AUGUSTA – The Maine Senate today voted to refer a bill backed by the radical Maine People’s Alliance to the Legislature’s Taxation Committee for closer scrutiny.
The bill, “An Act to Establish Universal Home Care for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities,” would create a state bureaucracy to provide in-home and community support services for elderly Mainers, regardless of their income, and fund it through massive tax hikes on Maine’s small businesses.
The bill, if approved by voters, would cost of the State of Maine $310 million annually.
The bill is the result of a referendum drive backed by the Maine People’s Alliance. Last week, Democrats in the Maine House of Representatives voted against sending the bill to committee where members of the public could testify on the tax increase.
“We need to make sure we get this right, and that’s why I supported sending it to committee,” Senate President Michael Thibodeau (R-Waldo) said. “It would be unconscionable to send this out to the citizens of Maine without understanding what the economic impact of this major tax hike would be. Creating law without public hearings has proven to be dangerous in the past. We need to ensure we are getting all of the information about this bill, and today’s action by the Senate will allow us to do that.”
With the bill in nonoccurrence between the two chambers, the bill will now back to the House of Representatives for further votes.