Tuesday’s legislative session is shaping up to be a lively one.

Representative Reagan Paul (R-Winterport) has snuck in a Joint Order to defund the Maine Principal’s Association if it continues to allow men to play in women’s sports. The MPA is the governing body of school athletics in the state of Maine. They have stated that they are backing Governor Mills and her push to defy President Trump’s Executive Order, even as the U.S. Department of Education has initiated a probe into whether Maine’s is violating Title IX protections by doing so.

Asked about her Joint Order, Rep. Paul told The Maine Wire:

“The Maine Principal’s Association, which is entrusted with overseeing and regulating high school sports in our state, continues to enforce policies that allow biological males in the State of Maine to compete in female sports. They have broken the public trust with their polices that are not just unfair, but also unjust and illegal. Public funds should not support this organization that undermines fairness, disregards the law, and harms our children.”

This will also be the first session day since the censure of Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) on February 25th. Libby will be unable to speak or vote at all in any session of the House.

The same evening Libby was censured, Democrat Sean Faircloth won a special election against Republican Carolyn Fish in Bangor’s House District 24 to fill the seat of former Rep. Joe Perry, who is now the State Treasurer. After being sworn in, Rep. Faircloth was appointed to the Veteran’s and Legal Affairs Committee. With the censure of Libby and the election of Faircloth, Democrats will start Tuesday’s session effectively with two more votes than they had a week ago.

It will be interesting to see how House Republicans respond to Libby’s censure. There have been four censures in the history of Maine since the state’s founding in 1820. Three of those four have happened in the last two years. Democrat House majorities censuring Republicans for things they don’t like has become a pattern. The question now is whether House Republicans pushback or continue with business as usual? Tomorrow will set the tone for the remainder of the 132nd legislature.

In the Senate, their first order of business will be taking up the Supplemental Budget. The Senate must agree with the version that the House sent them last week or ‘Insist’ that they use the current Senate version. If they disagree on the final form of the bill, it will die between the two chambers. This is called ‘non-concurrence,’ a term for when legislation expires between the House and Senate because they are unable to come to an agreement on the final form of the bill.

The Senate will also take up a Resolution from Majority Leader Senator Teresa Pierce (D-Cumberland). The Resolution titled, ‘JOINT RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH AND INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY’ will most certainly be passed by the Senate. Then it gets interesting. It will have to go back to the House for approval. Once it is in the House, anyone may speak to it.

This will give House Republicans, still angry about the censure of their colleague Libby, an opportunity to debate to the Resolution and the broader atmosphere of hypocrisy in which it has been introduced — after all, a male majority leader and speaker silenced a female legislator. Republicans will have to be careful in how they approach the debate, though. Democrats can call points of order to disrupt them just as they did to stymie Rep. Libby’s efforts to speak in her own defense last week. It will be worth watching to see how creative and dextrous the Republicans can be to make their point without being ruled “out of order.”

Continuing on the themes of day, the Judiciary Committee will be holding public hearings for LD 492 ‘RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Provide for Parental Rights’ and LD 260 ‘RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Establish That All Maine Residents Have Equal Rights Under the Law’. The hearings for the Equal Rights Amendment and Parents’ Bill of Rights are projected to draw large crowds of people testifying.

The Maine Wire will on the ground in Augusta reporting on a potentially legislative session. Follow us on X and Facebook for live updates.