Bills eye opioid, suicide crises and tribal rights

Bills to address the suicide and opioid crises in Washington County and to review state lands that are significant to the tribes in Maine will be considered during the second session of the 130th Maine Legislature, which will also continue its consideration of the tribal sovereignty bill. However, the legislature will not consider a tribal gaming bill similar to the one that was vetoed during the last session and will not look at allowing a local referendum on the Machias causeway project. Also, the Washington County district attorney bill that stalled at the end of the last session is apparently dead for four more years. The second session deals with a limited number of bills restricted to budgetary matters, legislation submitted by the governor and state agencies, bills held over from the first session and legislation deemed to be an "emergency" by the Legislative Council.
Among the new bills that have been accepted by the Legislative Council for introduction in the second session is one sponsored by Senator Marianne Moore of Calais that would address the state's suicide and opioid crises through the construction of affordable recovery facilities in underserved areas of the state. After initially not being accepted, the council voted 7-1 to accept the bill during its meeting to consider appeals by legislators on November 18. In submitting the proposal, Senator Moore noted that the pandemic has caused a number of recovery facilities to close and that 2021 is shaping up to be the deadliest year yet in Maine's opioid epidemic. As of August 1, there had already been 357 overdose deaths, while there were a total of 504 in 2020. "This bill would direct new federal monies or potential opioid settlement funds be used to construct affordable facilities in underserved areas such as my district," she noted.
The council also has accepted a bill sponsored by Rep. Ben Collings of Portland to review state lands or waterways that have sacred, traditional or other significance to the Wabanaki tribes. Rep. Collings notes that the bill mirrors the effort by the U.S. Department of Interior to allow tribes to reacquire historic lands as part of the land back movement. Under his proposal, after consultation is held with the tribes, further discussion would look at returning some of the state-owned lands or at least providing more access to the tribes for efforts like cultural tourism or for spiritual ceremonies.
Among the bills sponsored by state departments is one to amend Maine's aquaculture leasing and licensing rules sponsored by the Department of Marine Resources.
In addition, the legislature will consider bills that have been carried over, including the omnibus tribal sovereignty bill that would reframe the relationship between the state and the tribes, along with a bill that was separated out from the omnibus bill that concerns land acquisition and criminal jurisdiction by the tribes. Two other bills related to the tribes that were carried over are a bill to provide Passamaquoddy tribal members access to clean drinking water and one to restore to the Penobscot Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribe the authority to exercise jurisdiction under the federal Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010.
Although technically still alive, a bill to give Washington County its own district attorney (DA) appears to have died for now. It is still on the special appropriations table, after the Senate failed to take it off the table by an 18 16 vote in July, even though it was part of the bipartisan budget agreement that was reached in June. Rep. Will Tuell of East Machias, the sponsor of the bill, says the bill will stay on the table "unless or until there are enough votes to remove it and send it to the governor's desk. She has indicated she won't sign it, as it would set a precedent and create a stampede of other counties wanting the same treatment." He expects the bill will now die on the table, noting that he cannot submit another bill at this point, as it is against the rules to have the same bill in two or more times in the same legislature.
Approval of the bill during the last session would have allowed it to be in effect for the district attorney election in November 2022, with the next election in 2026. Of the proposal, Tuell comments, "So it is essentially dead for another four years. The only way it could go into effect for this coming election would be if the Senate took it up our first day back in January and the governor were to sign it."
Bills rejected
Bills that were proposed by Washington County legislators that were not accepted by the Legislative Council include: a bill to help the lobster industry respond to new federal rules and regulations, proposed by Rep. Robert Alley of Beals; a bill to establish statewide residency restrictions for sex offenders, proposed by Senator Moore; bills proposed by Rep. Tuell to require local approval of the Machias causeway replacement project, to promote Maine seafood, to address the school bus driver shortage and to change the Maine public employees retirement system penalty for early retirement for members working as educators in the system from 1983 to 1993. At its October 26 meeting, the council accepted 107 of the 330 bills that were proposed by legislators. During a meeting to consider appeals by legislators on November 18, the council considered 105 appeals and accepted 46 bills.
Of the rejection of his bill to require local approval of the causeway project, Tuell comments, "I am very disappointed that Legislative Council did not defer to the voters of Machias and Marshfield. Regardless how anyone feels about the project itself, it is a matter of trusting the voters to make the right decision for their community."
As for the school bus driver bill, Tuell says he decided not to appeal the council's decision. "I think it is a bigger issue than a shortage of school bus drivers. We have a shortage of EMTs, police, other school workers and need to be figuring out ways to address the broader workforce issues. At least that is the rationale explained to me for why it went the way it did, and I can understand and accept that, because it certainly is true. Whether the next session addresses that issue is another story entirely, but we will see."
Other bills that were not accepted by the council but could have local impacts are one that proposes to protect communities from water extraction that is detrimental to aquifers, which was requested by Rep. Ben Collings; and a proposal to establish a commission on the future of Maine's intertidal lands, which was requested by Rep. Christopher Babbidge of Kennebunk. That bill could have affected the harvesting of rockweed, as the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2019 that permission from the upland landowner is now required for harvesting in the intertidal zone.
Two bills related to the tribes, both proposed by Rep. Collings, that were not accepted were a proposal regarding tribal gaming and one to add a tribal member to the Baxter State Park Authority. A tribal gaming bill, which had been part of the omnibus tribal sovereignty bill, was passed in the House and the Senate during the last session but was vetoed by Governor Janet Mills. The House, which had initially supported the bill by a 97 to 40 vote, then failed to override the veto, voting 80 to 53, with a two-thirds majority of those voting needed to override a veto. Rep. Collings' proposal would have been to have any tribe seeking to establish a casino to negotiate a gaming compact with the state legislature, instead of the executive branch. During the November 18 session by the Legislative Council to consider appeals of bills that initially had been turned down, the council voted 5 to 3 against allowing Rep. Collings' bill to move forward.