AUGUSTA — A new argument by Republican Gov. Paul LePage that the Legislature adjourned on June 30 — a position disputed by legislative leaders — could result in another 51 bills becoming law without LePage’s signature.

That’s the number of bills the Legislature passed and sent to his office on June 30, the last time lawmakers were in session, on which LePage has not taken action.

Under the Maine Constitution, LePage has until Saturday to veto or sign the bills or they will become law without his signature.

LePage said Wednesday he was waiting for the Legislature to return before he issues vetoes on 19 bills that lawmakers contend became law Tuesday without his signature because he failed to act within the 10 days allowed under the state constitution.

Legislative leaders agree they adjourned but maintain it was a temporary adjournment or a recess and not the final adjournment or “sine die adjournment,” which signals the end of the lawmaking session with no additional dates scheduled to reconvene.

Final adjournment also provides the start date for when new laws go into effect. Nonemergency bills become law 90 days after final adjournment, while emergency bills — those passed with an emergency preamble that have the support of more than two-thirds of the Legislature — become effective immediately after final adjournment.

Based on arguments he made Wednesday, LePage faces a new conundrum: If he vetoes any of the 51 bills sent to him on June 30, he undermines his case that the Legislature is adjourned and the 10-day time limit for him to act doesn’t apply.

If he doesn’t veto the bills, he risks allowing bills he opposes to become law without forcing additional votes in the Legislature, where his vetoes could be easily sustained by either majority Republicans in the Senate or minority Republicans in the House.

After a short speech in Lewiston on Thursday congratulating Argo Marketing Group and iYogi on a new partnership that would bring some 300 jobs to the city, LePage left quickly without taking any questions from the media.

“Unlike too many legislators, who often vote on bills they haven’t even read —including the budget — the governor uses the 10-day period to actually read all of the bills, then determine whether to sign, veto or allow them to go into law,” Peter Steele, LePage’s communications director, wrote in an email to the Sun Journal.

“The Legislature usually rushes through their work at the last minute, but the governor does not rush through his,” Steele wrote. “Any bills that are vetoed by the governor will be returned to the Legislature the next time they meet for at least three days.”

Among the 51 bills on LePage’s desk is one that would repeal a state and county jail consolidation and includes state funding for county jails for the next two years.

LePage has repeatedly voiced concern about jail funding, arguing that those who control the jails should pay for them. Earlier in the week, he blasted county commissioners for overspending state money on jails, saying they were spending like “drunken sailors.”

LePage’s argument that the Legislature adjourned and prevented him from returning vetoed bills could end up before the state’s highest court, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

LePage said Wednesday that he would bring the matter to the courts if the Legislature insisted on allowing the bills to become law.

Also on Wednesday, the Legislature’s law-writing Office of the Revisor of Statutes began the process of “chaptering,” adding the new language from the bills to the chapters of the state’s lawbooks — another signal that the legislative leaders intend to allow the bills in question to be enacted into law.

Legislative leaders have said LePage is following a different playbook than the one he was using in 2012, when the Legislature adjourned on May 16 to the call of the speaker of the House and the Senate president and reconvened on May 31.

That year, LePage vetoed five bills on May 25, sending them back to the Legislature for veto-override votes that took place on May 31.

LePage first said he would veto all Democratic bills, and following rejection by the Legislature of a proposal to put a ballot question before voters to repeal the state’s income tax, the governor promised to veto all bills to reach his desk for the remainder of his term.

But on Wednesday, LePage signed into law one bill sent to him on June 30 — a measure that does away with Maine’s concealed handgun permit requirements. He also signed another seven bills in that group.

LePage has allowed a handful of bills to become law without his signature, but as of Thursday, he had issued 187 vetoes. Lawmakers have overturned 120 of the vetoes and sustained 59. Another eight vetoes are awaiting override votes.

The Legislature is set to restart its work on veto override votes on Thursday, July 16, when it reconvenes to finish the first half of the 127th state lawmaking session. 

sthistle@sunjournal.com