Maine: Bangor area residents launch ballot initiative to reform governor’s emergency powers

“A new citizens initiative was approved for circulation in Maine on January 25, yet the Secretary of State’s office has not published the official documents for the initiative on its website. The Free Maine Committee, a political action committeerun by Harrison Kemp of Old Town and Tyler Rowe of Bangor, is looking to secure more than 63,000 valid signatures to prompt a statewide vote on their bill to reform emergency executive power in Maine. The group calls its effort “truly grassroots.”

The initiative would make a number of small tweaks to the language of Maine’s emergency powers law while adding a new provision that requires an affirmative vote of the legislature to extend a state of emergency. Under the bill, a two-thirds vote of the Maine Legislature would be required for a governor’s emergency powers to persist after the initial 30-day emergency declaration.”