Update – Land for Maine’s Future

Foxes are among the many animals hunted and trapped in Maine.

Note: What follows is a sequel to Slumbering But Not Dead published here last week.

As expected, Maine’s governor Janet Mills has called for a special legislative session beginning next Monday August 26 to discuss Land for Maine’s Future (LMF) and other bonds. Click here for details: https://www.pressherald.com/2019/08/19/maine-legislature-returns-to-work-next-week/.

The Governor’s new strategy is to keep reducing the cost of her bond package.  It was originally $239,000,000 and is now down to $163,000,000 with more cuts still possible.  The theory is simple; the less taxpayers have to borrow to support these bonds, the more likely it is that the bonds will pass not only by the 2/3 of the legislature but also by the voters themselves.

This approach has already been used on LD 911, the bill to fund LMF heard on June 17 by the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee.  911 was soundly rejected as written by the vast majority of those who testified, yet ‘carried over’ to next year or included in the forthcoming special session to decide the fate of LD 1836, also known as ‘The Governor’s Bill.

Originally, LD 911 requested $75,000,000 for LMF funds.  The figure was dropped to $30,000 when LD 911 was subsumed into LD 1836 and reduced again to $20,000,000 and combined with other unrelated measures.  Again, the strategy is clear: keep decreasing the funds asked for, pair the LMF bill with other requests having no direct connection to it, and bundle it with three other bonds in the same legislative package.

Hopefully, that package (LD 1836) will then slip in under the radar and all of it will be approved by representatives and senators only five days before the  deadline of August 30 after which it will be too late for the bonds to appear on the November ballot.

The result of all this maneuvering is an omnibus bill designed to be accepted or rejected in its entirety and containing individual proposals that should be considered separately, not as part of a deal wherein legislators approve measures they don’t want in order to get those they do.

Each of these bonds (and there are four separate ones in LD 1836) requires the careful and considered judgment that all legislation deserves, especially ones that increase the public debt and require taxpayers to pick up the tab, This is not a time to rush to judgment and make financial commitments we may come to regret.

Separating 1836’s four bonds will help return the focus to the original LMF bill. However, having been wrapped up with other proposals, it’s no longer identified as LD 911, though it continues to retain in its legal boilerplate (though not on the ballot) the mandate that hunting, trapping and fishing must be allowed on any property (except working waterfront projects and farm and farmland protection projects) funded by LMF even though the H/T/F requirement was strenuously opposed during LD 911’s hearing back in June of this year.

When I first came across this mandate, I wondered what ever happened to freedom of choice as well as local control, not to mention transparency. Other Mainers may wonder about the same thing. After all, why should we be told what activities to allow on property conserved with money that we taxpayers have to borrow ourselves and then repay with interest?    Decisions about land usage should be made on an individual basis and at the local level by those familiar with the property under their control – managers whose judgments are made on a case-by-case basis according to the particular conservation/ecological needs of the land in question. That’s far more democratic than the blanket approach mandated by LMF now, one that most Mainers probably don’t know about and which has not been made public.  Shouldn’t we have a say in making decisions about our locally conserved land?

We do have a say if we act now – but what do we say?

We should also ask what kind of activities we are being asked to support under the hunting trapping fishing mandate – ambushing bears as they feed over human junk food; hounding animals using dogs with GPS collars so they can be torn to pieces or shot out of trees; holding wildlife and the occasional pet against its will until it can be killed or beaten to death by the trapper – classic animal abuse by any definition but legal in Maine.  Unfortunately, these considerations may not resonate with as many people as they should.

Other points already mentioned may well have a greater chance of success  – lumping disparate proposals together in an omnibus bill containing not one but four distinct bonds so that none of them gets the full attention that should be required of any serious legislation; loss of local control and freedom of choice over the best use of conserved land and what types of recreation are appropriate for the land in question; depriving voters of vital information by not including the H/T/F mandate in the ballot language.

When we know what to say, who do we say it to?   Here are some recommendations:

E-mail the legislative leaders in both the House and Senate before Monday, August 26 when the Special Session begins. They are the ones that the Governor has been (or will be) talking to and they should know what we think

Dana.Dow@legislature.maine.gov

Kathleen.Dillingham@legislature.maine.gov

Sara.Gideon@legislature.maine.gov

Matt.Moonen@legislature.maine.gov

Nathan.Libby@legislature.maine.gov

Troy.Jackson@legislature.maine.gov

Dow is the Senate Minority Leader (Republican), Dillingham is the House Minority Leader (also Republican).  All of the following are Democrats -Gideon is the Speaker of the House, Moonen is Senate Majority Leader, Libby is the Senate Democratic Leader, and Troy Jackson is the Senate President. Please consider putting ‘Special Session’ in the subject line of your e-mail.

Also consider contacting your local legislators.  You can locate them here:

https://legislature.maine.gov/senate-home-page/find-your-state-senator

http://legislature.maine.gov/house/house/MemberProfiles/ListAlpha

Above all, you need to act, and not have others act for you.  Each one of us can make a positive difference if we speak out against cruelty, deception and loss of both local control as well as freedom of choice.  The difference will be even greater if more of us speak together giving voice to the values we all share.

Don Loprieno is a published author who has maintained a life-long interest in education,  history., and more recently, the welfare of animals, both wild and domestic. He lives in Bristol, Maine where he is active in community affairs.  

 

 

 

 

 

Slumbering But Not Dead

Lynx, as well as bobcat, fox and other wildlife and the occasional pet are all trapped in Maine.

Here in Maine, we’ve heard nothing about LDs 911 and I836 this summer because the legislature has not been in session, but that doesn’t mean that the Democrats and Republicans haven’t been talking to each other with some kind of deal in mind.  Let’s review what’s happened so far.

The Land for Maine’s Future Bill (LD 911) was heard on June 17 by the Appropriations and Financial Affairs (AFA) Committee.  Of the 70 people who testified, 54 rejected the bill as written, citing their opposition to the requirement that any land (with a few exceptions like working waterfront) that accepted LMF funds must allow hunting, trapping and fishing.

Only two legislators testified for the bill even though there were over 100 co-sponsors. Also, even though there were approximately 50 land trusts and similar organizations that publicly supported LMF, only a few of those testified and none of them mentioned the hunting/trapping mandate which they never do anyway. By contrast, the vast majority of those who testified indicated that if that mandate were deleted they would support 911. The strength of this opposition is an important step forward.

That message was received loud and clear by the committee which is why instead of being voted on and possibly being defeated, LD 911was ‘carried over’ until next year or until a special session is called either later this month or early September. The special session is a distinct possibility if 911 is re-visited and passed in time to be included on the ballot in November. In fact, August 30 is the deadline for bond language to be placed before the voters. See https://www.pressherald.com/2019/08/14/state-transportation-officials-on-edge-as-bond-deadline-looms/

LD 1836 is another reason why a special session is likely.  Why? Because 911 (with the hunting trapping requirement intact) has been combined with a number of other bond proposals into an effort called the “Governor’s Bill’ (LD 1836) which includes all of the bond issues ($239,000,000 worth on top of an $8,000,000,000 state budget) that she supports.  The strategy is a simple one with a long history of deception and trade-offs.

In the case of LMF, you bundle it with other unrelated measures in the hope that it will draw less notice and less opposition.  You also reduce the loan amount from $75,000,000 to $30,000,000 to increase its chance of passage, and then wrap it up with other bonds into a smorgasbord of text, numbers, and proposals in a something-or-nothing proposition called an omnibus bill. Its intent is to encourage legislators to compromise by voting for or against the entire package, supporting bills they don’t want to get some they do.

Near the very end of the last session in June, LD 1836 was approved by the ALA committee and the Senate but failed in the House largely because of Republican opposition, but it will be back sooner rather than later. Those who keep concealing the hunting/trapping/fishing mandate from the public are hoping that nobody will notice this blackmail provision brought about by a small minority of special interests, and that the public will lose track of the bills that require it.

In the meanwhile, the clock is ticking and it’s getting louder by the day, especially because any bond needs the support of 2/3 of both legislative houses and a majority of Maine voters before it’s approved- all the more reason while the legislature slumbers (though perhaps not for long) for us to be awake, alert and informed.

Don Loprieno is a published author who has maintained a life-long interest in education,  history., and more recently, the welfare of animals, both wild and domestic. He lives in Bristol, Maine where he is active in community affairs.