The Latest: Panel keeps lodging tax hike but delays start
The Latest on the Maine state budget shutdown (all times local):
11:45 p.m.
A legislative panel negotiating the Maine state budget has voted to keep an increase of the lodging tax but delay implementation by a month.
The increase from 9 percent to 10.5 percent was originally proposed to go into effect in October. The panel was evenly divided late Sunday on eliminating that tax increase before voting 5-1 to delay implementation until November.
Republican Gov. Paul LePage has said he won't support a budget with a tax increase.
The panel was meeting to try to come up with a plan to send to the state House and Senate on Monday.
Republican Rep. Tom Winsor says he can't recommend the budget because the lodging tax remains in place.
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10:15 p.m.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage is granting administrative leave to workers on Monday, treating it liked an extended holiday.
The Republican said Sunday evening he was exercising the same authority he does when closing state offices the day before or after holidays including Christmas and Thanksgiving. He says the move will ensure workers get paid when the state government shutdown ends.
The announcement came as a six-person panel prepared to continue its work reviewing the latest budget proposal.
Approval by the committee could set the stage for final votes Monday.
The House Republicans who torpedoed a budget compromise Friday are behind the latest budget proposal. They believe their new spending plan can pass and end the impasse. The new proposal includes the same $162 million boost in funding for K-12 education but would end a proposed increase in the state lodging tax.
LePage says he won't sign a bill that increases taxes.
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7 p.m.
Republican Maine Gov. Pau LePage is chastising state lawmakers for failing to reach a budget agreement, saying it's time for put aside "petty egos and feelings" and get back to "working for the Maine people."
The governor posted a video Sunday on Facebook urging lawmakers to send him a budget without any tax increases — and with a statewide teacher contract pilot program.
In the video, LePage said "the time for delay is over."
A six-member panel was expected to meet Sunday evening to go through the proposal line by line, but rank-and-file lawmakers were sent home.
The panel must agree to a budget before the full Legislature can vote. That means the earliest the House and Senate can vote would be Monday, the third day of the shutdown.
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4:40 p.m.
A House clerk has emptied trash and a state lawmaker has done some sweeping around the Maine Statehouse as a special budget panel hashes out details of a budget proposal.
The six-member panel was supposed to meet Sunday afternoon to go through the latest proposal line by line. There was a lot of waiting for everyone else.
Some even resorted to tidying up.
The same House Republicans who torpedoed a budget compromise Friday night are behind the latest budget proposal. They believe their new spending plan can pass and end the impasse.
The panel must agree to a budget before the full Legislature can vote. Lawmakers were told that there will be no full House or Senate session before Monday at the earliest.
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1:55 p.m.
Maine lawmakers have been told that there will be no votes by the full House and Senate on a budget compromise before Monday.
A six-member conference committee is continuing its work, however, and officials planned to go through the latest proposal line by line Sunday.
Approval by the committee could set the stage for final votes Monday.
Lawmakers were told Sunday that there would be no full sessions of the House and Senate before then.
The same House Republicans who torpedoed a budget compromise Friday night are behind the latest budget proposal. They believe their new spending plan can pass and end the impasse.
The new proposal includes the same $162 million boost in funding for K-12 education but would end a proposed increase in the state lodging tax.
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11:35 a.m.
A six-member conference panel is delving into details of a new budget proposal aimed at ending a state government shutdown in Maine.
Things got off to a rocky start Sunday.
Democratic House Speaker Sara Gideon said she could "barely contain" her fury upon learning that there were further changes beyond what was discussed the evening before.
Republican Rep. Tom Winsor responded that there wasn't "anything nefarious" afoot.
Gideon said the panel could meet several times Sunday as it goes through the proposal line by line in hopes of producing something that can be voted on in the House and Senate.
The new proposal calls for $162 million in increased education spending but eliminates a proposed lodging tax increase. There are other changes, as well.
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12:03 a.m.
Lawmakers are set to return to the Maine State House to try to end a budget stalemate that has sent a government shutdown into its second day.
Maine state government went into partial shutdown on Saturday because of the state's failure to approve a new two-year budget. It's Maine's first shutdown in 25 years. Lawmakers will be back in Augusta on Sunday morning.
House Republicans shot down $162 million in increased education spending in a proposed two-year, $7.1 billion budget on Friday night. But they say they believe their new spending plan can pass and end the impasse.
The new proposal must first pass a budget conference committee. That committee is scheduled to reconvene at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. If the committee approves it, it could go to the full Legislature