AnnMarie Hilton

5 days ago | mainemorningstar.com | AnnMarie Hilton

The Maine Senate supported a measure to guarantee agricultural workers state minimum wage. On Monday, the upper chamber voted 22-12 with a couple Republicans joining the majority party in the initial passage of LD 589. The legislation will next go to the House of Representatives for an initial vote and will need enactment votes from both chambers before it could be sent to Gov. Janet Mills for approval. Granting minimum wage to farmworkers has been a years-long effort in Maine.

1 week ago | mainemorningstar.com | AnnMarie Hilton

As work has picked up in the Maine House of Representatives and Senate, so has the amount of legislation making its way to the governor’s desk. Each week, the clerk of the House of Representatives publishes a report of the bills that Gov. Janet Mills has signed into law and those that she has allowed to become law without the endorsement of her signature.

1 week ago | mainemorningstar.com | AnnMarie Hilton

Maine lawmakers will wait to take action on proposed legislation regarding the state’s 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases. The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to carry over , a proposal from House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) to repeal the law passed just last year that requires someone who sells a firearm to wait three days before delivering it to the buyer.

1 week ago | yahoo.com | AnnMarie Hilton

Natural gas meter. (Photo by Bill Oxford/ Getty Images)The legislative committee tasked with wading through the many proposals brought forward this session to address the problems with the state’s clean energy credit program is advancing a bill that critics say doesn’t go far enough. On Thursday night, the Maine Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee voted along party lines with the majority in favor of an amended version of LD 1777.

1 week ago | yahoo.com | AnnMarie Hilton

Passengers board an Amtrak train at the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania station. (Photo b y Peter Hall/Capital-Star)Despite the impassioned pleas of a handful of lawmakers, the Maine Legislature essentially killed a proposal to further explore extending passenger rail to Bangor. After multiple failed votes, the Senate decided Thursday to indefinitely postpone LD 487, which rail advocates rallied behind this session as a means to bring passenger trains beyond southern Maine.