Governor Signs GMO Bill, Five Vetoed
Eleven bills to become law 90 days after session ends
AUGUSTA – On Friday, Governor Paul R. LePage chose to allow eleven bills to become law and vetoed five that were passed during the first regular session of the 126th Maine State Legislature last year.
In the first regular session, Maine statute allows the Governor ten days to act to exercise four options: the Governor may sign the bill, veto it, allow it to become law without signature or disapprove a dollar amount by using the line-item veto. When the Legislature adjourns before the ten-day time limit has expired, a bill on which the Governor has not acted prior to the adjournment of the session becomes law unless the Governor vetoes it within three days after the next reconvening of that Legislature.
Two of the bills Governor LePage opted allowing to become law were signed symbolically. Those bills were L.D. 718 An Act To Protect Maine Food Consumers Right to Know about Genetically Engineered Food and L.D. 1575 Resolve, Regarding Memorial Plaques Honoring Vietnam Veterans near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge between Lewiston and Auburn.
The eleven bills will become law 90 days after final adjournment of this session unless an effective date is specified in the bill.
The Governor also vetoed five bills, L.D. 386, L.D.963, L.D. 1254, L.D. 1353 and L.D. 1572. Veto letters signed by the Governor are attached.
The bills that will become law without the Governor’s signature are as follows:
LD 20
Resolve, Directing the Department of Health and Human Services That Enable Populations Who Are Elderly of Have Disabilities To Live Independently
LD 377
An Act to Provide Funding to Soil and Water Conservation Districts
LD 718
An Act To Protect Maine Food Consumers Right to Know about Genetically Engineered Food (Governor signed symbolically on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014)
LD 738
An Act to Promote the Maine Economy and Support Maine's Sporting Camp Tradition
LD 743
An Act To Extend and Improve the Maine Seed Capital Tax Credit Program
LD 1096
An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Students Experiencing Education Disruption
LD 1172
An Act To Support the Maine Downtown Center
LD 1274
An Act to Sustain Emergency Medical Services throughout the State
LD 1370
An Act To Exempt from Sales Tax the Sales of Adaptive Equipment to Make a Vehicle Handicapped Accessible
LD 1489
An Act To Address Maine's Immediate Workforce Needs
LD 1575
Resolve, Regarding Memorial Plaques Honoring Vietnam Veterans near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge between Lewiston and Auburn