AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Lawmakers passed a bill on Wednesday to fund the state’s first year of voter-approved Medicaid expansion as Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration fights a court order to implement the law.
Lawmakers sent LePage a bill to use $31 million in surplus funds and possibly $23.5 million in tobacco settlement money to cover the first year of expansion costs.
Mainers voted last fall to expand Medicaid to more than 70,000 low-income adults by July 2.
The LePage administration is fighting a court order requiring the state to file the necessary paperwork to eventually receive more than $500 million in annual federal funding for expansion.
The bill passed Wednesday will not survive a potential LePage veto without some support from House Republicans, who largely opposed the legislation in an initial vote. The governor has said he will keep blocking Medicaid expansion until lawmakers appropriate funds, on his terms, to cover Maine’s share of expansion costs.
“Medicaid expansion, it is the law, but we need to adequately fund it,” LePage said.
Democrats for months have said the state already has enough Medicaid dollars to fund expansion through mid-2019. Advocates sued LePage to stop blocking the law this spring.
The special session continued late Wednesday as a deal on tax code reform passed both chambers on an initial round of votes. Aside from Medicaid expansion, lawmakers are facing issues from publicly funded election funds to medical marijuana as they consider tapping into $141 million in unappropriated surplus funds.
The Legislature with nearly unanimous support also passed a $37 million package that addresses drug addiction treatment, drug courts, struggling nursing homes and individuals with intellectual disabilities or autism awaiting services. An additional $4.6 million from tobacco settlements will go toward lead abatement and school health centers.
Meanwhile, the Senate on Tuesday tabled a $26 million package that ensures funding for county jails and increases reimbursement rates to prevent looming pay cuts for personal care aides serving individuals with intellectual disabilities or autism.
Members of the Legislature’s appropriations and financial affairs committee met late Wednesday to consider which bonds to send to lawmakers to finance various projects. Lawmakers face a late August deadline to OK bonds and get them on the November ballot.
LePage, meanwhile, has submitted bills to roll back the voter-approved minimum wage law and prohibit campaign contributions at voting places. He took to Twitter on Wednesday to criticize Democratic House Speaker Sara Gideon for tabling his bill to reform the municipal foreclosure process.
The fiscally conservative governor could veto - or in certain cases, line-item veto - what lawmakers send him. He has 10 days to veto legislation once it hits his desk.
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