AUGUSTA, Maine — A key tribal-rights expansion narrowly cleared a major hurdle on Wednesday by winning two-thirds support in the Maine House of Representatives, increasing the odds that it can survive a likely veto from Gov. Janet Mills.
It was a victory for tribes and House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, a leading progressive who has aggressively taken on her party’s governor on this subject in recent weeks and needed to woo Republicans to advance her bill. Mills dug in against the measure while lawmakers expedited it to the chamber floors over the past week.
After lawmakers delayed action until 2024 on a wider sovereignty measure, this bill became the top priority of Talbot Ross and tribes. It would still be a major overhaul of the landmark 1980 settlement that granted tribes here money in exchange for being regulated like cities and towns, leaving them without the sweeping powers enjoyed by other U.S. tribes.
The measure passed the House in a 100-47 vote on Wednesday that was deeply uncertain until a roll call that two tribal chiefs and other officials watched from the gallery above the House chamber. It faces further votes in both chambers. The Senate is expected to easily approve it. This calculus put House Republicans in the spotlight on Wednesday.
One source watching the matter closely said in the morning that the vote total was either slightly above or below the required two-thirds margin. Observers were closely watching the House boards as votes came in. Eighteen Republicans supported the measure, and only Reps. Bill Bridgeo of Augusta and Anne-Marie Mastraccio of Sanford opposed it among Democrats.
Debate opened with Republicans jousting to persuade their colleagues. A key supporter, Rep. John Andrews of Paris, aimed a speech in support of the measure squarely at conservatives whose “roots run deep securing liberty and self-determination for free people.”
“This is about first, incremental steps toward a bigger change,” non-voting Rep. Aaron Dana of the Passamaquoddy Tribe said.
The Talbot Ross bill aims to change state law to granting tribes access to federal laws that do not automatically apply to them under the 1980 settlement. It is a state version of an approach contained in a federal bill led by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from the 2nd District.
Both Mills and U.S. Sen. Angus King, a former independent governor who caucuses with Democrats in the Senate, worked against Golden’s bill in Congress. At a committee hearing last week, Mills’ chief lawyer called it vague, “legally bizarre” and perhaps unconstitutional because the settlement relied on congressional approval.
Democrats and Andrews moved the bill out of the judiciary panel over criticism from other Republicans that they were not given enough time to understand the complex issues at play. Opponents repeated those concerns on Wednesday, including Rep. Jennifer Poirier, R-Skowhegan, a committee member who called the bill overly broad.
“I know your passion for this bill, and I know your intentions are pure,” Poirier told Talbot Ross. “But it’s of the utmost importance that every member of this body is aware of the implications of our actions today.”
Supporters, led by Andrews, made changes to the bill to address concerns from the governor and the forest products industry. It would not allow Maine tribes to prosecute certain serious crimes and hold that Maine law continues to trump federal statutes on gambling. Environmental laws are also left out of the bill, and it could be repealed in full if a court finds it ineffective.
The novel $81.5 million settlement settled a massive tribal claim to roughly two-thirds of Maine. While tribes signed onto the deal, they have regretted the decision. Harvard University researchers released a study last year finding other tribes saw 61 percent growth in per capita income from 1989 to 2020 compared with just 9 percent for Maine tribes.
Mills has a long and complicated history with tribes. As attorney general before being elected governor in 2018, she fought them on issues including water quality standards. Tribes and a coalition of progressive groups tried to elevate that issue in her crowded Democratic primary that year. As governor, she came to a deal with tribes on that subject.
Another compromise came last year when Mills agreed to hand a new mobile sports betting market to the tribes in lieu of a Talbot Ross sovereignty proposal that the governor effectively blocked. When the House speaker invited tribal chiefs to give a historic address to the Legislature in February, the governor did not attend, citing a scheduling conflict.
