Nuggets from the notebook while waiting for state Rep. Richard Cebra, R-Naples, to submit another bill . . .
Friday marked the cloture deadline for lawmakers to file bills for consideration of the 125th Legislature. Although only 38 bills have been posted online by the reviser’s office, many more — as in another 1,000 or so — are on the way.
So far, one lawmaker, Cebra, appears to be the leader in legislative ambition.
Of the 38 bills, Cebra is sponsoring five and co-sponsoring three others.
Several could be controversial.
One, LD 31, seeks to require minors to obtain explicit consent from their parents before receiving prescription drugs. The bill does not mention prescription contraception, but it raises questions about whether it would prevent girls under 18 from obtaining birth control pills for health reasons.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, Maine currently allows minors to obtain prescription birth control with parental consent if they’re already a parent or if a doctor prescribes them for health reasons.
Cebra’s list exempts parental consent only for minors who live independently, who are already parents or if they’re serving in the military.
The debate over minor access to birth control pits those who think prescribing the pill encourages minors to have sex against those who believe minors will be sexually active regardless and want to prevent unplanned pregnancies.
Cebra’s other initiatives include LD 34, which would require people seeking public office to prove that they’re U.S. citizens, and LD 35, which allows people to leave firearms in their car at work provided that they have a concealed weapons permit, the vehicle is locked and the gun isn’t visible.
He also wants to prohibit the state’s constitutional officers, like the attorney general or secretary of state, from endorsing legislative candidates. There’s probably a juicy back story behind that one.
According to Lance Dutson, the communications director for House Speaker Bob Nutting, R-Oakland, Cebra isn’t done. He is expected to submit legislation seeking big changes in the way the state provides social services for needy people. That should put Cebra in the good graces of Gov. Paul LePage, who has said he wants to do the same.
LePage: Maine’s Chris Christie?
LePage recently told a reporter with the Bloomberg news service that he’s going to be the “Chris Christie of Maine,” a reference to New Jersey’s blunt, budget-slashing governor.
Christie has become the darling of many Republicans for scrapping what they view as bloated programs and projects, but his cult hero status appears to be generated more for his belittling of Democratic rivals and reporters.
LePage has yet to unload on Democrats and even his run-ins with reporters on the campaign trail were fairly tame compared to Christie’s upbraiding of the Fourth Estate.
But it’s early. And if LePage’s inaugural address is any indication, his core supporters probably wouldn’t mind if he took a page from Christie’s media-slayer playbook and let a few of us have it.
During his speech, LePage said he “didn’t care about opinion polls and newspaper editorials.” The only other line that drew more spirited applause was his comment about making sure only Mainers received state services, not nonresidents.
No computer?
How’s this for unintended awkwardness.
Prior to LePage’s inauguration ceremony, the Legislature met to hammer out a few procedural matters, during which Rep. Cynthia Dill, D-Cape Elizabeth, asked Nutting if he could make sure to post the motions on the House board so lawmakers could see what they were voting on.
Although some lawmakers view the motions on computers, Dill told Nutting that she “didn’t have one,” a comment that drew raised eyebrows, whispers and cringes.
You see, Dill was widely criticized by Republicans and the Maine Heritage Policy Center for using Maine Clean Elections money to purchase a $2,000 laptop.
The Ethics Commission cleared the purchase, and she later sold it following the election and the proceeds were remitted to the Ethics Commission. However, the GOP used the controversy to hit back at Dill after she wrote a column for the Pine Tree Politics blog criticizing Nutting for overbilling the state $1.6 million in Medicare payments several years ago.
Dill will likely remain persona non grata among Republicans. She plans to submit legislation that would curb nepotism hiring in state government, a move that comes on the heels of the controversy surrounding LePage’s hiring of his daughter.
This column was updated to add information about Dill’s laptop purchase.
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