The offices of the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs in the State House in Augusta. (Photo by Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star)
Lawmakers are returning Tuesday to decide the fate of nearly 300 bills that are still awaiting funding.
In total, these bills would cost about $2.5 billion over the next two years. A bill to increase the cost-of-living adjustments for state employee pensions that is not expected to pass accounts for $1.6 billion of that.
After Gov. Janet Mills signed the budget addition into law on Monday, there is about $7 million left in the general fund that can be allocated for these measures, which were placed on the so-called appropriations table because they require funding.
The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, which sets the budget, manages this table. The committee on Tuesday is scheduled to “run the table,” which involves deciding which proposals to fund with the remaining unappropriated money and at what amount. Any bills that the committee decides to leave on the table will die.
Last year, less than 10% of bills placed on the appropriations table ultimately became law.
Among the proposals currently on the table are two bills related to firearm regulation.
LD 1126, as passed in amended form, would require serial numbers for so-called ghost guns that are assembled at home or those made with a 3D printer. It would also prohibit undetectable firearms, meaning those that can’t be spotted with a metal detector. LD 1867 would prohibit financial institutions and merchants from using firearm codes to track purchases.
Two other bills on the table seek to ensure the already required teachings of Wabanaki and African American studies are effectively taught in Maine schools. Another bill awaiting funding is a bipartisan compromise to establish a task force to suggest reforms to the real estate property tax.
A few of the bills on the table have already been incorporated into the budget that Mills signed into law on Monday, including an initiative to help mitigate the fact that the Older Americans Act is no longer funded by the federal government and an act to add certain mental health workers under the 1998 Special Plan for Retirement. These measures will likely remain “on the table” upon adjournment because they’ve been funded an alternative way.
Any bills the appropriations committee decides to vote off the table will still need approval again by the full Legislature, which is slated to reconvene on Wednesday.
As lawmakers begin to make these final decisions, use the searchable table below to see all of the bills currently on the table:
Table created by Eesha Pendharkar.