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| 📷 Maine Assistant House Minority Leader Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester, high-fives Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, at the State House in Augusta on Dec. 7, 2022. (BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett) |
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📝 Republicans build out budget demands with talks up in the air.
◉ Those aforementioned legislative Republicans continue to build out their list of demands for supporting an eventual budget deal after Mills rolled out a spending plan last week that has faced resistance from the left and right.
◉ Leaders said on Thursday that they want not only the $400 million in income tax relief that they have been lobbying for as well as a sales tax cut, a review of additional positions in the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and a repeal of controversial solar incentives, among other things. They did not share specifics on many of those proposals, although Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, teased more to come next week.
◉ "It makes state government even bigger while making working families smaller," House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, said of Mills' proposal.
◉ Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, the health committee co-chair, said Thursday he is not aware of any recent discussions between the two parties on budget issues or compromises, but he rebuffed the GOP calls to reduce the proposed DHHS budget.
🧪 Maine's PFAS lawsuit against chemical giants goes to federal court.
◉ The state's March lawsuits claiming the chemical companies 3M and DuPont de Nemours, Inc. introduced so-called forever chemicals illegally and "in the pursuit of profit" were consolidated and moved to a Maine-based federal court on Thursday, records show.
◉ Attorney General Aaron Frey's lawsuit is being waged by private lawyers working with the state, following large awards for governments across the country and staggering liabilities for chemical giants. It will be a hard road, with DuPont already citing a complex 2017 merger as a potential shield. |
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What we're reading
🚬 Democrats advanced a bill to make Maine the third state to fully ban flavored tobacco.
💍 An under-17 marriage ban is set to pass here despite lingering opposition.
🚌 The return of Bangor's Saturday bus service is a big lift for this worker.
🐺 Does Maine have wolves? It depends on your definition.
🦞 Maine’s 102-year-old "lobster lady" inspired a children’s book. Here's your soundtrack. |
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