Say goodbye to winter. Here comes Mud Season. As the old saying goes, “Maine has five seasons: spring, summer, fall, winter, and mud.” We learned last week on our Advocacy Webinar that our part-time Legislature's schedule coincides with Mud Season — nothing else to do in March and April. So we can expect the pace of legislative action to pick up speed as we slowly welcome spring. Check out some of our Take Action items for this week and sign up for the concluding session to our Advocacy in the Maine Legislature series.
NEWS:
This week's lineup: We plan to testify on a couple of bills this week in the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee (VLA) and in the State and Local Government Committee (SLG). You can see the full committee schedules here. Our testimony is archived at lwvme.org.
LD 321 — An Act To Limit State Legislators to a Lifetime Total of 16 Years of Legislative Service (SLG). LWVME is opposed.
LD 413 — An Act To Apply the Same Auditing Standards to All Candidates and Political Action Committees (VLA). MCCE supports.
Our highest priority bills have not yet been printed, but it’s not too soon to start a conversation with your legislator about these important issues:
- National Popular Vote
- Corporate Contribution Ban
- Online Voter Registration
- Election Audits
- Post-COVID voting package
Ironing out the wrinkles: Last week, the Legislature launched a new, streamlined, online portal (linked here) for submitting written and oral testimony for public hearings. You can sign up to participate as soon as the public hearing is scheduled. If you want to testify in person, you should sign up at least 30 minutes before the hearing is scheduled to begin. Written testimony submitted after the public hearing is shared with committee members but is not posted online.
WHAT THE LEAGUE IS WORKING ON:
Do you have 10 minutes to spare today?
Currently, we are urging our senators and representatives to support vital legislation, such as our Corporate Contribution Ban, the National Popular Vote, and Online Voter Registration. You can use the forms provided on our Take Action page to look up and contact your Maine legislators. It only takes a few minutes! You can use the sample letters we have already written for you or feel free to alter the letters to include your own statement. [Click here to visit the Take Action page.]
After you have submitted your letter, take a few more minutes to let us know you contacted your legislator. Fill out the form here