AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine lawmakers are starting to deal with the unfunded bills, vetoes, bonds and marijuana legalization work that’s left to do. The Legislature’s appropriations committee met Wednesday to decide the fate of a pile of bills needing funding to survive. Topics ranged from housing insecurity among older citizens to firearms training for forest […]
appropriations committee
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Referendum would have the state pay more for education
AUGUSTA — Mainers may be asked to decide a 2016 referendum that would have the state pay more for public education. The extra money would come from those whose incomes are $200,000 or more a year. In 2004, Maine voters passed a referendum saying the state should pay 55 percent of public education costs. “It’s […]
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Posted inMaine
Price tag holds up handgun bill
AUGUSTA — Despite winning majority votes in the Maine Legislature, a bill doing away with permit requirements for those carrying a concealed handgun might be holstered because of its price tag. The bill, LD 652, will cost the state more than $200,000 a year in lost permit and fine revenue and could cost as much […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage threatens to sue Legislature over state budget
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage has threatened to sue the state’s budget-writing Appropriations Committee if they do not balance the state budget in the next session. Speaking to a group of Kiwanis Club members in Dexter on Nov. 15, the governor lamented “gimmicks” used to balance the budget approved by the Legislature in July. LePage […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage says he kept department heads from hearing
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage on Wednesday said he barred his department chiefs from making themselves available at a Tuesday meeting of the Appropriations Committee. “The state is not going to be run by committees, it’s going to be run by the chief executive of the state,” LePage told reporters outside the State House. LePage […]