AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage has called for a special session of the Legislature by the end of June to address four bills he said were enacted but not adequately funded by lawmakers.
In a letter transmitted Friday to Republican Senate President Mike Thibodeau and Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves, LePage said resolution of the funding question on the four bills requires immediate attention. He asked for their cooperation as opposed to calling the special session unilaterally, as he has the authority to do.
“In light of the constitutional requirement of a balanced budget, correcting these budget gimmicks constitutes an ‘extraordinary occasion’ and the Legislature should be convened,” LePage said in the letter. “I hope you’ll agree to convene prior to the end of this fiscal year to fix these bills and ask that you respond by Wednesday, June 22, as to whether you will consider making the changes outlined in this letter in a special session prior to July 1, 2016.”
Senate Minority Leader Justin Alfond of Portland rejected the governor’s suggestion and said the bills in question are funded.
“The executive branch doesn’t have to like the way the bills are funded, but Gov. LePage is obligated to execute the laws passed by the Legislature,” he said in a written statement. “That is the way the powers are separated by the Maine Constitution. I cannot see why 186 lawmakers should return to Augusta — at a cost of $43,000 per day — just because Gov. LePage doesn’t want to do his job.”
House Minority Leader Ken Fredette of Newport took a different tone.
“If the funding sources identified in these bills are no longer viable, we should work with the administration to property fund these initiatives,” he said in a written statement.
Lawmakers have disputed that the bills are unfunded.
The four bills are:
— LD 1465, A Resolve to Require the Department of Health and Human Services to Conduct a Study of Ambulance Services. This bill will cost $75,000 to $100,000, according to LePage, and there is no funding source in the bill.
— LD 1552, An Act to Reduce Morbidity and Mortality Related to Injected Drugs. The $75,000 cost of a needle-exchange program originally was funded with general fund dollars, but the funding language was stripped before the bill’s enactment.
— LD 1614, A Resolve to Provide Funding for the County Jail Operations Fund. The $2.5 million cost of this bill is funded with Medicaid funds that resulted fromincreased federal matching grants for health and social services. LePage argues that is an inappropriate use of Medicaid funds.
— LD 1645, An Act to Address Employee Recruitment and Retention Issues at State Mental Health Institutions. Lawmakers passed this bill over LePage’s veto and identified a salary account within the Department of Administrative and Financial Services that has nearly $28 million in it. LePage argued in his letter that he needs that money so he can negotiation state worker union contracts “in good faith,” though raises he supported for state police officials are funded from the same source.
LePage, as with any Maine governor, can call a special session of the Legislature on his own but has not taken that step to date, according to Adrienne Bennett, his spokeswoman.
“He does have the authority to do it by proclamation,” she said. “The governor is looking for them to come back and show they’re willing to work with him.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
