AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Maine lawmakers voted to extend the legislative session by five days in an attempt to hash out budget deal amid lawmakers wrapping up debates on key bills and the threat of a potential state government shutdown looming.
The House voted 111-31 on Wednesday to extend the session, hours after the Senate voted 33-0 in favor.
Lawmakers will return to the State House on Thursday and Friday, and they do not have to use the extra days in a row. Once those days are up, the Legislature can vote again for another five days.
For months, lawmakers have been holding public hearings and closed-door meetings on Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s $6.8 billion, two-year budget proposal. The budget is due June 30 to avoid a government shutdown, and negotiations have stalled over education funding.
Democratic House Speaker Sara Gideon’s office said a group of legislators serving as special budget negotiators may meet Wednesday evening.
Ahead of the potential meeting, LePage mentioned Gideon in a tweet that read: “I’m in Belfast and these folks would like to know where the budget is.” Gideon countered by saying the budget is coming and asking the governor if he would pledge to act immediately and avoid a shutdown. The governor said the clock has been ticking since he presented a budget in January.
There also are several dozen bills awaiting possible funding, and lawmakers still must take up a two-year plan to provide $1.3 billion for roads and bridges.
Despite the impasse over education funding - which could determine the future of a voter-approved tax on the well-off to fund schools- lawmakers have been able to work together on a number of bills this session.
LePage, Democrats and Republicans appeared to largely agree on several laws, including one to allow Amish hunters with religious objections to wear red instead of blaze orange. LePage also signed into law a measure to shift about $4 million in state funds to create a program aimed at rural manufacturing and industrial site redevelopment.
Another roundly supported law requires Maine to comply with federal guidelines for state-issued ID cards, an issue that arose amid the federal government’s warnings that Maine driver’s licenses might not be enough to board commercial flights in coming years.
Lawmakers have overridden several of LePage’s vetoes on bills, such as measures creating new protections against mining pollution and adding a five-cent deposit to tiny liquor bottles. LePage has taken steps to ban the sale of nip-size liquor bottles after lawmakers passed the bottle-deposit law, which he said did nothing to curb the inebriated driving that he says leads to stray bottles littering roadsides.
In his veto on the mining bill, LePage warned it would “deter any company from mining in Maine.”
“Unnecessary prohibitions based on fear, not science, prevent job creation,” he wrote.
Other bills that are now Maine law include an act requiring MaineCare reimbursement for certain hearing aids, and a measure allowing for the testing of sexual assault evidence collection kits for crimes other than gross sexual assault.
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