AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) One gubernatorial hopeful and 220 legislative candidates who are counting on public campaign funds are in limbo as Maine lawmakers argue over fixing a mistake preventing the release of the money.

Lawmakers on Thursday continued trying to hash out a deal that could satisfy House Republicans ideologically opposed to public campaign funding. Such a fix could return some of the money to Maine’s general fund.

Last year, lawmakers passed a two-year, $7.1 billion budget that transferred $3 million to Maine’s fund for publicly financed candidates by June 1, 2018.

But months ago, lawmakers discovered a mistake in the budget’s wording effectively preventing Maine’s ethics commission from releasing its public campaign funds after July 1.

State data show 40 of 138 Republicans running for the House this year are using public campaign funds.