MORE OBSERVATIONS FROM AUGUSTA

With former Senator Jim Boyle

Legislative Blog Post # 8, February 26

Those new to this Blog may wish to scroll down and read up 

Update on LD 1063, An Act To Protect Substance-exposed Infants: I have not yet been able to find an amendment draft of the bill which the Health and Human Services Committee was referring to at the Work Session I attended February 20. So I'm not sure I understood all that was said at this session. Most of the discussion centered on clarifying the meaning of coercion in Section 1. I assume this is in relation to assuring an addicted woman's reproductive choices.  The concern of some committee members didn't seem to be about limiting or restricting the choice, but about how the banning of coercion could be monitored and about how it could inhibit a provider's interaction with the woman. Senator Brakey expressed a concern that section 2 might somehow lead a woman to choose abortion. There was no discussion about the intention of the bill to reduce the number of substance addicted infants being born. After a five-minute recess in which the Democratic members appeared to be caucusing, a motion was made by Republican Senator Hamper  and seconded that the bill Ought not to Pass. This failed with a 5 to 4 vote. Then a motion was made by Democratic Representative Hymanson that the bill Ought to Pass. This motion passed 7 to 4 in what seemed like a party line vote. Senator Brakey recommended another Public Hearing on the bill which was moved and passed.

Update on LD 1781, An Act To Encourage New Major Investments in Shipbuilding Facilities and the Preservation of Jobs, the request from Bath Iron Works for a tax credit.  I didn't attend the most recent work session on this bill Thursday February 22, so what I say here is a summary of information that came at me via e-mail and some research.   Representative DeChant introduced an amendment that would reduce the request for a tax credit of $60 million to $30 million over 10 years with further credits if and when BIW increased employment and met other requirements. Her amendment also included  requirements that Bath Iron Works increase reporting of what they are doing with the money. Jon Fitzgerald, BIW vice president and general counsel, said the increased reporting would give competitors the  advantage of knowing BIW's costs and plans. Fitzgerald did not have an answer to Representative Tipping's question about the possibility that BIW received more tax credits in the past than it was entitled to based on a misunderstanding of qualified employment levels. There will likely be another work session on this bill next week.

Update on LD 1711, Resolve, To Save lives by Establishing a Homelss Opiod Users Service Engagement Pilot Project within the Department of Health and Human Services. I attended the Work Session Thursday, February 22. Representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services reported that few questions remained for them after the detailed amendments, but they could not fully support the project without seeing tested results. 

Earlier I attended the public hearing and reported on this bill in Legislative Blog # 3 below. The Public Hearing was emotional on the part of people testifying. This Work Session was emotional on the part of committee members. Representative Hymanson gave an impassioned plea to support the Task Force's endorsement of the detailed bill. She said the Committee has had lead feet about the opiod epidemic, and it would be irresponsible not to pass the bill. 

Senator Brakey responded that the task force did not endorse the bill; it just endorsed consideration of the bill. 

Representive MaCreight said we must act now. She had never seen a bill with this much detail, and, she said, the task force did endorse the bill.

Representative Madigan, responding to criticism that we need measurable results, said "418 drug overdose deaths in 2017." That measurable result was repeated frequently through out the session.  

Representative Sanderson questioned the housing model and was told the project's housing would be integrated with existing programs and would not require new building. She also expressed doubts about the project's workability. Other committee members echoed that criticism. 

Representive Denno said he thought a cost-benefit analysis would show early intervention saves money, and we ought to match words with action. He didn't mention the Governor, but I thought of him at Denno's remark: "LePage has done little to expand access to treatment. Not only is he not taking action to help addicted Mainers receive adequate treatment, but he also wants to limit access to something that could save lives." 

Sponsor of the bill, Senator Gattine, suggested a comprehensive bill package to include other opiod bills with this one could be considered . 

The Work Session ended with a unanimous vote to table the bill for further consideration. 

Friday, February 23, for the first time, I attended a Work Session of the Marijuana Implementation Committee which has been meeting since early 2017, so I came into this session very late in terms of what the committee has already accomplished. LD 1719,  An Act to Implement a Regulatory Structure for Adult Use of Marijuana is already a detailed and complicated bill of 73 pages. The Summary itself takes up 5 pages. Today's meeting focused on the tax structure for the bill written by the Maine Revenue Service (MRS) and presented to the Committee.  

After the lengthy presentation by MRS there was a brief discussion about the tax structure. Representative Hickman argued that the excise tax was too high to allow small cultivators of marijauna to compete in the market. Representative Akely pointed out that preventing illicit sales is an important goal of legalizing marijuana, and if the tax is too high it weakens that goal. 

Chair of the committee, Senator Katz, declared a 5-minute recess which lasted 55 minutes. During this time I wondered about how much of the legislature's business happens outside the public view, hearing, or reporting. Not just during recesses from the public meetings but all the intense conversations among legislators and lobbyists taking place in the halls, in the cafeteria, in private meeting rooms--outside the public meeting rooms. 

When the committee returned from recess, there was an immediate motion and second to accept the tax structure presented by MRS. Representative Blume expressed concerns about there being no provision to help towns with the excise tax, and Representative Hickman again expressed concerns about the excise tax being to high for cottage industries. The motion to accept the tax structure passed 12 to 2.

Senator Katz moved to remove the deadline date for implementation. This was seconded and passed 12 to 2. 

It was moved and seconded that the bill LD 1719 Ought to Pass. This motion passed 13 to 1 with the statement that 3 absent members of the committee would also be voting Ought to Pass as soon as they got a chance. Representative Hickman, the lone dissenting vote, stated that he would be writing a Minority Report, and he outlined changes he wants to see in the bill to make it more fair to small businesses. He also wants to remove the felony convictions in the code which unfairly impact people of color and other minorities, and he wants to change the term Marijauna to Cannabis.  He proposed many other changes which I could not keep up with in my notes. When he finished, Senator Katz declared another recess which this time did not last longer than 5 minutes. When he returned, he asked the Committee staff how much time they would need to prepare the report which now would need to include the lengthy minority report. They replied that they believed they could get it done by early next week.

I have e-mailed the Committee Clerk to ask if I could get a copy of the minority report when it is finished, and I hope to be able to summarize that in my next blog post.

People have been asking me often how or why I came to do this. I wanted a change of pace. I was curious about how the legislature works day by day. And I have been identifying myself as a volunteer lobbyist for issues I care about for a few years, so I expected to do a good bit of lobbying while here. But direct experience makes me very aware of  my limitations as a lobbyist. So far this session, my one-to-one, face-to-face lobbying has only happened with a few brief conversations and some emails. My major time is spent in research and committee meetings to learn enough to try to lobby more. Most of my actual lobbying takes place on Facebook and in this blog which I doubt ever reaches legislators except, I hope, that it might move some people to at least vote based on some knowledge of the issues and, better, to also contact their legislators directly. One of the SAGE students in my classes on political issues often expressed the need for more and better civics classes in school. In this political climate, don't we all need it, no matter our age?

Voter with Representative Drew Gattine