The Maine Legislature adjourned, but lawmakers left a lot unresolved. 

A few of the bills that did not receive decisive final action before both the Senate and House of Representatives officially adjourned Tuesday night included requirements for medical cannabis testing, multiple proposals to improve child welfare, and a measure to restore the right to possess firearms for people previously convicted of nonviolent felonies.

The gun rights measure is one of more than 100 bills left on what’s called the “appropriations table,” where bills not otherwise funded in the budget are placed to vie for remaining dollars. Legislation that is still on the table is likely to die because the budget committee already made its funding decisions. 

“If there’s anything in this place that makes my skin crawl, it’s the appropriations process,” House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) said on the floor late Tuesday, after Republicans unsuccessfully attempted to strip the gun bill of its cost to try to avoid the table. 

“It’s the lack of transparency. It’s the way that good bills go to die. It’s the way that things disappear,” he said. “It’s the way that this body can give lip service to people when they really don’t mean it. It’s grotesque.”

There is a lot that remains unclear.

Legislature upholds gun safety laws, backs path to restore rights for some nonviolent offenders

During the final hours of work Tuesday, House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) announced the intention to take up unfinished matters on April 29, what’s called “veto day,” when the Legislature reconvenes to vote on whether to sustain or override the governor’s vetoes after statutory adjournment. 

However, the last time the Legislature took up matters aside from vetoes that day, the governor rejected every bill sent to her on principle. Her office did not respond to requests for comment about whether she’d sign bills sent to her on “veto day” this year.

Dozens of bills were already sent to Mills in the final few days before adjournment. She has 10 days after a bill was passed to sign it. If she doesn’t, the bill won’t become law, which is often called a “pocket veto.”

Mills already signed into law a measure to allow jails to refuse to hold immigration detainees and another that requires political campaigns and political action committees to provide a disclosure label for any content significantly altered by artificial intelligence, among others.

About 70 the bills still awaiting her signature are measures that made it off of the “appropriations table,” including legislation to automatically seal criminal records for certain low-level offenses, temporarily ban data centers, expand PFAS testing in private wells, extend death benefits to transportation workers, and help houses of worship and other nonprofits improve security.  

Many of those bills were tweaked in some way before ultimate passage. For example, the funding for nonprofit security was slashed from $1.5 million to $200,000.

Along with the gun bill, nearly 200 bills still remain on the table. One aims to shift the cost of energy assistance programs from ratepayers to taxpayers through a tax credit, which lawmakers also put on the table just hours before adjournment. 

Throughout Tuesday, floor discussion often touched on the many ways a bill can die. 

At one point, independent Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford unsuccessfully attempted to recall a bond bill to address the housing shortage, which is currently in the possession of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee. After the committee held a public hearing in May 2025, it took no further action on the bill, meaning it’s likely to die when the Legislature concludes all of its work on veto day. 

“The substance of this should not matter,” Bennett said of the bill. “I really deeply worry about this precedent that has been established, and we’re continuing to grow it, of having bills that have had public hearings, that the public expects action on, simply die, quietly.”

On the other hand, Sen. Peggy Rotundo (D-Androscoggin), appropriations committee co-chair, expressed concern about setting a precedent of undermining committee work by attempting to bring a bill directly to the floor.

“It’s a structure and discipline that we need in order for us to function in a respectful and meaningful way within the State House,” Rotundo said. 

Sometimes bills die quietly in committee, or on the table. Other times they die in a chamber without final action. That may be the fate of legislation to adopt testing and tracking requirements for medical cannabis. 

The chambers couldn’t agree on the measure. The House rejected it, while the Senate passed an amended version — then tabled it. That’s where it will be when lawmakers reconvene on April 29. 

Given Mills’ previous objections to other work on “veto day,” Rep. Randall Adam Greenwood (R-Wales) asked House Speaker Ryan Fecteau D-Biddeford) on the floor Tuesday, “Would it be safe to assume, I think, that anything that is acted upon on ‘veto day’ might be rejected and therefore ultimately dead tonight?” 

Fecteau responded, “The chair will not speculate as to the actions of the chief executive.”