1 week Ago
The Maine Senate meets Tuesday in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Supporters of a people’s veto initiative to block Maine’s two-year state budget will soon be able to begin collecting signatures now that the state has approved language for the petitions. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows on Monday released the official language, which also will appear on the statewide ballot if the long-shot effort is successful.
The question is: “Do you want to stop most state government operations and programs, including new and ongoing state funding for cities, towns, and schools, by rejecting the state’s two-year budget?” A group of six current and former Republican lawmakers led by Rep. Gary Drinkwater, R-Milford, filed paperwork with the secretary of state’s office last month to initiate a people’s veto of the two-year, $11.3 billion budget passed by Democrats.
The legislation is scheduled to take effect at the end of June, in time for the start of the next fiscal year on July 1. Drinkwater said last month that the people’s veto effort is being made in response to concerns about the tax increases that may be proposed in the next phase of budget work, as well as Republicans being “shut out of the budget process.” The effort could leave Maine without an approved budget for a period of time.
Even submitting the required number of signatures would pause implementation before a vote, the secretary of state’s office said. However, organizers have only two months to meet the deadline. The applicants have until 5 p.
m. on June 18 to submit at least 67,682 signatures from registered Maine voters to the secretary of state’s office to pause implementation of the budget and send the question to voters in November. We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers.
At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It’s a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. Read more.
.. We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
For those stories that we do enable discussion, our system may hold up comments pending the approval of a moderator for several reasons, including possible violation of our guidelines. As the Maine Trust’s digital team reviews these comments, we ask for patience. Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday and limited hours on Saturday and Sunday.
Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use . More information is found on our FAQs .
You can modify your screen name here . Show less Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe .
Questions? Please see our FAQs . Your commenting screen name has been updated. Send questions/comments to the editors.
« Previous.
