Since Governor Janet Mills released her biennial budget proposal in February, the fiscal landscape in Maine has changed significantly. The…
The First Session of the 129th Maine Legislature has been filled with proposals that would harm the financial well-being of…
What creates jobs? What goes into building a healthy and vibrant economy that creates real opportunity for as many people…
Lawmakers are considering a flurry of ballot initiative reforms this session, from requiring signatures to be collected in both congressional…
Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a rule to no longer allow states to make…
This session, lawmakers in the Maine Legislature are considering a pair of bills that aim to increase access to higher…
It’s no secret that our state is inhospitable – to put it mildly – to business. Our citizens face one…
I have always contended that it was a mistake to refer to our form of government as a democracy. The…
Quite often we hear politicians and special interests say that the quality of a child’s education should not be determined…
Without a doubt, the digital age has brought innumerable advantages to modern life. More than ever before, individuals have access…
For years in the Maine Legislature lawmakers have grappled with countless ideas to expand access to affordable health care services.…
Three employees of Kent State University on Monday, April 29 filed suit against the University’s Board of Trustees and the…
Expanding access to affordable child care is of pressing concern to many Maine families. As we’ve noted in the past,…
I have sponsored LD 665, “An Act to Enact the Campus Free Expression Act” this session to codify into state…
To become a hairdresser in the State of Maine, you must be at least 17 years old, complete a 1,500-hour…
Karl Marx said that “Religion is the opium of the people.” Marx should have said “Government dependence is the opium…
Lawmakers on Maine’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee on Monday held a public hearing on LD 665, sponsored by Rep.…
Lawmakers on Maine’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee today will consider a bill that would amend the Maine Constitution to…
Are you a public employee? Public sector labor unions in Maine want access to your personal information, regardless of whether…
Background The Legislature has developed a new automated tool for submitting electronic testimony. Citizens may still send written testimony via…
It has not been difficult to find bills this legislative session that would be harmful to businesses or consumers in…
Maine is one of a small handful of states that still impose so-called “blue laws,” or prohibitions on certain activities…
It’s true – citizens have been so active this session that the Maine Legislature is revising its process for submitting…
There has been plenty of legislation proposed this session that would increase taxes on Maine citizens, including new taxes on…
Some things aren’t always what they seem. Such is the case in the state legislature with many well-meaning bill titles,…
It is hard to make constitutional sense out of the cacophony of progressive sound bites we hear in Maine on…
Lawmakers on Maine’s Taxation Committee on Thursday, April 11 held public hearings on two bills that would increase so-called sin…
Occupational licensing exists to protect public health and safety in professions that pose measurable risk to consumers. However, as we’ve…
This week, the Maine Legislature’s Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology held a public hearing on LD 1364, a bill…
This morning, lawmakers on the Labor and Housing Committee held a public hearing on LD 1345, a bill that would…
Lawmakers on Maine’s Labor and Housing Committee today will hold a public hearing on LD 1345, a bill that would…
A lawmaker from Portland appears to have a personal vendetta against public charter schools. Rep. Michael Brennan is sponsoring a…
In 1994, Maine rolled out the United States Emissions Test, a program that failed so significantly that the New York…
Roads across Maine are in rough shape this time of year, and a lot of attention has been paid to…
Medicaid expansion enrollment under Governor Janet Mills is taking off – almost 16,800 individuals have enrolled to receive Medicaid benefits…
Lawmakers in Augusta have proposed a spate of bills this session in an attempt to mitigate the negative effects of…
A few weeks ago, my radio address focused on the unsustainability of the biennial budget proposed by Governor Mills. Since…
It is time to rein in the taxaholic phalanx of lawmakers in Augusta who believe there is no problem too…
High school guidance counselors, parents and popular culture have spent decades telling young people that the key to success is…
Lawmakers on the Health and Human Services Committee yesterday held a public hearing on a bill, sponsored by Rep. Beth…
Governor Mills has proposed an $8.04 billion dollar General Fund budget. That is an 11 percent increase over the current…
Lawmakers on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee on Wednesday considered a bill that would allow political parties in Maine…
Health care itself is complicated and so is our health care system, yet it remains the envy of the world. People…
The Maine Heritage Policy Center (MHPC) on Monday released a new analysis of Gov. Janet Mills’ biennial budget proposal during…
As a small business owner, I know firsthand that what is good for the goose is good for the gander.…
Politics may be rough and tumble, but that is no excuse for outright lawlessness in the pursuit of power. In…
Lawmakers frequently pursue legislation under the guise of improving Maine’s economy and attracting people to our state, but rarely is…
The estate tax, often referred to as the “death tax,” is assessed by the government when property exchanges ownership after…
Any Mainer interested in amplifying the state’s role in electing a president, and empowering disenfranchised voters, should get behind the…
Our founders established a system of checks and balances designed to protect everyone, especially minorities, from the tyranny of the…
In 2013, former Maine Gov. Paul LePage established the Maine Open Checkbook website to give Mainers a more transparent view…
Have you ever wondered where the poverty figures you read in the paper or see on the news come from?…
Lawmakers on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee Monday held a public hearing on LDs 255 and 374, two bills…
Senator Rebecca Millett, the chair of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, has introduced LD 898, “An Act to Provide…
“Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it…how is this legal plunder to be identified? Â Quite simply. See if…
There is no doubt that our Founding Fathers feared tyranny of the majority, which is why they took intentional steps…
Lawmakers on the Energy, Utilities and Technology committee on Thursday, Feb. 28 will hold a public hearing on LD 434,…
Lawmakers on the Transportation Committee today will hold a public hearing on LD 270, sponsored by Sen. David Miramant, a…
Lawmakers on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee will hold a public hearing today on LD 294, sponsored by Rep.…
Occupational licensing exists as a mechanism for government to promote public health and safety by requiring workers to meet specific…
Liberals in Augusta are likely elated with the latest communication from Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services. The department’s…
Maine’s Joint Standing Committee on State and Local Government today is holding a public hearing on LD 209, a bill…
This week, lawmakers on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee will hold a public hearing on LD 252, sponsored by…
When I first started serving in Augusta, in 2005, there was a long standing joke. Why are there no stone…
Maine people work hard to get ahead, but the more politicians steal from our paychecks, the more we struggle to…
On Thursday, Feb. 14 the legislature’s education committee held a public hearing on a bill, LD 464, that would greatly…
ClichĂ©d as it may be, conservatives live in “a target rich environment” for drafting commentaries on the absurdities of the…
Maine Gov. Janet Mills is trying to pass off her budget proposal, released last Friday, as a reasonable approach to…
State Representative Michael Brennan of Portland recently introduced a pair of bills concerning the future of virtual schooling in Maine.…
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo may have come to his senses on tax policy, openly questioning earlier this week whether…
Chief Robert MacKenzie runs a police department in Kennebunk, Maine, a town of just over 11,000 citizens. It is a…
Governor Mills is preparing to unveil her budget proposal for the next biennium and we’re about to learn if she…
Today’s world is in many ways at a crossroads, especially as technology and innovation continually reshape the economy, specifically models…
Citizens Initiatives should be reserved for Maine citizens.
Approximately 96 hours after this publication questioned the merits of a bill to require all Maine drivers to equip their…
It’s hard not to draw parallels between what’s going on in Augusta and what we’re seeing in other areas of…
This piece first appeared in the Portland Press Herald. During her recent inaugural address, Gov. Mills warned Maine residents that a recession…
As previously highlighted in this publication, there are a number of strange, ridiculous and funny-sounding bills being proposed in the…
They say elections have consequences, and in the case of the minimum wage law that passed by referendum in 2016,…
It was only a matter of time, right? In a piece that read more like political advocacy than real journalism,…
The tiny house movement is not a panacea for all our housing woes. But these homes do appeal to many millennials looking for financial stability and a simplified life. Arbitrary rules should not stand in their way.
In 2009, I graduated from high school and left for college. I planned to spend four years away and return…
The 2018 Code of Maine Rules is home to 113,862 restrictions and 8.1 million words. It would take an individual about 449 hours – or more than 11 weeks – to read the entire CMR, assuming the reader spends 40 hours per week reading at a rate of 300 words per minute.
Despite widespread opposition throughout the state among all levels of restaurant staff, big labor continues its attempt to strip Maine service workers of their ability to earn a living by eliminating the tip credit.
Vehicles are far safer and more reliable than they were nearly a century ago when Maine’s vehicle inspection program was first implemented.
Much has been made — for good reason — of the federal government’s fiscal imbalance. High and rising debt (fast…
In an article published Thursday on the Maine Beacon – the online opinion service of the Maine People’s Alliance –…
At the start every new legislature, Maine’s Office of the Revisor of Statutes publishes a list of preliminary working titles…
Among the many harebrained schemes that will be considered in the Maine Legislature this year is one to establish universal…
For the second time in 17 years, Maine has expanded Medicaid. Governor Mills has directed DHHS to take swift action…
During the biennial budget battle in 2017 that led to Maine’s first government shutdown since 1991, lawmakers agreed to spend…
It is a “new day” in Augusta according to Janet Mills, who became the first woman to serve as the…
It is no secret that the Mills administration and legislative Democrats are planning to launch a big push for a…
Maine’s town tuitioning program, first adopted in 1873, is the second oldest school choice program in the country. The program allows students…
When I took office, MaineCare was running biennial budget deficits of more than $200 million, and our state owed the…
As we approach the winter holidays, we often look back and assess what we have accomplished and set goals for…
With Janet Mills poised to take control of the Blaine House in just a few weeks and strong Democratic majorities…
Caracas is burning. The socialist policies of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro have taken a once wealthy nation and reduced…
A federal judge’s ruling that the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) — Medicaid expansion, subsidies through the exchanges, Medicare reforms,…
“If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare…the education of children…would be thrown under the power of Congress…it…