Release: Maine Policy submits more than 3,000 signatures in support of reconvening the Maine Legislature
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2020
Contact: Jacob Posik
Director of Communications
Office: 207.321.2550
Cell: 207.240.7064
Maine Policy Institute Submits Petition to Presiding Officers to Reconvene the Maine Legislature, Signed by More Than 3,000 Mainers
PORTLAND, Maine – Maine Policy Institute today sent a letter and petition with more than 3,000 signatures of Maine voters urging House Speaker Sara Gideon and Senate President Troy Jackson to bring legislators back to work and involve Maine people in the state’s recovery. The letter includes a narrow agenda with emergency legislation for lawmakers to consider upon their return.
“Maine people deserve a voice in the state’s response to this pandemic,” CEO Matthew Gagnon said. “Businesses are closing permanently and jobs are being lost forever due to the governor’s heavy-handed approach. It’s time to restore regular order in Augusta by reconvening the people’s representatives to conduct the people’s work.”
The emergency legislation Maine Policy recommends includes making permanent the medical licensing and telehealth rules suspended by Governor Mills during the pandemic, repealing Maine’s certificate of need law, and reforming emergency executive power, among others. The letter also includes recommendations on how to spend the remaining federal funding made available to Maine under the CARES Act.
“It is irresponsible to hold onto CARES Act funding with the hope of Congress relaxing rules on how states can spend it,” Gagnon said. “Instead, we should focus on providing immediate relief to struggling Maine families and business owners whose lives have been upended by the pandemic and our state government’s misguided response to it.”
Read the full letter sent to Speaker Gideon and Senate President Jackson here.
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Maine Policy Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that conducts detailed and timely research to educate the public, the media, and lawmakers about public policy solutions that advance economic freedom and individual liberty in Maine. Learn more at www.mainepolicy.org.