Guests Andy O’Brien of the Maine AFL-CIO and Lisa Margulies of Planned Parenthood join guest-host Mike Tipping to discuss the results of this week’s primary and municipal elections. From the flipping of an anti-trans school board to the ousting of Democratic incumbent Bruce White in Waterville by Cassie Julia, progressive candidates had a good election.…
The Maine Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to a measure to increase the paltry pay of lawmakers — a reform that advocates say is crucial to diversifying who is able to run for office. The measure, passed by the Senate in a 17-10 vote, now heads to the desk of Gov. Janet Mills. Along…
A legislative campaign years in the making to recognize the sovereignty of the Wabanaki Nations in Maine died a quiet death on the last day of the legislative session on Monday. Democrats declined to put LD 1626, which passed the Maine House and Senate last month, on Gov. Janet Mills’ desk, allowing the Democratic governor…
Maine lawmakers passed a $1.2 billion supplemental budget on Tuesday with strong bipartisan support that makes new investments in child health care, forever chemical mitigation, tax credits, a free community college pilot program, and boosting retirement pensions. But a minority of progressives, joined by a few Republicans, voted against the budget package. They said policymakers…
In a vote just after midnight on Friday morning, the legislature’s budget committee increased the income threshold for one-time checks that the state plans to send to Mainers. It’s a move that some lawmakers argue would provide money to those who don’t necessarily need it at the expense of underfunded social programs that could be…
Ahead of Gov. Janet Mills’ state of the state address Thursday night and subsequent budget proposal, progressive advocates and lawmakers are urging the governor and legislature to use a historic surplus to make critically-needed investments in programs that help Mainers attain child care, housing, health care and protect the state’s environment. Going into this year’s…
The Maine People’s Alliance (of which Beacon is a project) released this week its annual legislative scorecard, rating state policymakers for their votes on legislation ranging from tax fairness measures, to expanding access to health care and housing, to racial equity among others. “With a Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in both chambers, our state…
Dan Neumann contributed reporting to this piece. Gov. Janet Mills issued a series of vetoes Wednesday on bills passed by the legislature, including a measure to close Maine’s last youth prison, a tax fairness bill to bolster underfunded affordable housing programs, and legislation that would prevent companies owned by foreign governments from conducting electioneering on…
Since winning majorities in the Maine Senate and House in 2018, Democrats have yet to regain some of the state revenue lost to LePage-era tax cuts favoring the wealthy and corporations. That trend may finally end as progressive lawmakers have advanced a progressive revenue bill to the desk of Gov. Janet Mills — just one…