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| 📷 House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, applauds after Gov. Janet Mills took the oath of office on Jan. 4, 2023, at the Augusta Civic Center. (BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett) |
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🚜 Another labor dispute could be on tap between governor and progressives.
◉ Farmworker bills that have highlighted major divides between Gov. Janet Mills and progressives are back before the Legislature, with House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, taking up the cause on them this time.
◉ The speaker's two proposals would allow farmworkers to unionize and classify them as employees under the state's wage and hour laws, making them subject to minimum wage and overtime laws. This is aimed at closing loopholes in state and federal law that sponsors say works to reinforce institutional racism. They get a hearing today at 1 p.m. Watch it.
◉ Mills vetoed an identical version of the organizing bill in early 2022 on the heels of other prominent vetoes on progressive labor priorities. She echoed the lines of agriculture interests here to say the measure would hinder the growth of farms, many of which are already in a vulnerable economic state.
✋ Maine's Republican senator won't help Democrats supplant a colleague.
◉ Senate Democrats are trying to temporarily replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, on the Judiciary Committee after complications from shingles have kept the 89-year-old Feinstein, who will not run for reelection in 2024, from the chamber since February.
◉ While Feinstein has requested that temporary move, it also comes as the senator faces calls from other Democrats to resign given the narrow 51-49 majority for her party the Senate. California Gov. Gavin Newsom would be able to name her replacement.
◉ It only takes one senator to object to Democrats' procedural move, and Republicans were in lockstep against it on Monday. That will make it harder for President Joe Biden to move judicial appointments through the chamber. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, called Feinstein a trailblazing senator.
◉ “There has been a concerted campaign to force her off the Judiciary Committee, and I think that’s wrong and I won’t be a part of it," Collins told Politico. |
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| Correction: Monday's Daily Brief incorrectly described part of a federal spending proposal from U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine's 2nd District. He wants to hold discretionary spending to fiscal year 2022 levels adjusted for inflation. |
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What we're reading
🧑⚖️ Eliot Cutler's age and Maine's case backlog led to a child porn plea deal.
☣️ Fuel from a rural Maine train derailment is reportedly leaking into waterways.
🇺🇦 A Mainer was one of the first Americans in Ukraine after the Russia invasion.
📄 The federal immigration agency must release more documents about its practices in Maine.
🏒 Five University of Maine alumni are in the NHL playoffs. Here's your soundtrack. |
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