The Maine House of Representatives on Monday, June 3 voted 87-51 along party lines to pass a heavily-amended version of…
Browsing: Opinion
The Maine House voted to reject a bill Thursday that would bind the state’s Electoral College votes to the winner…
There is a legislative agenda to “make Maine green again” that could make Maine’s manufacturing sector disappear. Whether it is…
Governor Janet Mills yesterday signed LD 1209, “An Act To Require Legislative Hearings on Citizen-initiated Legislation” into Maine law. The…
The Maine House on Tuesday voted to approve a bill that would simplify the wording of ballot questions to make…
The Committee on Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business heard several bills last week that would cost Maine millions to…
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…
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…
Quite often we hear politicians and special interests say that the quality of a child’s education should not be determined…
Three employees of Kent State University on Monday, April 29 filed suit against the University’s Board of Trustees and the…
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…
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…
There has been plenty of legislation proposed this session that would increase taxes on Maine citizens, including new taxes on…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
The estate tax, often referred to as the “death tax,” is assessed by the government when property exchanges ownership after…
In 2013, former Maine Gov. Paul LePage established the Maine Open Checkbook website to give Mainers a more transparent view…
Lawmakers on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee Monday held a public hearing on LDs 255 and 374, two bills…
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…
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.…
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…
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 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.
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 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…
If you’ve followed Maine politics in the last two years, you know that contention surrounding the ballot initiative process has…
Over the next three years, the State is projected to collect more than $362 million than budgeted. Maine can–and should–return…
I was born in Maine in 1990, making me 28 years old. I was raised in Maine, went to high…
It’s no secret that Maine’s public K-12 education system needs work. Bloated bureaucracies keep money from flowing to the classroom.…
Jared Golden did not receive more than 50 percent of the vote after the ranked choice vote tabulation. To say…
While Maine voters were out rejecting a plan for “Universal Home Care” on Election Day last week, the left-wing activist…
This piece was first published in the Portland Press Herald. I am an associate professor at the University of Maine…
After a yearlong campaign of misinformation waged by the supporters of Question 1, Maine voters on Tuesday rejected Maine’s most…
After the sounds of boisterous campaign rallies fade and the realities of the job sink in, Maine’s next governor will…
More and more we are seeing direct democracy take hold in our elected representative republic. We do not see this…
Question 1 plays on voters’ emotions to pass policies that will hurt the very people it’s supposed to help. There…
The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) recently released an analysis of interstate migration, attacking the idea that Maine’s exceptionally…
Last month, the Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) published a study on the minimum wage in Maine, arguing that its…
There are so many bad policies rolled into Question 1 on November’s ballot that it’s hard to know where to…
It’s the political season and a lot of misinformation is flying around. I want to make sure you have the…
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” It’s said that War and Peace was not about…
The Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) is pushing a ballot initiative – Question 1 – that seeks to establish a 3.8…
Matt Gagnon did a superb job of “fisking” Edgar Allen Beem’s recent Forecaster column attacking MHPC’s report on Maine’s referendum…
Dear Honorable Members of the 128th Legislature: Under the authority vested in me by Article IV, Part Third, Section 2…
This commentary was originally published in the Bangor Daily News. The state economist recently issued a report on the likely impact that…
Many would agree that consistent access to the internet is an important part of life in 2018. It is crucial…
The Maine Immunization Program (MIP) is publicly funded and provides necessary vaccines to all Maine children under the age of…
Oh, Edgar. There’s something almost comical about reading a piece of writing that is so bad, so riddled with errors,…
I remember instances in high school or junior high when something bad happened to a notoriously bad actor. In one…
The Maine Department of Labor recently released its projections for job growth for the next several years. The media has…
The more I try to parent teenagers, the more I recognize similar patterns in the political machinations of Washington, D.C.…
1,700 fewer Maine residents. 1,800 fewer workers in our labor force. 3,800 fewer jobs. A $500 million reduction in personal…
Recently, the Housing Committee of Portland’s City Council met to discuss the possibility of tightening the regulations surrounding rental agreements…
Oh, Alexandria. Ever since she won a stunning upset victory over her democrat primary rival, incumbent New York Representative Joe…
In case you haven’t heard, Question 1 on the November ballot will ask Maine voters if they want to implement Universal…
When Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap was accepting public comment on the ballot language for the upcoming “Universal Home…
On Friday, Sept. 14, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Ajit Pai will make an appearance in Maine as the keynote…
Ballot Question 1 is another benign-sounding, feel-good referendum. In reality, it’s one more in a long line of over-simplified referendums…
Today the Maine Heritage Policy Center released its newest report, “The Will of the People?: How Maine’s ballot initiative process…
I have a hunch. This late summer or fall, after Labor Day but before Election Day, progressives in Maine will…
The latest in a long list of misrepresentations from the Maine People’s Alliance regarding the upcoming Universal Home Care initiative…
Policymakers are always asking: ‘What can we do to attract young, talented people to our state?’ In Maine – which…
Occupational licensing is supposed to protect the public from unqualified professionals whose goods and services may harm consumers, yet rarely…
Earlier this week, Maine House Republicans sustained Governor LePage’s veto of a bill to implement Medicaid expansion, preventing more than $31…
Since the upcoming Universal Home Care (UHC) initiative sponsored by the Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) achieved ballot status, the MPA,…
Despite economists on both sides of the aisle agreeing that occupational licensing laws hurt workers and consumers by stifling economic…
Medicaid expansion is the law, and I am committed to implement it. But I am forced to veto LD 837.…
The biggest flaw in most social assistance programs — including TANF, SNAP, Medicaid, and WIC — is that they undermine…