AUGUSTA – Lawmakers have settled in today for an all-day public hearing on Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed regulatory reforms.

Already, they have received testimony from two representatives from the governor’s office, Darryl Brown, the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection and Charlie Summers, the Maine Secretary of State – and the committee room is overflowing with members of the public seeking to weigh in.

Kathleen Newman, LePage’s deputy chief of staff, presented the Committee on Regulatory Fairness and Reform an amended version of the governor’s proposals.

Controversial proposals such as repealing the child product safety law and the electronic waste law and making changes to the state’s regulations dealing with vernal pools and air emissions and the Land Use Regulation Committee were not included in the amendment.

But Brown said that was because they would be included in proposals directed to different committees, not because LePage, a Republican, was backing away from them.


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