AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Legislative leaders say they’re getting closer to reconvening state lawmakers following a pause during the coronavirus pandemic — but the special session could still be a month or more away.
State lawmakers have remained largely on the sidelines for the past three months after they adjourned and gave Democratic Gov. Janet Mills broad emergency powers to address the pandemic.
Neither Senate President Troy Jackson nor House Speaker Sara Gideon, both Democrats, would provide a specific timetable because details have yet to be worked out about how best to safely reconvene.
Jackson said the special session will happen later this year.
“I certainly feel like we are getting close to the point where we may reconvene and, at that time, her emergency powers either won’t be the same, or they won’t be there at all,” Jackson told the Portland Press Herald on Wednesday.
Mills could call the Legislature back into special session at any time. She told lawmakers in March that they’d reconvene “when it is safe to do so.”
Maine has reported more than 2,600 cases of the virus and 100 deaths.
On Thursday, members of the much-larger New Hampshire House of Representatives were reconvening at an indoor arena on the University of New Hampshire campus to ensure social distancing guidelines.
