Storm relief bill caught up in last-minute state budget battle [Video]

AUGUSTA — Gov. Janet Mills’ emergency storm relief bill appears to have been hijacked by a bipartisan group of state senators who seem hell-bent on turning it into a dueling supplemental budget bill.

A growing group in the Senate, which now includes Senate President Troy Jackson, has loaded the bill with a plethora of expensive riders – estimated by critics to top $100 million – that have nothing to do with infrastructure repair, like raises for educational techs, new behavioral health programs and even more nursing home funding than what the nursing home association had sought.

In the latest Senate vote on the bill, all 13 Republicans and 10 of the Senate’s 22 Democrats voted in favor of a last-minute Republican amendment to Mills’ relief bill.

Sen. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, urged fellow Democrats Monday night to vote in favor of the amendment, even though it is inconsistent with the supplemental budget bill. Such inconsistencies can be worked out, Grohoski said.

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