PORTLAND - During a virtual press conference held Wednesday morning, Assistant Majority Leader Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, announced legislation that will move the state forward in confronting structural racism through the use of racial impact statements in the legislative process. A racial impact statement is a data-driven tool that provides an analysis of the impact of a proposed policy, practice, program or plan on historically disadvantaged racial populations in order to minimize adverse consequences.

PORTLAND - Assistant Majority Leader Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, will host a press conference at 10:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Feb. 3rd, to discuss LD 2, a bill to incorporate racial justice impact statements in the legislative process.

AUGUSTA - On Thursday, Rep. Denise Tepler, D-Topsham, introduced LD 41, "Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Portions of Chapter 570: Uniform Reporting System for Prescription Drug Price Data Sets, a Major Substantive Rule of the Maine Health Data Organization," before the Legislature's Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee. LD 41 is part of ongoing legislative efforts to make prescription drugs more affordable for Mainers.

My commute to the State House, from Eliot to Augusta, is 108 miles, a nearly two-hour drive one way, generally uneventful, a straight shot up the interstate to our capital. I have learned to make the most of my time on the road: listening to audio books, speaking hands-free with my constituents and colleagues, or motoring north in silent contemplation of the work ahead.

AUGUSTA - Statement from Majority Leader Michelle Dunphy D-Old Town and Assistant Majority Leader Rachel Talbot Ross D-Portland in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day:

"Today, we remember the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the movement he inspired to achieve racial and economic equality. Fifty-eight years ago, Martin Luther King led nearly 250,000 followers in a peaceful march on Washington D.C. King was a man of nonviolence and human dignity, and his words ring as true today as they did then."

As a state and a nation we find ourselves struggling to comprehend the attack on our Capitol last week. I have gone from shocked, to scared, to angry, to sad.

Never in my lifetime would I ever have fathomed something like this would happen in our country. The divisiveness and visceral and utter hatred that some in our society seem to hold for one another is unconscionable, and yet here we are. We are a nation polarized. And while the attack on our republic most certainly impacted the very heart of our democracy, it did not and will not break us.

AUGUSTA - Majority Leader Michelle Dunphy, D-Old Town, and Assistant Majority Leader Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, issued the following statements in response to Governor Janet Mills' proposed budget:

From Majority Leader Dunphy:

AUGUSTA - Majority Leader Michelle Dunphy, D-Old Town, and Assistant Majority Leader Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, issued the following statement in response to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021:

AUGUSTA - Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, and House chair of the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, and Rep. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, a member of the Energy, Utilities and Technologies Committee, issued the following statements in response to Versant Power's intention to file a request to the Maine Public Utilities Commission asking for an increase in distribution rates.

AUGUSTA - Two new laws sponsored by Rep. Vicki Doudera, D-Camden, went into effect on Friday, Aug. 9. They include a measure to allow natural organic reduction, or body composting, as well as a measure to create a pilot program to develop clean hydrogen.