Wednesday whirlwind: With April 16 adjournment fast approaching, the Legislature is ramping up its activities. Paper is moving. Votes are being taken. Everyone wants to go home.

Wednesday marks another double session day, as the House and Senate convene to take additional votes on a variety of proposals, including a proposal that would suspend state grants for Maine call centers that outsource more than 30 percent of its call volume to a foreign country. That bill, like many others at the end of the session, is partisan, meaning it’s likely going to be vetoed by Gov. Paul LePage. However, it could become part of the legislative elections (Democrats say the bill is designed to ensure Maine call centers hire Mainers, while Republicans are saying it will kill the call center industry in Maine).

With the budget for the current fiscal year completed, contentious measures like the call center bill will dominate the final days of the session. Expect a lot of vigorous floor debates, party-line votes and vetoes.

Defection: It’s hard to find a Democrat who thinks the nearly $1 million contract for the Alexander Group was a good idea. However, a bill sponsored by Rep. Richard Farnsworth, D-Portland, that would nullify the taxpayer-funded study of the state’s welfare system is not holding the usually unified Democratic House caucus together.

The measure passed its initial vote in the House, 80-60, but seven Democrats peeled off to oppose it with the Republican minority. As noted during floor speeches Tuesday, the Democratic opposition is about precedent — the legislative branch nullifying a contract ratified by the executive branch — not a defense of the no-bid contract.

The bill is up for a vote in the Senate Wednesday.

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Welfare:  Gov. Paul LePage’s slate of welfare bills is up for work sessions in the Health and Human Services Committee Wednesday afternoon. Given the fast pace with which the committee moved through the public hearings on Tuesday, as well as the relatively light turnout by people on both sides of the issue, there very well could be votes — party line votes — on Wednesday. 

Moody confirmed: The Senate has confirmed former gubernatorial candidate Shawn Moody as the governor’s appointee two state education boards. A little background — and a Vine — on his nomination here

Drug flux: The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee continues to seek a consensus over the governor’s drug enforcement bill. The panel has struggled to find a consensus. Some members want a treatment and prevention component added to the proposal, some support the measure as proposed and others want to break up different elements of the proposal and pass them seperately. 

And there are a few others who are considering the possibility of legalizing marijuana to fund the bill, which carries a $3.8 million price tag.

Fact-check: The governor’s bill to turn the the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices into a fact-checking validator for candidates will get a public hearing Wednesday afternoon. The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee will review the bill.

Nonpolitical item: Roses and tissues everyone, songwriter Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow are Splitsville. As is to be expected with such extraordinary talents, the two are taking a unique approach to the break-up.

Gawker obtained a statement: "We have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and coparent, we will be able to continue in the same manner."

Emphasis added on "consciously uncouple." For obvious reasons.

 


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