Recreational Marijuana In Maine Up For Debate At Special Legislative Session

AUGUSTA, ME — Recreational marijuana sales and the future of a new voting system approved at the polls last fall are both at stake in a special legislative session of Maine lawmakers.

Republican Gov. Paul LePage ordered lawmakers to return Monday to debate the issues, as well as to fix problems in the food sovereignty law and to provide funding for the Maine Office of Geographic Information Systems.

A Maine legislative panel has largely agreed on a rewrite of the marijuana law that would go into effect in 2019, while LePage is proposing that lawmakers simply delay sales until 2019. Adult possession of recreational marijuana became legal this year in Maine.

Lawmakers also hope to find a solution to a new voter-approved system that allows voters to rank their top candidate choices rather than just picking one. The House voted 74-64 midday Monday to keep ranked choice voting in place for federal races and for primaries for statewide races, such as for governor. The matter now heads to the Senate.

Justices of Maine's highest court this spring issued a non-binding, advisory opinion saying the ranked-choice voting system is unconstitutional for some elections.

The governor on Monday took steps to reverse his weekend move to withdraw the nominations of five judicial reappointments. House Speaker Sara Gideon, a Freeport Democrat, said she received word from LePage that he was withdrawing the nominations on Sunday, less than a day before the reappointment confirmations were expected by the Senate.

But LePage effectively put the nominations back in play in a letter he sent to Republican Senate President Mike Thibodeau. The Republican governor nominated the justices in September, and the Senate confirmed the justices during Monday's special session.

LePage also said meat and poultry must be exempted from the food sovereignty law so state officials can continue to regulate those products. If not, he said the federal government will step in to regulate.

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