I must say in reflecting back on the second session of the 124th Legislature there was not a great deal of rancor. The Speaker again managed the calendar very well and we spent very few days in session after 4pm. We managed to complete out work so that we adjourned almost a week early which saves the taxpayers of Maine about $40,000 per day according to estimates we have received from legislative sources that track such information. The most difficult issues were handled in committee hearings and work session, for my part on the Labor Committee it was addressing issues like paid sick leave, vacation pay,reworking the issue of independent contractor status and issues related to bonded Canadian labor.  Resolution was found to most of these as I noted in my previous post  about the Labor Committee.

Work on the budget which reduce spending and cut state subsidies  and revenue sharing to municipalities for a long and arduous process ably assisted by veteran Appropriations Committee members Rep. Sawin Millett, Rep. Bob Nutting, Rep. Pat Flood and Sen. Richard Rosen who worked tirelessly with their colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the governor’s office and Commissioner Ryan Low and other key committee members to hammer out a plan that would be reasonable and workable. The Leadership of Appropriation chairs Sen. Bill Diamond and Rep. Emily Cain were instrumental in managing the process and allowing for public in put during the course of the debate, as well as keeping members engaged and on task.  The matter of bonds raised its head again in late part of session and created some challenges. I will address this in more detail in a later post. Best to say that we agreed to disagree and threw it to the body to sort out.  In hindsight the 124th Legislature helped Maine government to weather one of the toughest economic storms most of us have seen in our lifetime and come out of it in a fairly good state. That is not to say we don’t have problems on the horizon.