Social Media, Plastic Bags and Paramilitary Training — Legislative Scouting Report for April 8

The Maine House and Senate will both have session days on Tuesday with a full dance card of debates and divided reports. The chambers will take up a repeal of the ban on plastic bags, as well as the ban on paramilitary training, and the perennial vote on a state-level Equal Rights Amendment for all Mainers.

Representative Will Tuell (D-Machias) will lead things off with a House Order requiring the Legislature to modernize coverage of its proceedings through a more dynamic embrace of media. Rep Tuell’s order reads:

“ORDERED, the Senate concurring, that the Office of the Executive Director of the Maine Legislature shall develop a series of recommendations for using social media to expand public access to proceedings of the Senate and House of Representatives and to meetings of committees. The recommendations must include the development of applications to make the proceedings and meetings available on streaming platforms such as Roku and Amazon as well as broadcast and simulcast of proceedings on social media platforms, including, but not limited to, Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.”

Rep. Tuell’s order, which also calls for the restoration of the YouTube channel from the COVID period, comes as many legacy newspapers in Maine are continuing to curtail their printed editions. News is increasingly hidden behind a paywall for most Mainers. There may be no debate over this as it can be passed directly if members of the House and Senate think it’s a good idea. It will be interesting to see which politicians argue against more transparency of what they do under the dome.

The House will also be debating and voting on several divided reports. Notable bills include:

“An Act to Repeal the Law Prohibiting Unauthorized Paramilitary Training,” This bill comes with a divided report from the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee with the entire Democrat majority voting Ought Not to Pass. All of the Republicans on the committee already voted to pass the bill to repeal the ban passed in the 131st Legislature. It could be argued that the current law is in conflict with the Maine state constitution’s Article 1: Section 16 that states, “Every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms and this right shall never be questioned.”

“An Act to Remove State Imposed Referendum Requirements Regarding Nuclear Power.” This bill also comes with a divided report from the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee with the entire Democrat majority voting Ought not to Pass and Republicans voting to pass it. The bill would remove one of the largest hurdles to exploring and implementing nuclear power in Maine. Nuclear power is a threat to the green energy lobby and is most likely a death sentence for the bill on the floor.

“An Act to Remove the Five Cent Fee for Bags in Retail Stores” and “An Act to Repeal the Law Restricting the Use of Certain Plastic, Paper and Single-Use Bags.“ Both of these bills come from the Environment and Natural Resources Committee with party line votes on both. Majority Democrats voted Ought not to Pass on both Bills. Republican committee members voted in favor of both bills. Now that the critical question of official State Reptiles and Amphibians are out of the way, the great plastic bag ban debate will hit the floor for what may well involve a debate.

“RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Establish That All Maine Residents Have Equal Rights Under the Law.” An iteration of this Resolution shows up every Legislative session. That’s because it requires a 2/3 vote to change the state constitution.

The summary of this year’s version reads: “This resolution proposes to amend the Constitution of Maine to prohibit the denial or abridgment by the State or any political subdivision of the State of equal rights based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, physical or mental disability, ancestry or national origin of an individual.”

This should lead to interesting floor debates. Especially when it is a resolution that ALL Maine residents have equal rights under the law. If I were still in the legislature, I think I would have put in an amendment to change the title of the bill to “Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Establish That All Maine Residents Have Equal Rights Under the Law – Except for Laurel Libby.”

It looks to be a busy week in Augusta for both session days and committee work with hearing and review of legislation. Follow the Maine Wire on X and Facebook for the latest updates on Maine legislative news.