Maine Governor Janet Mills vetoed two bills Wednesday, June 18 targeting farmworker unionization and legal representation for indigent defendants, citing economic burdens and judicial inefficiencies.
Gov. Mills, a Democrat, rejected LD 588, “An Act to Enact the Agricultural Employees Concerted Activity Protection Act,” a bill mirroring LD 525 from the 131st Legislature, which she also vetoed. Sponsored by Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Cumberland) and co-sponsored by Labor Committee Chairs Sen. Mike Tipping (D-Penobscot) and Rep. Amy Roeder (D-Bangor), the bill aimed to grant farmworkers the ability to unionize and establish a regulatory framework under the Maine Labor Relations Board.
“LD 588 is substantively identical to L.D. 525 in the 131st Legislature, a bill of the same name that I vetoed. Because the bill is unchanged, so too is my veto letter,” Mills wrote. “(It) would create a new legal framework governing labor-management relations in Maine’s agricultural sector. The bill would authorize agricultural workers to engage in certain concerted activity, and create a new regulatory structure for complaints, hearings and enforcement by the Maine Labor Relations Board. This is complex legislation with cross references to federal law, including the National Labor Relations Act.”
Mills added that “against this background I cannot subject our farmers to a complicated new set of labor laws that will require a lawyer just to understand. Now is not the time to impose a new regulatory burden on our agricultural sector, and particularly not family-owned farms that are not well positioned to know and understand their obligations under a new such law.”
Sen. Talbot-Ross, Sen. Tipping and Rep. Roeder, were all endorsed by the Maine AFL-CIO, Maine Service Employees Association (MSEA-SEIU Local 1989), and Maine Education Association for their 2024 campaigns, and have voiced staunchly progressive positions towards labor relations in the 132nd Legislature. The veto underscores Mills’ more cautious view toward labor reforms impacting Maine’s agricultural economy.
Mills also vetoed LD 1802, “An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services to Clarify When an Indigent Criminal Defendant Is Entitled to Counsel at State Expense.” Sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland), the bill sought to establish a statutory right to counsel for indigent defendants not facing incarceration, and was passed bypassing roll call votes in both chambers.
Drawing on her experience as a prosecutor and former Maine attorney general, Mills argued the bill would strain judicial resources.
“This bill would negatively impact the State’s ability of the state to appoint attorneys in the cases where counsel is constitutionally required and impede efforts to eliminate the backlog in criminal cases,” she wrote. “We should be focused on solving the problem at-hand when it comes to lack of counsel for indigent people; not making it worse as this bill would. For these reasons I return LD 1802 unsigned and vetoed and urge the legislature to sustain this veto.”
These vetoes mark Mills’ first actions on bills from the 132nd Legislature’s special session. Maine’s Constitution grants the governor 10 days, excluding Sundays, to act on bills after presentation, a clock triggered by formal delivery from the Legislature.
With additional bills hitting the Governor’s desk, it can be expected that there will be further vetoes before the Legislature reconvenes Wednesday to address spending and surviving legislation.
