Rep. Tyler evaluates where Augusta has been and where it's going next

This is my take on the action in the State House as we head into the second regular session of the 126th Maine Legislature. All of the bills submitted to the second session are to be of emergency nature according to the rules of Maine government. That said it appears the leadership of the house and senate are playing the same old politics when it comes to allowing bills to go into the process. The biggest example was the vote to not allow Rep. Volk’s bill regarding human trafficking to move forward while allowing President Alfond’s bill regarding wine and cheese tasting to move ahead. While I will not discuss the merits of Alfond’s bill it is clear that partisan politics played a huge roll in not allowing Rep. Volk’s bill in. Even Bill Nemitz of the Portland Press Herald stated it best “Maine’s Democratic leaders ought to have their heads examined” in a recent article in the Portland paper. Upon appeal, the vote was changed under pressure from many groups in the state. Unfortunately this is the way the first session played out and sure looks like the second will follow suit.

 As I said in an article last spring if we could take leadership from both sides out of the picture and let the representatives and senators or both side work it out a lot more might be accomplished. It does not matter what party, republican, democrat, green or independent we have some quality people serving in Augusta however leadership just tries to make all issues go their way.
 

 Another rejected issue was Rep. Fredette’s bill to create the discussion of welfare reform regarding able bodied people having to look for work before receiving benefits. The excuse was it was too similar to a bill rejected in the first session and not an emergency yet, but you can bet the expansion of Maine Care will show up on the docket. It is already being discussed in committee sessions. I’m not saying the discussion of Maine Care is not an emergency, just pointing out that the expansion was rejected in the last session so why the double standard? You know the answer. The party in power has the power, which is why we set a record for vetoes last session. Hopefully solid thinking and reasoning will take place this winter at the Statehouse so we will be able to accomplish some solid goals for the citizens of Maine. 

 I realize this article is somewhat critical of what is going on in the 126th legislative session, however hopefully I have fired you up some. Call or email your representative or senator to express your opinion. We all have email addresses and phone numbers listed on the website www.Maine.gov. Just go to the legislature section to find all representatives and senators listed. I can only speak for myself, but your opinion does matter. As always I am truly honored to serve the citizens of Windham and Gray willing to listen to both side of an issue before making my judgments of what is best for Maine.

Representative Thomas Tyler represents District 110 covering part of Windham and part of Gray.