A tight vote is expected Thursday on one of the highest-profile items facing Maine lawmakers in 2023.
It is on the tribal-rights measure that has split Gov. Janet Mills from virtually all of her fellow Democrats and put a small group of House Republicans who have backed the bill at the center of the action.
Mills handed down an expected veto on the subject last week. Just before that, House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, shepherded it through her chamber with the two-thirds support that will be needed later today to override the governor’s veto.
The Senate has easily cleared that mark on the bill, which attempts to change state law by letting tribes benefit from federal laws that they are currently shut out from under the terms of a 1980 settlement. If everyone maintains their position, the tribes will win and Mills will have the first veto of her tenure overridden.
But the governor has been trying to flip lawmakers on the issue, and some Republicans are wavering. Rep. Amanda Collamore, R-Pittsfield, said earlier this week that she was going to read Mills’ veto letter and had concerns about the bill, while Rep. Mark Babin, R-Fort Fairfield, cited similar concerns but said he will stick by his vote.
That adds up to just smoke and no fire for now. But any defections could be fatal for the bill. Talbot Ross and the tribes won 100 votes in the House last month with four absences. They are going to need 101 if all members are present, putting this vote up in the air.
Nobody is fully confident right now. One source monitoring the tally advised a reporter to “give it 3 votes either way,” saying it depends on who is there and who is not.
Tribes could bring the measure back next year, with some Republicans who have called the current version somewhat rushed pledging to talk more about it through the summer. But getting it through now would be the biggest political victory yet for the tribes given the resources Mills has drawn from to try to kill it.