AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - The Latest on the Maine Legislature’s special session (all times local):
10:40 p.m.
Maine Republican and Democratic lawmakers have voted to delay a new voting system and to rewrite the state’s recreational marijuana law.
The House voted 68-63 on Monday to delay until 2021 the voter-approved ranked-choice voting law that Maine Supreme Judicial Court justices warn may be unconstitutional for some elections. In 2021, the voting law would be eliminated unless Mainers change the Maine Constitution to explicitly allow the voting system.
The legislation received a 19-10 enactment vote in the Senate.
The House voted 81-50 on a final vote on a rewrite of the voter-approved marijuana law. The Legislature’s Monday votes are not enough to withstand vetoes from Gov. Paul LePage.
The bills now head to the Republican governor’s desk for consideration.
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9:25 p.m.
The Maine Senate is supporting legislation to rewrite the recreational marijuana law approved by voters.
But the bill needs more support in the House in future rounds of votes to become law.
The Senate voted 22-9 Monday night on a bill backed by the Legislature’s marijuana implementation committee. Republican Sen. Roger Katz says the bill makes important tweaks to the voter-approved law such as prohibiting drive-thru pot sales.
Republican Sen. Scott Cyrway says marijuana is not safe to the public and allowing it to remain legal puts the state on the brink of a disaster.
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9 p.m.
The Maine Legislature is supporting fixes to the state’s food sovereignty law and funding for a state mapping agency.
LePage ordered lawmakers to return on Monday for a special session to fix problems in the food sovereignty law and to ensure funding for the Maine Office of Geographic Information Systems. A new law allows municipalities to regulate their own local food systems.
The House and Senate voted to exempt meat and poultry from the food sovereignty law so state officials could continue to regulate them. LePage had said that without the exemption, the federal government would have stepped in to regulate those products.
The House and Senate also both voted in support of ensuring funding for the state GIS agency.
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5:50 p.m.
An effort to rewrite Maine’s recreational pot sales law so far lacks enough votes in the House to become law.
The Maine House voted 85-53 on Monday evening on comprehensive regulations backed by the Legislature’s marijuana implementation committee.
But the bill will likely need at least 101 votes in the House to become law.
The committee has been working for months on a plan that would allow municipalities to opt-in to the state’s recreational pot market, with sales expected to start in 2019.
But Republicans Gov. Paul LePage and House Minority Leader Ken Fredette want lawmakers to rework the committee’s proposal and in the meantime simply delay pot sales until 2019. The House voted to indefinitely postpone such a plan.
Republican Rep. Patrick Corey said he’s concerned the pot committee’s bill won’t provide enough tax revenue to cover the state’s implementation’s costs.
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3:35 p.m.
Maine lawmakers remain at odds over what to do with a new voting system that voters approved last year.
Mainers last year approved ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to rank candidates from first to last in a system that ensures winners receive majority support. But Maine’s highest court issued an advisory opinion that the system runs afoul of the Maine Constitution for some elections.
The Senate voted 19-16 Monday in support of a proposal to delay and possibly eliminate the new voting law. The bill would delay ranked-choice voting until elections held after Dec. 1, 2021.
At that point, the new voting law would be repealed unless the Constitution of Maine had been amended to explicitly allow ranked-choice voting.
The Maine House voted 74-64 Monday on separate legislation to institute ranked-choice voting for federal races and primaries for statewide office.
The House and Senate are expected to spend Monday evening figuring out next steps.
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12:57 p.m.
Maine lawmakers are considering a bill to limit a new voting system to primaries and congressional races.
The Maine House voted 74-64 Monday on a bill to institute ranked-choice voting for federal races and primaries for statewide office.
Conventional elections would be the rule in other races.
Mainers approved ranked choice voting, which allows voters to rank candidates from first to last in a system that ensures winners receive majority support. But Maine’s highest court issued an advisory opinion that the system runs afoul of the Maine Constitution for some elections.
The Maine Senate will now have its say. The Senate on Monday also confirmed five judges whose nominations LePage had flip-flopped on in recent days.
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11:50 a.m.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage has reversed his move to withdraw the nominations of five judicial reappointments.
The Republican governor nominated the justices in September and they are scheduled to be confirmed on Monday during a special session of the Legislature.
LePage announced he was withdrawing his nominations in letters dated Friday. House Speaker Sara Gideon, a Freeport Democrat, said she received the letters on Sunday. But the governor effectively put the nominations back in play in letters dated Monday to Republican Senate President Mike Thibodeau.
The five judges were nominated in 2010 by former Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat.
LePage nominated the judges for reappointment to the Maine superior and district courts. The reappointments had been approved by the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee. His office declined comment.
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11:30 a.m.
Maine lawmakers have begun a special session with a tribute to a late lawmaker.
State Rep. Gina Mason died in September at age 57. The House on Monday began a special session with a moment of silence in her memory.
She was a first-term lawmaker and mother of Republican Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason.
His father, Rick, is planning to run to fill the empty seat in a November special election.
Her service as a public official included time on the Lisbon Town Council. She served on the Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee.
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10:51 a.m.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage has withdrawn the nominations of five judicial reappointments just as the judges’ confirmations were expected.
The Republican governor nominated the justices in September and they were scheduled to be confirmed on Monday during a special session of the Legislature.
LePage dated the withdrawal letters on Friday. They do not say why he withdrew the nominations. House Speaker Sara Gideon, a Freeport Democrat, said she received them on Sunday, less than a day before the reappointment confirmations were expected by the Senate.
The five judges were nominated in 2010 by former Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat.
LePage had nominated the judges for reappointment to the Maine Superior Court and Maine District Court. The reappointments had been approved by the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.
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12: 10 a.m.
Lawmakers are returning to Augusta for a special session.
Republican Gov. Paul LePage ordered lawmakers to return Monday to fix problems in the food sovereignty law and to restore funding for the Maine Office of Geographic Information System.
But lawmakers also will deal with sales of recreational marijuana. A Maine legislative panel has agreed on a rewrite of the law, while Gov. Paul LePage wants lawmakers to simply delay sales until 2019.
LePage says meat and poultry must be exempted from the food sovereignty law so state officials can continue to regulate those products. If not, he says the federal government will step in to regulate them.
Lawmakers are also expected to consider the future of a new voter-approved system that allows voters to rank candidates.
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