Maine House Passes Foreign Workforce Bill…But There is a Silver Lining

Posted on by Maine First Media

3/20/18, Maine First Media Staff Report,

The Maine State House has passed the Foreign Workforce bill; the bill will now go to Gov. Paul LePage.

LD 1492, An Act to Attract, Educate and Retrain New Mainers to Strengthen the Workforce passed the Democrat-controlled House, 87-58.

The vote was closer to party-line than initially expected. The House GOP caucus only lost a few of their most liberal members. This is good news for opponents of the Foreign Workforce bill, as they appear to have the votes to sustain a potential veto of the law. If every House member were to vote, 101 votes would be required to overturn  Gov. LePage veto. Meaning open-border politicians would need to add an additional 14 votes, assuming Gov. LePage utilizes his veto pen.

One week ago, the bill passed the Republican-controlled State Senate by a tally of 26-7. You can view the roll call of that vote by clicking here. The Senate would easily overturn the veto, leaving the House as the last line of defense for LD 1492 opponents.

LD 1492 would provide more than $500,000 in taxpayer funds yearly to English language learning programs. Mainers already pay $19-Million annually in English-As-A-Second-Language funding with little to no results to show for the investment.

Previous incarnations of the bill included the creation of a cabinet-level, Office of New Mainers, and the construction and staffing of a Foreign Welcome Center in Lewiston. However, an outcry from Maine-First advocates and pressure from groups like Maine First Project led to the bill being scaled down.

Maine First Media will continue to follow developments on the Foreign Workplace bill.