AUGUSTA – House Democrats united Wednesday night to defeat nearly a dozen attempts to amend Gov. John E. Baldacci’s tax reform legislation during initial voting on the complicated proposal.

As a result of the preliminary 89-53 vote, LD 1 moves to the Senate today where at least six other amendments could be offered to the measure. House leaders expect the bill and a companion constitutional amendment proposal will receive final enactment later today.

Driven by last June’s referendum to increase the state’s share of local education funding, the bill incorporates a revamped formula for school funding known as Essential Programs and Services. The bill provides $250 million to begin the process of increasing the state’s share of local education costs from 43 percent to 55 percent over the next four years – a timetable opposed by most Republicans and a few Democrats.

Some lawmakers have argued the formula places rural communities at a disadvantage over service center areas and pits poorer northern towns against richer southern municipalities. Still, by changing the funding formula, adding new government spending caps and expanding existing tax relief programs, the governor maintains his policies will save the average property owner around $207 annually and diminish Maine’s status as one of the most heavily taxed states in the country.

Several of the proposed amendments focused on breaking the Essential Programs and Services component out of LD 1 and sending it to the Legislature’s Education Committee to fine-tune the bill and resolve flaws critics claim will adversely affect some communities. But the brunt of the debate centered on the implementation schedule for reaching a 55 percent state share of local education costs.

Many lawmakers would prefer to see that target reached within two years instead of Baldacci’s four-year plan. The accelerated ramp-up carries a price tag of an additional $104 million, and a plan to accomplish that goal submitted by Rep. Barbara E. Merrill, D-Appleton, came closest to succeeding. Merrill’s proposal, which directed the Legislature to identify funding for the increase within existing state resources, was defeated 75-72. Merrill argued the bill that was ultimately approved in the House broke faith with the majority of Mainers who voted in June for immediate education funding increases.

“No previous Legislature has ever had the audacity to even consider such an action,” she said. “We must not let expedience, convenience or loyalty to party lead us down that thorny path. The Maine Constitution gives the people the right to nullify our acts – not the other way around.”

Republicans like Rep. Vaughn Stedman of Hartland supported Merrill because they shared her interpretation of the June referendum results. He said public education was a high priority for Maine communities concerned with the quality and costs of services. But Reps. Hannah Pingree of North Haven and Ben Dudley of Portland argued there was no way the state could reach the funding goals identified by Merrill without gutting state programs.

“I have the greatest respect for Rep. Merrill, but I feel very strongly that adopting her amendment would be one of the most irresponsible things this body could do,” Dudley said.

Before the initial vote, a clearly frustrated group of Republicans held a meeting to determine their course of action after Democrats successfully held their members to defeat every GOP effort to amend LD 1. Democrats outnumber Republicans 76-73 in the House, which also includes one unenrolled member and a Green Independent Party representative. At least five Republicans left before the final vote battling flu symptoms or other illnesses.

Several members expressed frustration with the process, but others whose communities could reap as much as $1 million extra dollars under the bill said their constituents wanted them to vote for the measure. Ultimately, House Republican Leader David Bowles of Sanford told GOP members to vote their conscience and released the representatives from pursuing any party-line strategy for the bill.

At least one more attempt to devise a two-year implementation plan for the 55 percent funding target could be pursued today in the House through a bill that would increase the sales tax by a half-cent and extend the tax to currently exempt entertainment services.

Meanwhile, the governor and his staff are expected to persuade at least 12 more Republicans to support the bill in order to deliver two-thirds support in the House when a final vote for enactment is taken.