Tomorrow the legislature gavels in for a day of work in the Governor’s new special session. Both the House and Senate have light calendars. The goal is to probably wrap things up in time for committees to start at 1pm. There will be the usual administrative paper shuffle, but there are two big items in the House to pay attention to tomorrow.
Rep. Shelley Rudnicki (R-Fairfield) has introduced a House Order to censure Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) for his alleged misconduct during Thursday night’s final session. It’s clear that Fecteau did not follow the rules that night to call for a 2/3 vote to suspend the rules to continue working after 9pm. The Rules of the legislature dictate this. It’s on video and happened in front of everyone in the chamber.
That’s the difference between his censure and the censure of Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) that happened weeks ago in the First Session. Libby was punished for actions outside the chamber on social media with publicly available photographs. Whereas Libby’s censure is quite obviously motivated by Democrats’ disapproval of her political opinions on forcing female athletes to compete against males, Rudnicki’s order hinges on clear House rules. The Fecteau censure is based on violation of a rule by the Presiding Officer in the Chamber that he presides over, and the rule includes the special stipulation that Libby must apologize to his liking in order for her punishment to be lifted. One censure is based on interpretation outside the chamber and the other censure is based on violation of parliamentary procedure and mechanics in the chamber.
It will be very interesting to see how this plays out tomorrow. The Majority can move to Indefinitely Postpone the censure which would effectively kill it. They can allow it to run its course with debate and a real vote. During the 131st Legislature the two impeachment attempts against Shenna Bellows were allowed to run their course and defeated by party line votes. I think that’s what probably happens here.
Rudnicki was censured herself for a single sentence of agreement with a floor speech in the 131st Legislature. Her punishment was swift and severe. She may be right on the merits of the case this time, but Fecteau will most likely be absolved of any infractions he may have committed. In today’s Augusta the censure of members appears to be reserved for the minority party only when they push back on the prevailing narrative.
There is one Divided Report tomorrow for LD 387, “An Act to Prohibit the Governor
from Relocating Illegal Immigrants to This State” from Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Presque Isle). The bill is fairly straight forward and the summary reads,
“This bill provides that the Governor may not relocate illegal immigrants into this State
or take any other actions intended to authorize, approve or otherwise assist in the relocation or transportation of illegal immigrants into this State. As used in the bill, ‘illegal immigrant’ means a person who is not lawfully present in the United States.”
The motion out of the State and Local Government Committee was Ought Not to Pass with all Committee members, Republican and Democrat, voting to kill the bill except for Rep. Jeff Adams (R-Lebanon). This may seem fairly odd for Republicans voting against a bill that is clearly in their wheelhouse. The explanation appears to be that there is an even stronger immigration bill working its way through Augusta that Republicans are marshaling their troops to fight for in the weeks to come.
Rep. Adams may have voted out of principle to save the bill, or it could have been a savvy move from a seasoned legislator. The move is to get a Divided report so that the bill has to go to the floor for a debate. All you have to do is vote against the majority of the committee. If a bill gets a unanimous vote to pass or fail it is fast tracked in that direction with no debate. This is to keep the calendar as clear as possible as the legislature grinds through a session.
We’ll have eyes on the action in Augusta tomorrow to watch the censure of Fecteau and the deliberations over bills that impact your everyday life in Maine.
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