Getting to work

Whether shopping for groceries, walking around my neighborhood or spending time with friends and family, I’ve had folks ask me again and again: When is the Legislature going back into session? What do you do during the summer? Now is a good time to explain some of the legislative work I have been doing. Even though lawmakers are not reporting to the State House almost every day like we do when we are in session, I’ve been busy advocating for constituents trying to get unemployment benefits and preparing to go back into session over these past several months.

In mid-March of this year, lawmakers voted unanimously to adjourn early, because of the coronavirus pandemic. We didn’t know what the future held, but we wanted to prioritize the health and well-being of lawmakers, staff, and people all over Maine that we could potentially put at risk by traveling back and forth to Augusta. When we ended the session, we did so with the understanding that when it was safe, we would reconvene to finish our work.

In May, once we could establish proper precautions to protect the safety of legislators, the Labor and Housing Committee met to host a briefing about the status, and challenges, of Maine’s unemployment insurance system. Soon after, different legislative committees followed suit and held meetings to accomplish some of their outstanding work and to address timely issues. I chair the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, and we held a briefing with Commissioner Mike Sauschuck to discuss questions about the fusion centers between the Maine State Police and federal agencies.

While we did this work, I knew there would soon come a point when lawmakers would have to go back into session. If we didn’t, that would mean many of bills that we had already spent hours working on would never have a chance to receive a final vote and become law. These bills would do things like expand access to affordable, high-quality health care, protect our natural resources and address issues in our criminal justice system. To me, not coming back to finish our work would be a failure as lawmakers to represent and advocate for our constituents to the best of our ability.

These past few weeks, my committee met several times to discuss a variety of bills that still needed work before they could be sent to the entire Legislature for their final votes. To participate in these meetings, some folks reported in via Zoom and others met at the State House with their face masks. Unfortunately, out of the 13 members on the committee, four out of the five Republicans declined to participate in these committee meetings entirely.

This is concerning to me. By not having certain legislators show up to the committee they have been assigned to, one of the most fundamental parts of their role as lawmakers, they are saying that their voice on the committee does not matter, that the unique interests of their constituents do not matter and that they are neglecting their duty. Without committee votes, bills cannot move on to the full Legislature to determine if they will become law. If these four legislators aren’t willing to do the hard work it takes to participate in committee, how can we trust them to stand up for their constituents in other aspects of their work?

As legislators, we all know that there will be a time where we have to go back into session to vote on these outstanding bills and finally close the chapter on the 129th Legislature. Republicans initially supported this idea in May, but when push came to shove, a significant majority of them declined to participate in a poll that non-partisan staff put together to determine which lawmakers felt comfortable returning. This is not right — constituent representation is in jeopardy and this is not how democracy works. I know my colleagues, regardless of what party they come from, can do better. I encourage my fellow lawmakers to support coming back into session because the democratic process matters.

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