The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold all-day public hearings on Wednesday in the Augusta Civic Center to hear testimony regarding a pair of bills dealing with gay rights. The date and location were moved due to reports of potentially thousands of people attending.

One bill, sponsored by Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, would legalize same-sex marriage in Maine, but also reaffirm the rights of religious organizations to perform marriages on whoever they choose. It also specifies that anyone authorized to perform marriages can turn any couple down without penalty.

The second bill, sponsored by Rep. Leslie Fossel, R-Alna, would expand Maine’s domestic partner law to provide registered couples the same rights, protections and benefits bestowed upon married couples. Maine’s current domestic partnership law only provides couples with limited rights compared to married couples.

Work sessions for the bills are scheduled for April 28th.

Energy funds

The legislative committee in charge of shaping a comprehensive energy policy for the state is scheduled to continue working on a plan for using federal stimulus funds being made available on Wednesday.

The Committee on Maine’s Energy Future has already met three times to weigh in on proposals put forth by the Maine State Housing Authority.

Taxing day

The Tax Committee is scheduled to work and potentially vote on 16 separate bills on Thursday.

The proposals range from a bill sponsored by Rep. Philip Curtis, R-Madison, that would provide a sales tax exemption for milking machine cleaning products, to a bill, sponsored by Rep. Gary Knight, R-Livermore Falls, that would exempt military pensions from income tax.

Any bill that results in a fiscal note, that is, would either increase or decrease revenue to the state, will end up in the Appropriations Committee for approval. Currently the Appropriations Committee is working to close a biennial budget gap totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

Vacation, sort of

The Legislature is officially off this week, meaning that neither the House nor the Senate will be meeting on the floor to discuss and vote on bills.

But several committees are scheduled to work throughout the week to ensure they complete their workloads by the necessary deadlines.

The Appropriations Committee, for example, needs to agree upon and pass a solution to the MaineCare funding problem by May 8, when the accounts are scheduled to bottom out. Legislators learned about a month ago about a $65 million shortfall for the current budget year and subsequently learned that on May 8 they would be out of money.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have brainstormed solutions and have pledged to work together to solve the problem, but realize the clock is ticking.