Maine: Legislature

AUGUSTA, Maine — The father of a student who was among the victims at Colorado’s Columbine High School nearly a decade ago will be in Maine on Monday to make a case for passage of a gun control bill, one of several before the Legislature’s public safety committee.

Tom Mauser will speak in the State House on behalf of a bill to require that all persons purchasing firearms at gun shows undergo a national instant criminal background check. The bill, supported by Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence, is one of several gun-related measures before the committee.

One of the other bills would require that private transfers of firearms be facilitated by federally licensed firearms dealers, who must request a criminal history record check.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Members of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee got bad news Tuesday as the state Economic Forecasting Commission reported the recession will further reduce state revenues over the next two years, but the revised estimates won’t be available until May 1.

“We know we will have less revenue than when we started work on the budget,” said Rep. Emily Cain, D-Orono, co-chair of the committee. “We are going to have to take the mind-set that we will have less money, and we need to do things that will structurally change government to lower costs.”

University of Southern Maine economics professor Charles Colgan, chairman of the forecasting group, said the state would continue to have a net loss of jobs over the next two years.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Democratic leaders in the State House are gearing up for a major debate over tax reform next week on their proposal to collect fewer taxes from Maine residents and more from out-of-staters.

Lawmakers are considering a variety of tax-reduction measures this session dealing with everything from levies on new cars and trucks to the amount the state treasury skims from individuals’ paychecks.

At 1 p.m. Thursday, the Legislature’s Taxation Committee will hear public comments on a plan to replace Maine’s four-tier income tax structure, which has a top tax rate of 8.5 percent, with a flat tax of 6.5 percent. The bill’s authors predict that with the numerous tax credits built into the proposed system, most Mainers would pay substantially less than 6.

AUGUSTA, Maube — Legislators on Wednesday wanted to hear from state fisheries officials about why regulators wanted to cancel the second half of Maine’s scallop season.

David Etnier, deputy commissioner for the state Department of Marine Resources, told the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee that the decision, which later was changed to spot closures along the coast, was not prompted by a wealth of empirical data.

It often takes time to collect scientific data about Maine’s marine resources, he said, so regulators often have to balance the anecdotal evidence they hear with historical trends when making quick decisions.

“We don’t have exhaustive scientific information on any of our fisheries,” Etnier told the committee.