District: Greene and Sabattus

Legislative service: Second term

Committee: Taxation

Bill record: 12 bills, three signed, one carried over, eight dead

Voting record

Budget: Against

Tax reform: Against

Bear trapping ban: Against

Washington County slots at a tribal horse track: Absent

Stiffer seat belt law: Against

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

In the Taxation Committee, the support of the tax reform package was bipartisan, and so was the opposition.

Two committee members from opposite parties opposed the package. One was Republican Scott Lansley.

“I don’t believe in increasing taxes to lower the tax burden,” Lansley said.

The package ultimately failed, with most Republicans rejecting it.

Lansley is one of the more conservative members of the Legislature. This session he also voted against the bonds package, noting that the state shouldn’t be borrowing money in a time of financial struggles, and he voted against the budget.

Apart from work on tax reform, Lansley successfully sponsored a bill that will prohibit Maine from participating in the Real ID system if the federal government approves the system. Many other states have passed similar legislation.

At the end of the session Lansley rushed in a bill allowing a referendum vote to increase the number of Androscoggin County commissioners from three to five.

He also helped tweak the law so that military personnel stationed in Maine can register ATVs, and established a flag placement program to help put flags on veterans’ graves on Memorial Day.

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