District: Leeds, Livermore, Livermore Falls, Wayne

Legislative service: First term

Committees: Taxation

Bill record: Six bills, one carried over, five dead

Voting record

Budget: Against

Tax reform: Supported the original version but not the amended version

Bear trapping ban: For

Washington County slots at a tribal horse track: Against

Stiffer seat belt law: Absent

Increase term limits from 4 two-year terms to 6: Against

As a freshman legislator, Gary Knight was put on the committee with one of the highest bill loads and one of the most grueling tasks, second to only the Appropriations Committee perhaps.

The Taxation Committee, along with reviewing almost 250 bills, worked long hours to develop a tax reform plan. Much to some committee members’ disappointment, the effort to lower the income tax and expand the sales tax to more goods and services failed on the Senate floor. Knight said that “politics” and extensive lobbying were the cause of its demise.

“Behind the scenes, partisanship still reigns,” Knight said.

Knight said he was assigned to the committee because of his experience in banking.

Apart from his committee, Knight worked on a bill to further separate commercial and banking sectors owned by the same company.

He also sponsored measures to require college students to vote in their hometowns instead of where they go to school and require high-speed Internet access for all residents. Both measures failed.

He was a co-sponsor of successful legislation to protect homeowners from predatory lending.

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