could refer friends and family. But he had already reimbursed employees for donations then and continued to do so afterward, the warrant application alleges.

— “Janet Mills stymies progressives as they provoke business lobby on taxes, labor law,” Caitlin Andrews, BDN: “There has been tension between [Gov. Janet] Mills and a more progressive crop of fellow Democrats in charge of the Legislature since the governor took office in 2019 behind a campaign pledge to not raise taxes. But it has mostly been carefully managed and has not devolved into messy intraparty fights so far.”

— “Justin Trudeau won’t ease border restrictions until 75 percent of Canadians are vaccinated,” Hannah Catlin, BDN: “Meanwhile in the U.S., Democrats and Republicans alike are pushing for the Biden administration to reopen the border. [Collins] has called for an immediate easing of border restrictions, suggesting travelers provide negative tests or proof of vaccinations before crossing.”

New ZIP code-level data on where Mainers are vaccinated show large geographic differences in who has gotten shots. More than 50 ZIP codes that have had at least 80 percent of their populations receive at least one dose are in coastal counties, with the exception of Hallowell, Stratton, Stoneham and Caratunk. Estimates are based on 2018 population data, so towns that gained or lost residents since then could have slightly skewed estimates.

Today’s Daily Brief was written by Caitlin Andrews, Jessica Piper and Michael Shepherd. If you’re reading this on the BDN’s website or were forwarded it, you can sign up to have it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning here.

To reach us, do not reply directly to this newsletter, but contact the political team at mshepherd@bangordailynews.com, candrews@bangordailynews.com or jpiper@bangordailynews.com.