AUGUSTA – Republican Gov. Paul LePage says he will call Maine legislators back into special session this summer to discuss four laws that he said lawmakers passed without appropriate funding.
LePage claimed lawmakers didn’t appropriate money for a drug needle exchange program, a wage study, raises at Riverview Psychiatric Recovery Center and $2.5 million to the county jails.
The governor made the comment during a Wednesday town hall in Augusta.
The leaders of the state Senate and House told Maine Public Broadcasting Network that LePage’s announcement surprised them and countered that the money is there.
Spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett wrote in an email Friday that LePage has the constitutional authority to call a special session. In 2011, LePage called back legislators to consider redistricting.
Bennett said: “He need not provide a reason beforehand.”
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