BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 18, 2021
A dramatic evening flip stalled the high-profile bill to upend Maine’s utility structure, but proponents may still get it to a skeptical governor’s desk. The bill from Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, to ask voters to buy out Maine’s two big electric utilities and place an elected board in charge of the grid looked to be steaming toward Gov. Janet Mills’ desk. She and allies are still signaling an almost-certain veto of the historic measure. But the Legislature ended up adjourning without sending the bill to her desk after a surprise failure in the Senate. After it initially passed the Senate in a 19-16 vote on Wednesday, Sens. David Woodsome, R-North Waterboro, and Ned Claxton, D-Auburn, flipped their votes to oppose the bill in a final vote, which left the measure one vote short of passage.