Maine Senate leadership convenes at the front of the chamber during session on April 11, 2024. (Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star)
Lawmakers introduced a bill during the latest legislative session to provide rent relief to thousands of Mainers, in response to an increase in evictions amid soaring housing costs. l During the course of the session, however, lawmakers pared back the measure to a study of tenant-landlord relationships.
That version seemed likely to become law. It passed the full Legislature, whose leadership then prioritized it among other studies competing for limited financial and staff resources, sending the plan to the governor for final approval.
“We had a lot of hope that the study would provide some insight that could be helpful in thinking about policy for next legislative session,” said Kathy Kilrain del Rio, advocacy and programs director at Maine Equal Justice. “It’s really disappointing to see that opportunity disappear because of procedural challenges.”
The governor declined to sign into law the bills sent to her desk on the final day of session, which included the tenant study and five other study bills. In a letter to the Legislature, Mills objected to additional spending and lawmakers taking action on measures aside from vetoes past the adjournment deadline of April 17.
Mills did not respond to requests for comment regarding why she declined to approve the study bills sent to her desk, which would not have added additional spending to the state budget.
Many of the proposed studies this year did not make it as far as the governor’s desk because of a process involving the “Special Study Table,” where lawmakers place bills after they pass both chambers if they involve legislative studies.
Bill started as rent relief but passed Legislature as study into tenant-landlord relationships
Of the 22 studies on the table this year, only four will be conducted — either measures authorized in 2023, the first of Maine’s two-year legislative cycle, or those included in the supplemental budget passed by the Legislature in the early morning of April 18.
After accounting for the four approved studies, the General Fund Miscellaneous Studies Budget has a balance of $31,065, which is set to be carried over into the next two-year session, which begins in January 2025.
However, some of the remaining studies may be conducted earlier by other means, including through possible executive order or if taken on by another state agency.
‘Study table’
The Legislative Council, composed of the ten highest ranking members of the Legislature, is responsible for the overall management of the Legislature, including the “study table.”
Aside from the four previously authorized studies, the Maine House of Representatives and Senate initially passed 18 other study bills this year, which aimed to look into the state’s transition to clean energy and the effects of chemical exposure on those who trained at the military base in Gagetown, New Brunswick, to name a few.
The Council has the authority to decide which studies to move ahead with.
This process is similar to the “Special Appropriations Table,” where bills end up when they pass the Legislature and cost money to implement but are not explicitly funded in the state budget. The appropriations table is run by the Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee.
Both the Appropriations Committee and the Legislative Council have the discretion to pass a bill as is, amend it or leave it on their respective tables. Bills left on these tables when the session finally adjourns automatically die.
This session, eight of the 22 studies on the table died this way. These included measures to study drug decriminalization, the voluntary waiver of firearm rights, and alternative methods to fund higher education, among others.
Technically, the Legislature passed an order allowing these unresolved bills to be carried over into a hypothetical special session — though lawmakers say at this point that is highly unlikely. “There are currently no discussions regarding the potential for a special session,” a spokesperson for House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) confirmed.
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The Legislative Council did vote to move ahead with ten of the other studies.
While there are many similarities between the “appropriations table” and “study table,” one key difference is the bills placed on the latter table also vye for staff resources, particularly more so than funding this year.
“We obviously have limited financial resources but that’s not so much the concern,” Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) said, when the Council made table decisions on April 30. “The concern is actually bodies.”
It’s common for the Legislative Council to provide staffing for these studies, generally two analysts from the non-partisan Office of Policy and Legal Analysis. Legislators may also serve on study commissions.
Of the 18 studies not previously authorized, 14 required legislative staffing, which Suzanne Gresser, executive director of the Legislature, said existing resources could not sufficiently support.
As a result, the Council made adjustments.
For example, a proposal to re-establish a commission to make recommendations on long-term care options was changed to be staffed by the long-term care ombudsman program. This was also the case for a proposed study of the state’s transition to clean energy, amended to be staffed by the University of Maine’s Bureau of Labor Education.
However, the changes made to those studies and two others needed to be approved by both the Senate and House, which didn’t take definitive action on the measures before finally adjoining on May 10.
The Senate enacted six study bills, including the tenant study, that the Legislative Council had approved without any changes, though Mills declined to sign them because of the dispute over the adjournment deadline. These also included the studies of chemical exposure at Gagetown, mandatory overtime at pulp and paper manufacturing facilities, modernizing the state’s subdivision statutes, the accessibility of communication methods for deaf and hard-of-hearing patients, and requirements for social workers licenses.
“There’s always studies that don’t get funded,” Kilrain del Rio, from Maine Equal Justice, said. “What’s unusual is that studies that did get funded didn’t become law because of the challenges at the end of session.”
Some studies still possible
While the future of these studies within the current Legislature is essentially sealed, some may be conducted through other means.
For example, studying the state’s transition to clean energy is already on the radar of the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
Lawmakers significantly pared back the bill that sought to study this issue. As originally proposed, the legislation would have limited natural gas expansion in Maine, a plan that saw pushback from gas utilities. Instead, lawmakers settled on a compromise that stripped the bill down to a study of the role of natural gas within Maine’s efforts to reach its climate goals, similar to those that have been conducted by other states, including nearby Massachusetts.
Maine Public Advocate William Harwood, whose office supported the bill, said there are outstanding concerns about who will be on the hook to pay for infrastructure investments if they end up not being needed, concerns that could be alleviated with the foresight a study could provide.
The bill’s failure to become law is not a statement by the Legislature that all is okay in the natural gas world, Harwood said, pointing to legislative support for the study before reaching the governor’s desk. “It’s a little bit like we scored the winning goal but the time had already run out,” Harwood said.
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However, the Maine Public Utilities Commission opened an inquiry directed its staff to look into this very issue in a decision released in January. The PUC approved additional contracts for a pipeline but also directed staff to look into how natural gas use is expected to change in response to Maine’s climate goals.
“We are hopeful that the PUC will do its own study,” Harwood said. “It has the authority without legislation to do that.”
Another study bill that failed to become law would have identified the scope of local school construction and renovation needs. This plan never made it to the governor because it did not get the enactment vote it needed in the House.
However, Rep. Michael Brennan (D-Portland), co-chair of the Legislature’s Education Committee, wants to make it happen outside of session.
“I’ve already spoken to the governor’s office about issuing an executive order creating a task force that would look at school construction,” Brennan said. “Obviously it’ll be different. It could be a different process and the executive order may read differently than what was in the original legislation, but I’m hoping by not a substantial amount.”
The governor did not respond to requests for comment about whether she is supportive of issuing such an order.
While alternative paths are not clear for all studies that did not come to fruition this year, advocates and lawmakers said they plan to regroup in the off-session to figure out a path forward.
For example, the bill sponsor for the study of the voluntary waiver of firearm rights plans to work independently on finding answers this summer before returning with a proposal next session, as reported by the Bangor Daily News.
Work is also expected to be done regarding the future of the tenant-landlord study, though next steps at this point are not clear.
“This isn’t an issue that’s going to go away,” Kilrain del Rio said. “We’ll continue to try to look at ways that we can explore it with legislators and try to make progress.”
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