Under the Dome: Inside the Maine State House 11.22.13
Under the Dome: Inside the Maine State House provides a high-level overview of recent activity at the Maine State House.
Legislative Council Mostly Finished with Bill Requests
During the Second Regular Session, also known as the “short session,” the Maine Constitution limits the types of bills that can be considered to budgetary matters, Governor’s bills, “legislation of an emergency nature,” bills that are the result of legislative studies and bills introduced through the citizen initiative process. The ten members of legislative leadership who make up the Legislative Council are the arbiters of what, exactly, constitutes “legislation of an emergency nature.” This week, the Legislative Council largely completed its work determining which bill requests cleared this hurdle.
On November 21st, the Legislative Council met to hear appeals from fellow legislators whose bill requests were previously rejected by the Council. Roughly 100 appeals were considered by the Council, which ultimately reconsidered its position on 29 bill requests. With this week’s decisions, the Council has authorized the introduction of 128 new, legislator-initiated bills during the Second Regular Session of the 126th Legislature. This is relatively small number of new bills, given the Council screened roughly 400 proposals for new legislation.
As indicated above, the Council is primarily done considering bill requests but has not yet fully completed the task. Over the course of the Council’s last two meetings, it tabled consideration of 12 bill requests. These tabled requests can remain on the table but may be considered as early as the Legislative Council’s next meeting in December. With this process largely complete, we know which carry over legislation, legislator-initiated legislation, and agency legislation will be considered next year. Study committee generated bills, after deadline bill requests and Governor’s bills will also be introduced during session to round out the legislative agenda for 2014.
Volume of Bills May Be Low But Politics Likely Intense Next Session
Between carried over bills and new legislation, the Second Regular Session of the 126th Legislature could consider fewer than 500 bills. While this is one-third of the legislation considered in 2013, the political intensity of the session is certain to be high heading into an election year.
Already, there are signs that the next legislative session could take on some sharp partisan tones as Governor LePage and Democrats in the Legislature are trading barbs. One of the biggest policy questions that will be decided next year relates to the expansion of Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act. Democrats in the Legislature, along with a number of legislative Republicans, have been advocating for Medicaid expansion, a policy the Governor strongly opposes and vetoed successfully two times during the 2013 session. This issue remains hotly contested on the editorial pages of Maine’s newspapers. The debate regarding Maine’s Medicaid program heated up this week, when the Administration contracted with a consultant, hired to conduct a study of the Maine’s Medicaid system. The contract price and the consultant’s past work in Pennsylvania have caused legislative Democrats to question this decision. This week, Congressman Michaud, who is challenging Governor LePage in his bid for re-election, also strongly criticized the Administration’s handling of the rollout of a new non-emergency transportation system for Medicaid members.
Partisan disagreements, however, are not confined to Maine’s Medicaid system. In recent weeks, legislative Democrats have criticized the Governor’s decision to not send top Administration officials to legislative committee meetings, arguing that this policy violates the State Constitution. Last week, the Governor defended this policy, saying that Democratic committee chairs are frustrated that they cannot “berate” members of the Administration in person. The Governor has also gone on the offensive in recent days, criticizing the biennial budget that was approved earlier this year. The Governor has pointed to a number of initiatives in the budget that are sometimes called “placeholders” and characterized them as “gimmicks.” Further, the Governor has threatened to sue the Appropriations Committee if certain “placeholders” are not addressed during next year’s session. While it is uncertain if the Governor could in fact sue a legislative committee, it is clear that next year’s session has the potential to be highly partisan, given the discourse in the run up to the session.