April and May will be two of our busiest months. It's prime time for local elections and town meetings, legislative action in Augusta, contacting legislators to support the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1), and coming together for our biennial Convention. Let's get to it.
NEWS:
It's Go Time: One of the most important voting rights bills this session — online voter registration (LD 1126, sponsored by Rep. Teresa Pierce) — has its public hearing in the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee (VLA) today, Monday, April 5.Contact your legislator. Click here to take action. This is one of our highest priority bills this session.
Another of our priority bills also has its public hearing today: LD 1155, An Act to Require Election Transparency and Audits, sponsored by Rep. Nicole Grohoski. We will be vigorously supporting this bill, as well.
Several bad bills will be up on April 7. We will be opposing three photo ID bills, LDs 253, 557, and 1083, along with one really bad, broadly restrictive bill, LD 1099. Together with our partners at Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, we will be opposing four bills that would curtail Clean Elections, including LD 921, which proposes to eliminate Clean Elections funding for gubernatorial candidates.
On Friday, the VLA Committee will continue working LDs 194 and 479 to ban money from foreign-owned corporations in Maine elections. We support a foreign contribution ban. Read our testimony here.
And then on Monday next week, that’s April 12, yet another of our priority bills will be up for public hearing in VLA — Rep. Chloe Maxmin’s bill on semi-open primaries, LD 231. (LD 303 from Rep. Lookner is an identical bill.) Click here to take action.
See the full VLA schedule here.
The Special Session: The First Regular Session of the Maine State Legislature adjourned sine die Tuesday, March 30, 2021. Pursuant to the Constitution of Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Section 16, the general effective date for non-emergency laws passed in the First Regular Session of the 130th Legislature is Tuesday, June 29, 2021.
The First Special Session of the 130th Maine State Legislature is expected to commence April 28, 2021.
WHAT THE LEAGUE IS WORKING ON:
Save the date for our upcoming biennial Convention: It’s the biggest event on the League calendar, May 14 and 15. Join us as we plan future programs to protect voting rights, advocate for democracy reform, get big money out of politics, and safeguard free and fair elections. Friday evening, we’ll hear from LWVUS President Deborah Turner; and on Saturday, we’re excited to announce that Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg will address our Convention. Kei is Director of the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), the premier resource nationwide on the civic and political engagement of young Americans. This year's Convention will be hosted virtually on Zoom. Learn more and register for Convention here.
Reclaiming Our Districts Webinar
Tuesday, April 6 at 8:00 PM [REGISTER HERE]
Join the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, and State Voices on April 6 for a teach-in about redistricting and the For the People Act! We will discuss how the redistricting cycle is going to work this year, how the For the People Act would affect it in the future, and what you can do to get involved. This event will be a great opportunity to get a foundational understanding of redistricting in preparation for our People Powered Day of Action on April 29th! Check out LWVME's calendar for local events.