State Representative: Maine House District 135

Business Posted Yesterday at 4:03 PM Updated 58 mins ago increase font size Maine lawmakers seek to pre-empt proposed rules for medical cannabis A bill co-sponsored by 2 Democrats would require the medical cannabis industry's input on any new regulations. By Hannah LaClaire Staff Writer Share Two Maine legislators are coming to the defense of Maine’s medical marijuana program with a bill that would place a moratorium on a set of proposed regulations and require greater input from the industry before any further rule changes are implemented.  Co-sponsored by Rep. Lynne Williams, D-Bar Harbor, and Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, the bill would require that in order to amend the rules governing the medical cannabis program, the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy must consult “caregivers, registered caregivers and patients and physicians and certified nurse practitioners with significant knowledge...

 As anyone who how knows me is aware of, I am NOT a late night person. But I was pleased and honored last night to stay up until about 2 am to help pass the Maine Supplemental Budget at the Augusta Civic Center, which passed unanimously less one vote. It had to pass by a 2/3 majority in order to qualify as an emergency and go into effect immediately. In short, the supplemental is an adjustment to the 2020-2021 budget, which is passed in order to make adjustments to the original budget that reflects situations that arose subsequent to passing that budget last year. The major situation that had to be addressed was the financial costs of the pandemic to the people of Maine. Following is what the supplemental passed last night includes: Critical relief for 160,000 Mainers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic: The supplemental budget includes $47M to exempt unemployment benefits from state income taxes. Without this relief, Mainers who relied on unemployment benefits at some point du...

  Budgets are not everyone's cup of tea. But for those who want to know a bit more about Maine's current proposed supplemental budget, I've included some information below. First, a supplemental budget is a revision to the budget passed last year that make some changes in income and spending in order to make sure the budget is balanced at the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2021). A balanced budget is required by our Constitution. So the Appropriations Committee has made such adjustments and following is a description of many of those changes, compliments of my friend and fellow State Representative Rebecca Millett. "Budgets are about priorities. Last week, the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee passed a supplemental budget that targets relief where it’s most needed. Under this budget, 100% of Maine’s businesses do not pay any state tax on Paycheck Protection Program loans. Mainers who lost their jobs because of the pandemic will not pay tax on unemploymen...