AUGUSTA — A bill that aims to ensure all state employees follow the same set of ethical standards was approved with little debate and broad bipartisan support in the Maine House of Representatives on a 134-13 vote Thursday.
The bill, LD 6, is the result of a document-shredding scandal at the Maine Center for Disease Control following a public records request by the Sun Journal in 2013.
The incident also led to a whistle-blower lawsuit against the state by a CDC employee who said her supervisors ordered her to destroy the public records and retaliated against her when she refused. The suit was settled out of court.
“This legislation is designed to strengthen and more evenly apply ethics standards in the executive branch, which we found to be inconsistent and in some places virtually nonexistent,” said state Rep. Chuck Kruger, D-Thomaston, the bill’s sponsor and the House chairman of the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee.
He added, “Ultimately, the goal is to make it easier for state employees to find answers when questions of ethics arise in the course of their work.”
Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration opposed the measure, saying it would cost $1 million per year to ensure all state employees were following a unified code of ethics.
The measure, as amended by Kruger on Wednesday, calls for one additional staff member in the Department of Administration and Financial Affairs with a two-year cost to the state budget of about $136,000.
Lawmakers voting against the measure said they didn’t believe the price tag was accurate and it would cost more to fund than what the bill provides for.
The bill’s next stop will be in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Roll call vote
| Member | Party | Vote | |
| ALLEY of Beals | D | Y | |
| AUSTIN of Gray | R | Y | |
| BABBIDGE of Kennebunk | D | Y | |
| BATES of Westbrook | D | Y | |
| BATTLE of South Portland | R | Y | |
| BEAVERS of South Berwick | D | Y | |
| BECK of Waterville | D | Y | |
| BEEBE-CENTER of Rockland | D | Y | |
| BICKFORD of Auburn | R | Y | |
| BLACK of Wilton | R | N | |
| BLUME of York | D | X | |
| BROOKS of Lewiston | D | Y | |
| BRYANT of Windham | D | Y | |
| BUCKLAND of Farmington | R | Y | |
| BURSTEIN of Lincolnville | D | Y | |
| CAMPBELL of Newfield | U | Y | |
| CAMPBELL of Orrington | R | Y | |
| CHACE of Durham | R | Y | |
| CHAPMAN of Brooksville | D | Y | |
| CHENETTE of Saco | D | Y | |
| CHIPMAN of Portland | U | Y | |
| COOPER of Yarmouth | D | Y | |
| COREY of Windham | R | Y | |
| CRAFTS of Lisbon | R | N | |
| DAUGHTRY of Brunswick | D | Y | |
| DAVITT of Hampden | D | Y | |
| DeCHANT of Bath | D | Y | |
| DEVIN of Newcastle | D | Y | |
| DILLINGHAM of Oxford | R | N | |
| DION of Portland | D | Y | |
| DOORE of Augusta | D | Y | |
| DUCHESNE of Hudson | D | Y | |
| DUNPHY of Embden | R | N | |
| DUNPHY of Old Town | D | Y | |
| EDGECOMB of Fort Fairfield | R | Y | |
| ESPLING of New Gloucester | R | Y | |
| EVANGELOS of Friendship | I | Y | |
| EVES of North Berwick | D | X | |
| FARNSWORTH of Portland | D | Y | |
| FARRIN of Norridgewock | R | N | |
| FECTEAU of Biddeford | D | Y | |
| FOLEY of Wells | R | Y | |
| FOWLE of Vassalboro | D | Y | |
| FREDETTE of Newport | R | Y | |
| FREY of Bangor | D | Y | |
| GATTINE of Westbrook | D | Y | |
| GERRISH of Lebanon | R | Y | |
| GIDEON of Freeport | D | Y | |
| GILBERT of Jay | D | Y | |
| GILLWAY of Searsport | R | Y | |
| GINZLER of Bridgton | R | Y | |
| GOLDEN of Lewiston | D | Y | |
| GOODE of Bangor | D | Y | |
| GRANT of Gardiner | D | Y | |
| GREENWOOD of Wales | R | N | |
| GROHMAN of Biddeford | D | Y | |
| GUERIN of Glenburn | R | N | |
| HAMANN of South Portland | D | Y | |
| HANINGTON of Lincoln | R | Y | |
| HANLEY of Pittston | R | Y | |
| HARLOW of Portland | D | Y | |
| HAWKE of Boothbay Harbor | R | Y | |
| HEAD of Bethel | R | Y | |
| HERBIG of Belfast | D | Y | |
| HERRICK of Paris | R | Y | |
| HICKMAN of Winthrop | D | Y | |
| HIGGINS of Dover-Foxcroft | R | Y | |
| HILLIARD of Belgrade | R | Y | |
| HOBART of Bowdoinham | R | Y | |
| HOBBINS of Saco | D | Y | |
| HOGAN of Old Orchard Beach | D | Y | |
| HUBBELL of Bar Harbor | D | Y | |
| HYMANSON of York | D | Y | |
| JORGENSEN of Portland | D | Y | |
| KINNEY of Limington | R | Y | |
| KINNEY of Knox | R | Y | |
| KORNFIELD of Bangor | D | Y | |
| KRUGER of Thomaston | D | Y | |
| KUMIEGA of Deer Isle | D | Y | |
| LAJOIE of Lewiston | D | Y | |
| LOCKMAN of Amherst | R | Y | |
| LONG of Sherman | R | N | |
| LONGSTAFF of Waterville | D | Y | |
| LUCHINI of Ellsworth | D | Y | |
| LYFORD of Eddington | R | Y | |
| MAKER of Calais | R | Y | |
| MALABY of Hancock | R | Y | |
| MAREAN of Hollis | R | Y | |
| MARTIN of Eagle Lake | D | Y | |
| MARTIN of Sinclair | D | Y | |
| MASTRACCIO of Sanford | D | Y | |
| McCABE of Skowhegan | D | Y | |
| McCLELLAN of Raymond | R | Y | |
| McCREIGHT of Harpswell | D | Y | |
| McELWEE of Caribou | R | Y | |
| McLEAN of Gorham | D | Y | |
| MELARAGNO of Auburn | D | Y | |
| MONAGHAN of Cape Elizabeth | D | Y | |
| MOONEN of Portland | D | Y | |
| MORRISON of South Portland | D | Y | |
| NADEAU of Winslow | D | Y | |
| NOON of Sanford | D | Y | |
| NUTTING of Oakland | R | Y | |
| O’CONNOR of Berwick | R | N | |
| PARRY of Arundel | R | Y | |
| PETERSON of Rumford | D | Y | |
| PICCHIOTTI of Fairfield | R | Y | |
| PICKETT of Dixfield | R | Y | |
| PIERCE of Dresden | R | Y | |
| PIERCE of Falmouth | D | Y | |
| POULIOT of Augusta | R | Y | |
| POWERS of Naples | D | Y | |
| PRESCOTT of Waterboro | R | Y | |
| REED of Carmel | R | Y | |
| ROTUNDO of Lewiston | D | Y | |
| RUSSELL of Portland | D | X | |
| RYKERSON of Kittery | D | Y | |
| SANBORN of Gorham | D | Y | |
| SANDERSON of Chelsea | R | Y | |
| SAUCIER of Presque Isle | D | Y | |
| SAWICKI of Auburn | R | N | |
| SCHNECK of Bangor | D | Y | |
| SEAVEY of Kennebunkport | R | Y | |
| SHAW of Standish | D | Y | |
| SHERMAN of Hodgdon | R | X | |
| SHORT of Pittsfield | U | Y | |
| SIROCKI of Scarborough | R | Y | |
| SKOLFIELD of Weld | R | Y | |
| STANLEY of Medway | D | Y | |
| STEARNS of Guilford | R | Y | |
| STETKIS of Canaan | R | Y | |
| STUCKEY of Portland | D | Y | |
| SUKEFORTH of Appleton | I | Y | |
| TEPLER of Topsham | D | Y | |
| THERIAULT of China | R | Y | |
| TIMBERLAKE of Turner | R | N | |
| TIMMONS of Cumberland | R | Y | |
| TIPPING-SPITZ of Orono | D | Y | |
| TUCKER of Brunswick | D | Y | |
| TUELL of East Machias | R | Y | |
| TURNER of Burlington | R | Y | |
| VACHON of Scarborough | R | Y | |
| VEROW of Brewer | D | Y | |
| WADSWORTH of Hiram | R | Y | |
| WALLACE of Dexter | R | N | |
| WARD of Dedham | R | Y | |
| WARREN of Hallowell | D | Y | |
| WELSH of Rockport | D | Y | |
| WHITE of Washburn | R | Y | |
| WINSOR of Norway | R | N | |
| WOOD of Greene | R | Y |
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