The Maine Legislature was back at it last week. We adjourned in early August, but were called back for a special session on Oct. 23 that went late into the evening.

Much of our time was spent debating the new recreational marijuana law. As you will recall, Maine voters approved recreational marijuana last November, but the bill was filled with flaws that would have impacted public safety. For that reason, the Legislature appointed a “Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee.” The committee passed a number of recommendations in the form of a single bill, and the House and Senate both passed that bill during the special session. Its fate is now in the hands of the governor.

If the governor were to veto the bill and the Legislature didn’t have the votes to override the veto, we would be back at square one with the original recreational marijuana bill the Legislature passed, and all of its flaws.

The bill imposes a 20 percent tax on recreational marijuana. Half of that is a sales tax and the other half is an excise tax. It also stipulates that five percent of sales tax proceeds go to towns and cities that have businesses that sell the drug. 

I am not certain that this is enough. It seems to me that local municipalities are going to have their plates full regulating recreational marijuana sales. I recognize that many of my constituents are against marijuana legalization, altogether, but it is the law of the land. For that reason, I want to ensure communities that allow the sales of the drug have all of the resources they need for proper oversight.

The unresolved issue of ranked choice voting also went in front of lawmakers again. This was another voter-approved measure from last year’s election. But following the vote, Maine’s Supreme Court ruled in an advisory opinion that ranked choice voting is unconstitutional under Maine law. During the special session, we considered a number of bills; among the proposals were keeping portions of the law that were not unconstitutional intact, and repealing ranked choice voting, altogether.

In the end, the House and the Senate ended up approving a bill that does not repeal ranked choice voting, but suspends it until December, 2021. This would give ranked choice voting supporters time to pass a constitutional amendment that would allow this type of voting system in Maine.

Personally, I tend to be “old school” when it comes to voting: The person who gets the most votes wins. Period. But at the very least, we should make sure that we have one, consistent method of voting. There is too much at stake to have a system in place that is confusing and subject to a potential court challenge.

In his call for a special session, the governor did not mention marijuana legalization or ranked choice voting, but called us back in to address two other issues.

The first was a food sovereignty bill the Legislature passed during the last session, “An Act to Recognize Local Control Regarding Food and Water Systems.” It essentially allows Maine towns and cities to regulate food commerce without being subject to state inspections. But the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) warned state officials that they would take over meat and poultry inspections in Maine if the new food sovereignty law did not comply with federal standards. During the special session we easily passed a bill that requires Maine municipalities to adhere to state and federal food regulations.

The other issue the governor cited for the special session was lack of funding for the Maine Office of Geographic Information Systems. Like the food sovereignty legislation, a bill to fix this problem also sailed through. 

The Legislature is now awaiting word on whether we will have to return next month to vote on any possible vetoes by the governor.

If you would like to contact me about what happened during the special session or any other legislative issue, please do so at dcwoodsome@gmail.com or call me at 432-5643.

— Sen. David Woodsome is currently serving his second term in the Maine State Senate. He represents the people of Senate District 33, which consists of the towns of Cornish, Limerick, Newfield, Parsonsfield, Sanford, Shapleigh and Waterboro.