AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage vetoed three more bills Monday, bringing his total to 10.

The governor sent back to lawmakers:
— LD 398: “An Act to Require Criminal History Record Information for the Licensure of Nurses”
— LD 568: “Resolve, to Establish an Early Childhood Stakeholder Group”
— LD 296: “Resolve, Directing the State Bureau of Identification to Continue to Explore Contracting Options and Other Methods to Find Efficiencies in the Fingerprinting System for Criminal History Background Checks”

The measures will all be sent to the Legislature next week for votes on whether to sustain or override the vetoes.

With regard to the background checks for nurses, the governor wrote that “nurses would be singled out” by the requirements in the legislation.

“With the number of people involved in the care of a patient through modern medicine, I do not understand what particular harm nurses present to patients that other health care providers do not,” he wrote.

On the bill to set up an early childhood stakeholder group, the governor said it duplicates groups already in existence.

“It is this layer upon layer of legislating that led to the bloated and inefficient government we all seek to reform,” he wrote.

And, when it comes to the state Bureau of Identification, LePage said that it would cost more than anticipated to study the issue.

“As I have said before, these ‘minor costs’ add up quickly and we cannot continue to heap straw on the camels’ backs,” he wrote.

Of the 10 vetoes issued so far, the Legislature has sustained four, and six are awaiting consideration.