The night of Jan. 19 was a big night in Augusta, sort of a sequel to the Palesky tax-cap referendum.

It was the eve of the deadline for passing the property tax relief bill, L.D. 1. The bill had 10 amendments in the House, which were to be voted on before the bill could head to the Senate.

Like everything around here, debate started later than expected. Dinner time wasn’t far away. And the Maine Pulp and Paper Association was offering lawmakers a free dinner. Many were looking forward to the lasagna, meats and other goodies. But before that, it was tax bill debate time.

On the floor Rep. Richard Woodbury, I-Yarmouth, stood up and presented the bill recommended by his Property Tax Reform committee. He spoke of how it would help homeowners. Then he sat down and turned into the Amendment Slayer.

Each time a Republican stood and offered an amendment to the bill, Woodbury responded by saying the idea should be “indefinitely postponed” – rejected, killed, no-way-Jose.

Rep. David Trahan, R-Waldoboro, went first, with his amendment to yank the new and confusing school funding formula out of L.D. 1 and send it to the Education Committee for review.

Woodbury rose and called for its “postponement.” House members debated the pros and cons for nearly an hour. Finally Trahan’s amendment was rejected 77-71 along party lines, Republicans for, Democrats against.

The next amendment proposed having the state spend more on education, as required by last June’s referendum. Debate lasted about 40 minutes. That amendment too was rejected along party lines.

Another lawmaker spoke for an amendment to make it easier for taxpayers to enroll in the circuit-breaker program.

Right you are, said Amendment Slayer Woodbury, “but this is not something we need as part of this package.” The amendment died along party lines, this time after 30 minutes of debate.

By now it was 5:10 p.m. Senators had adjourned 10 minutes before, and were headed over to enjoy the Pulp and Paper feed. House Speaker John Richardson told members that the Pulp and Paper people were going to keep their dinners hot and waiting.

Republicans went on offering more amendments.

One wanted to require a two-thirds majority before any spending cap could be overridden.

Another would have rolled back the amount of the homestead exemption to match reduced state funding.

Another would have trimmed state spending to levels seen two years ago so that more money could go to property tax relief. The lawmaker behind that one, Republican Leader David Bowles, R-Sanford, said he understood that his amendment was not going to pass, but he offered it anyway “to record for posterity.”

One by one, the Republican amendments were voted down. What was changing was the speed. While the first took an hour to debate, the last few amendments were killed in less than 10 minutes. Considering there are 151 House members who could speak, 10 minutes is fast. Two likely reasons: Republicans were giving up and everyone was getting hungry. At least twice, the speaker reminded lawmakers of the dinner waiting for them.

Shortly after 7 p.m., the House passed the tax reform bill. Some would say that was a lesson for leadership: When you want something to happen, no dinner until after you vote.

Quote of the week: “We have spending caps. Seven years ago when I entered this building, nobody was talking seriously about spending caps. They were a dream.” – House Minority Leader David Bowles, R-Sanford, as he voted for L.D. 1.

– Bonnie Washuk is the Sun Journal State House reporter.