AUGUSTA, Maine — After more than five months of work, lawmakers are headed into the final stretch of the 2011 legislative session facing votes on a broad range of issues, including a $6.1 billion budget and bills that would legalize fireworks and recreational marijuana use.
Lawmakers have already dealt with the vast majority of the nearly 1,600 bills introduced this year. The single-biggest item still on legislators’ plates is a two-year budget that cuts taxes but also contains some significant policy changes aimed at reforming welfare and strengthening the state pension system.
Lawmakers will not begin debating the budget before Tuesday — one day before the Legislature’s scheduled adjournment date.
“It is my hope that, by Wednesday evening, we are able to finish our business,” House Speaker Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, said on Friday. “That is my hope. If things don’t go smoothly, we may be here one or two additional days.”
Legislative leader will need to win two-thirds support in both chambers to pass the $6.1 billion budget that finances state government beginning July 1. The compromise negotiated by legislative budget writers includes a number of items likely to garner significant debate on the House and Senate floors, including proposals to:
• Restructure Maine’s income tax brackets to lower tax rates for most residents.
• Double the current exemption from the estate tax to $2 million.
• Freeze and then cap cost-of-living adjustments for state employees and retirees to reduce the unfunded liability in the state pension system.
• Enact a five-year lifetime cap on welfare benefits but with broad exceptions.
• Eliminate welfare eligibility for some legal immigrants.
Rep. Emily Cain, an Orono Democrat who serves as House minority leader, said House Democrats were briefed last Friday on the proposed changes to the pension system and social service programs. Cain said she expects members on both sides to attempt to convince their colleagues to change the budget.
Most attempts to amend the budget have fallen short in recent years, however, as legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle seek to preserve the compromise negotiated after months of work by members of the Appropriations Committee.
“It’s normal to have amendments because in a two-thirds majority budget, there are things on both sides that people like and that people don’t like,” Cain said.
In an effort to clear the table in advance of the budget debate, Nutting and Senate President Kevin Raye, R-Perry, kept lawmakers working late into the night for most of last week.
Both chambers had lengthy, often heated debates on such contentious issues as abortion, expanding gambling in Maine, carrying concealed weapons, changes to Maine’s voter registration laws and a bill dealing with the rights of transgender people.
“I think we are through most of the major issues that would inspire long debate,” Cain said. “But I never cease to be amazed at how a seemingly simple issue can rise to the level of an intense debate in the final days of the session.”
There are a host of unresolved issues that could trigger lengthy discussions, even when the votes clearly favor one side in the debate.
For instance, Republicans appear to have the votes for a bill, LD 199, that would require voters to present a photo ID at the polls. But Senate Democrats are likely to strongly contest the bill, especially after their firefights last week with Republicans over a bill to end same-day voter registration in Maine.
Debate is also expected on a bill, LD 83, that would loosen Maine’s restrictions on fireworks.
The measure, which was endorsed by a committee but has not been voted on in either the House or Senate, would allow Mainers to purchase nonaerial fireworks at licensed, standalone stores similar to those found in New Hampshire. It would not legalize bottle rockets and other types of airborne fireworks popular with Fourth of July revelers.
Another bill would allow Mainers to grow small amounts of marijuana for their personal use and impose a 7 percent tax on the drug. The bill’s chances of passage are slim, but that likely will not deter some lengthy floor speeches.
The list of other unresolved issues includes:
• A bill to double — from $750 to $1,500 — the maximum contribution limit to gubernatorial candidates. The measure has passed both chambers but faces additional votes.
• Two bills to expand gambling in Maine. The first measure, which would establish racinos in both Biddeford and Calais, has been endorsed by both chambers. But a bill to authorize a racino in Lewiston failed in the Senate after passing the House.
• Several measure to toughen penalties for sex offenders who target very young children or their own family members.
• Legislation that would authorize the state to purchase the Dolby landfill in East Millinocket in order to encourage the sale of two paper mills in the area. The bill has yet to be taken up in either the House or Senate.