AUGUSTA — Maine housing developers and affordable housing advocates hope lawmakers roundly support a Republican’s bill to release $15 million in bonds for senior housing that voters approved two years ago.

Republican Sen. Roger Katz’s bill awaits a vote in the Democratic-controlled House, which next convenes Tuesday.

Supporters have been waiting weeks for action on the bill, which they call a last-ditch effort to release the bonds while Maine’s termed-out Republican governor is in office.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted last month 26-8 on the bill.

Gov. Paul LePage has claimed without providing evidence that three people would become millionaires overnight if he released the bonds.

The Portland-based Affordable Housing Coalition said it hasn’t been able to find a case of any other governor who has “taken this kind of approach to voter-approved bonds.”

Maine Gov. Paul LePage, from left, with Utah Public Lands Coordinating Office Director Kathleen Clarke and Quimby Family Foundation Board Member Lucas St. Clair of Portland, Maine, testifies during a House Natural Resources subcommittee oversight hearing on Antiquities Act. on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.

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filed under:
bonds, legislature, Paul LePage, politics, state house
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