The Maine Legislature’s budget panel advanced Gov. Janet Mills’ tribal gaming compromise on Friday, but declined to fund a broader bill to grant Maine tribes more autonomy that the governor opposed, effectively dooming its passage this year.
Members of the Legislature’s appropriations committee convened on Friday to consider funding more than 200 bills that had received initial approval from lawmakers but would require a share of the $12 million left unallocated in the Democratic governor’s supplemental budget, which passed this week.
Among the bills on the table were several concerning tribal issues, including a bill to give tribes control over sports betting that Mills’ administration had helped negotiate.