AUGUSTA — The projected — and hotly disputed — $220 million shortfall at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services has produced confusing rhetoric and statistics from Gov. Paul LePage and state officials. At the heart of the debate is an ideological divide between Republicans and Democrats over the scope of the state’s Medicaid program. […]
Maine Legislature
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Maine, The Franklin Journal
Bill changing Maine turnpike commuter discount could mean higher tolls for some
AUGUSTA — The Maine Turnpike Authority wants to substitute its 30-year-old commuter-discount system with E-ZPass, the electronic toll-taking system. The authority believes the system will make tolls more equitable for drivers who use the turnpike for a few miles but often pay the same as motorists who use more of the road. However, the bill […]
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DHHS chief says time to act on MaineCare cuts, but lawmakers want more analysis
AUGUSTA — Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew told the Legislature’s budgetary panel Tuesday that she believes lawmakers have enough information to move forward with solutions to address her department’s $220 million budget shortfall. However, some lawmakers on the Appropriations Committee said they still want additional, independent analysis of DHHS numbers before […]
Posted inMaine
Maine Senate sustains LePage vetoes
AUGUSTA — The state Senate on Tuesday sustained three of Gov. Paul LePage’s vetoes, including a bill that would have created energy efficiency standards for projects that receive state funding. Each veto was sustained largely on party-line votes. The efficiency bill, LD 1264, passed the Legislature with unanimous votes in both chambers last year but […]
Posted inMaine, Op-Eds
Analysis: Action by Maine Legislature may not help Maine get waiver for DHHS cuts
AUGUSTA — During a Dec. 15 press conference, Gov. Paul LePage said the Legislature will first have to approve his proposed cuts in the state’s Medicaid program in order to receive a waiver from the federal health care law to make some of those reductions legal. The governor went so far as to say that legislative action […]
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Advocates hope lawmakers consider victims while weighing bullying bills
AUGUSTA — As the Legislature’s Education Committee took another crack at a pair of anti-bullying bills that could increase civil penalties and create new mandates for school districts, one of the proposal’s sponsors on Monday urged lawmakers not to assign labels to victims. “The scope of bullying is wide and long,” Rep. Terry Morrison, D-South […]
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Democrats issue symbolic rejection of LePage’s DHHS budget plan
AUGUSTA — Democrats on Wednesday used a symbolic gesture to ratchet up their opposition to Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed $220 million cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services. After several work sessions and emotional public hearings, the governor’s budget proposal made its way into bill form on the first day of the second […]
Posted inMaine
Committee rejects plan to end public funding for Maine governor candidates, but debate may not be over
AUGUSTA — Lawmakers on the Legislature’s Legal Affairs Committee on Wednesday unanimously rejected a bill that would have stripped public funding for candidates who run for governor. The committee vote looked like a win for advocates of the Maine Clean Election Act and a loss for the LePage administration. The governor has supported eliminating public […]
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Conservation group says DEP’s Flagstaff lapse intentional
AUGUSTA — An environmental group is accusing the state Department of Environmental Protection of deliberately relinquishing oversight of Flagstaff Lake in Eustis. Last month the DEP acknowledged that it had inadvertently ceded oversight of water quality and water levels at the 20,000-acre lake to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission following a reapplication by the Flagstaff […]
Posted inMaine
Republicans won’t support LePage’s cut to elder care facilities
AUGUSTA — The co-chairman of the Legislature’s budget committee said his Republican colleagues can’t support one of the largest and most controversial cuts in Gov. Paul LePage’s Department of Health and Human Services budget proposal. Rep. Patrick Flood, R-Winthrop, the House chairman of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday Republicans won’t back the governor’s plan […]