A bill that will help the state’s law enforcement agencies protect victims of domestic violence had its first hearing in the State House on Wednesday. The bill, sponsored by Maine House Democratic Leader Emily Ann Cain on behalf of Governor Paul LePage, addresses the response to high risk situations of domestic and sexual violence.

“While we may never be able to guarantee that we can end all domestic violence forever, we know we can do better,” said Cain while presenting the bill to the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.” We must take proactive steps to identify where such attacks are imminent and prevent them.”

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The Maine People’s Alliance today joins the calls for an investigation into the conduct of Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner and former corporate lobbyist Mary Mayhew for providing incorrect budgetary information to the Legislature which played a role in the loss of all health care for more than 14,000 Mainers and service cuts for hundreds of thousands more.

“This is what happens when you put ideology and political cronyism ahead of the health care needs of the people of Maine,” said MPA Executive Director Jesse Graham. “This result was foreseen from the very beginning. The legislators who voted against Mayhew’s confirmation warned that she was being appointed for ideological reasons and that her background as a corporate lobbyist didn’t prepare her to run such a complex and vitally important organization.”

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A bill that would create a treatment court for veterans suffering from drug addiction and mental illness passed its first hurdle today, gaining unanimous support from the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.

“This is an important first step towards meeting the unique needs of our veterans,” said bill sponsor Rep. Maeghan Maloney who sponsored the legislation. “The legislation will now move forward so we can stop treating some veterans like criminals instead of heroes.”

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State lawmakers heard public testimony today on measures to strengthen procedures for setting bail conditions, sentencing, and offender release notifications in domestic violence cases. The legislation comes in the aftermath of the triple murder of Amy Lake and her children by the children’s father last year in Dexter, Maine.

“The events last year in Dexter show how domestic violence can rock communities, destroy lives, and forever scar our state,” said Rep. Emily Cain, D-Orono, the House Democratic Leader, during testimony on her bill to improve procedures used to set bail. “While Maine has one of the lowest murder rates in the nation, year after year, over half of those murders are directly related to domestic violence.”

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Portland lawmaker Rep. Mark Dion unveiled new information that shows Treasurer Bruce Poliquin is actively engaging in commerce as real estate developer under Dirigo Holdings, LLC. Public documents reveal that 92 residential units on a 183 acre-parcel are being developed by Dirigo Holdings, with some properties aggressively marketed for sale under his real estate development in the Popham Woods Condominium in Phippsburg.

The new information was disclosed as part of the Treasurer’s amendment to the Ethics Commission regarding his income disclosure form.  In his response to an Ethics complaint against him, he does not disclose that he is the developer of the $17 million Popham Woods Condominium. Instead, he says that he has an “investment” and that his bookkeeper operates and manages the real estate development.

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Maine Senate and House Democratic leaders said the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee will continue work to find alternative solutions to resolve the immediate shortfall in the Department of Health and Human Services Budget despite premature threats from the governor to veto the budget.

“The latest plan is full of gimmicks and built on false savings. It continues to cannibalize state government to support an out-of-control welfare program,” said Gov.LePage.

The reality is Maine’s welfare program is not out of control. The Appropriations Committee are in the process of finding bipartisan solutions to the shortfall LePage’s budget has caused. Democratic leaders said lawmakers will ignore the governor’s veto threat and do what is best for Maine people.

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Portland City Manager Mark Rees announced the selection of Acting Police Chief Michael Sauschuck as the city’s next Police Chief. Rees will formally present Sauschuck for City Council confirmation at the February 6, 2012 meeting. Upon confirmation, Sauschuck will become the nineteenth Police Chief to serve the city.

“I am very excited to make this announcement,” stated City Manager Rees. “After a rigorous and competitive search, I am confident that we have found the right person for the position. Mike’s commitment to public service, the police department and the community is unparalleled. He knows and loves this city, and the community will be well served by the Police Department being under his leadership.”

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“On April 1st, the state of Maine will default, it will not have money to pay the fourth quarter of 2012 Medicaid payments,” Gov. LePage said after he interrupted the work of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee.

The state’s fiscal year begins in July giving lawmakers three months to work out the issue. LePage went on to tell legislators that their failure to cut $221 million from the budget will force him seek cuts to state education to close the gap.

“I will be calling you back and asking you to give the GPA money so that I don’t have to close nursing homes and we will probably close schools, ” he said. “Or by Feb. 1st, you give me curtailment orders so I can start saving money. This is not normal politics, this not rhetoric.”

But this issue would not be able to be classified under a curtailment order.

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A measure that would protect students from bullying in Maine schools was stalled today during a work session of the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. The bill nearly passed into law in 2011 but was sent back to the Education Committee at the last minute in the face of opposition from the Christian Civic League.

“Maine students can’t afford for this bill to be delayed any longer,” said Rep. Terry Morrison, who sponsored the bill and has strongly advocated for it after hearing from hundreds of students and parents in his district. “While this measure gets held up by unnecessary political wrangling, students in schools across our state are being threatened and bullied by their peers.”

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Democratic State Rep. Anna Blodgett of Augusta introduced a bill to help protect children by making it a crime to fail to report a missing child under the age of 13 within 48 hours or to fail to cooperate with an investigation into the death of a child. She presented her legislation before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on January 19.

“I submitted this bill and proposed amendments because it is a tragedy that children go missing every day and we should be doing everything we can to try and find them,” said Rep. Blodgett. “I was contacted by over 100 constituents who shared my concerns and asked me to submit a bill.”

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