Legislators leave for Easter break No progress made in budget stalemate

AUGUSTA – Most members of the Legislature packed up their desks Friday and prepared for a 10-day vacation from bills, hearings and political wrangling.

Advising their members to rest up in anticipation of a more demanding schedule later this month, House Speaker Michael V. Saxl, D-Portland, and Senate President Pro Tem Richard Bennett, R-Norway, expect morning and evening sessions to expand to four days a week beginning April 24.

“We’re just going to keep working through until we get our work done,” Saxl said.

Meanwhile, the legislative leaders reported no substantive progress in resolving stalemated budget talks, which have been deadlocked since last month.

It could not be determined Friday how many of the nearly 1,800 bills currently before the 120th Legislature have been reported out of their respective reference committees. However, Bennett said about 500 bills need further fiscal analysis or drafting and that much of next week will be used to tie up loose ends on that legislation.

“If we didn’t actually shut the committees down to give the staff a chance to actually deal with that bottleneck, it would constrain our ability going forward to actually deal with things in a sensible way,” he said.

Committees will begin meeting again April 24 with the goal of reporting the bulk of the legislation out of committee by the end of the day April 27. A few panels, however, have been given an extended May 4 deadline due to an unusually heavy workload. While most lawmakers will be off on holiday vacation next week, legislators assigned to the Appropriations, Labor, and State and Local Government committees will continue to maintain their regular hearing schedules.

Budget negotiations have been going on behind the scenes, but have focused more on clarifying the competing positions of the House and Senate rather than finding common ground.

“I would prefer to see the budget as amended by the Senate pass and be enacted,” said Bennett. “It’s a good budget. It meets current services without increasing taxes, which we don’t need to do. It also cuts the income tax for veterans who have Social Security and meets a lot of other needs.”

Saxl said House members were continuing to outline their budget priorities and meeting whenever possible with the Senate.

“There’s still some difference between the bodies, but we’re talking and we hope that the Senate will continue to work with us,” Saxl said. “We’re looking forward to working with them.”

Saxl and Bennett said budget talks are expected to continue into early May. The Legislature’s statutory date for adjournment is June 20, but both men held out hope that the session could conclude by the end of next month.