the Maine HR Cafe

Question 1: Same Sex Marriage
Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?

Vote No. This is the next necessary step to increasing the separation of church and state while eliminating legal discrimination.

Question 2: Excise Tax Do you want to cut the rate of the municipal excise tax by an average of 55% on motor vehicles less than six years old and exempt hybrid and other alternative-energy and highly fuel-efficient motor vehicles from sales tax and three years of excise tax?

Vote No. This initiative fails by not addressing spending requirements. The excise tax is discretionary at the tax payer level.

Question 3: School Consolidation
Do you want to repeal the 2007 law on school district consolidation and restore the laws previously in effect?

Vote No. Current school district does not go far enough. We The People need to continue stepping forward, not backward.

Question 4: Tax Payer’s Bill Of Rights (TABOR) Do you want to change the existing formulas that limit state and local government spending and require voter approval by referendum for spending over those limits and for increases in state taxes?

Vote Yes with reluctance. While not perfect, this is a necessary step towards stepping away from talking about taxation and towards talking about spending priorities. Once spending priorities are truly ascertained, then taxation is better resolved.

Question 5: Medical Marijuana
Do you want to change the medical marijuana laws to allow treatment of more medical conditions and to create a regulated system of distribution?

Vote No. There is more embedded and hidden within this initiative than the simple literal translation of the question implies. Medical marijuana requires the endorsement of the FDA.

Question 6: Bond Issue
Do you favor a $71,250,000 bond issue for improvements to highways and bridges, airports, public transit facilities, ferry and port facilities, including port and harbor structures, as well as funds for the LifeFlight Foundation that will make the State eligible for over $148,000,000 in federal and other matching funds?

Vote Yes. This stands on its own merit, ’nuff said.

Question 7: Constitutional Amendment: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to increase the amount of time that local officials have to certify the signatures on direct initiative petitions?

Vote No.