Lawmakers heard hours of testimony this week from Mainers favoring a slate of gun safety reforms that Democrats proposed in response to the mass shooting in Lewiston last year. The legislation includes expanded background checks, strengthening the state’s oft-criticized “yellow flag” law, a ban on bump stocks and a 72-hour waiting period for the purchase…
The Maine Legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted down a bill that would have compelled Maine not to cooperate with law enforcement from states that have banned gender-affirming care who are investigating people who have sought such treatment here. LD 1735, a bill sponsored by Democratic Rep. Laurie Osher of Orono, was a top priority…
Amid continued skyrocketing costs, lawmakers on a legislative committee Wednesday unanimously voted down a bill to stabilize rent prices and reform tenant termination laws. As Beacon previously reported, LD 1574, sponsored by Rep. Laura Supica (D-Bangor), would prohibit landlords from increasing the rent on a housing unit more than once per year. Additionally, if the…
On any given day during the legislative session, the corridors of the Maine State House are filled with professional lobbyists who often convey a confident familiarity with the lawmakers they are trying to sway to their side of an issue. For Peruvian asylum seekers Milagros and her 23-year-old son Rodrigo this was unfamiliar territory. Competing…
In response to sky-high prices combined with a dearth of affordable units, advocates introduced a slate of housing justice bills this legislative season, the combined force of which they hope will begin to address the state’s affordable housing crisis that has put many Maine renters in an expensive bind. Proponents say the measures are necessary to…
Gov. Janet Mills on Monday signed a bill into law that will stop Juniper Ridge landfill from being filled with out-of-state waste in a victory for a campaign spearheaded by advocates and environmental groups from across Maine. Mills signed LD 1639, sponsored by Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland), which was passed by the legislature last week.…
A legislative committee voted Monday to advance a bill to close a loophole in Maine law that has allowed Juniper Ridge landfill in Alton to become a dumping ground for waste from surrounding states. The Environment and Natural Resources Committee approved an amended version of the measure 11-2. Rep. Jeff Hanley (R-Pittston) and Rep. Will…
Dan Neumann contributed reporting to this piece. Kathy Rondone, a homeowner, never expected that the growing affordable housing crisis in Maine would reach her doorstep. But Rondone, an Augusta resident, said her life changed dramatically after her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The couple’s finances suffered, and Rondone couldn’t afford the cost of the mortgage…
A Republican lawmaker, who came under fire earlier this month for sending an email to an Asian American woman calling COVID-19 the ‘China virus,’ attempted to remove the word “racial” from a legislative panel set up to address racial disparities. Freshman state Rep. Michael Lemelin, a Republican from Chelsea, is a member of the legislature’s…