(upbeat music) - Good evening and welcome to Maine Public's live coverage of Governor Janet Mill's State of the State address.

I'm Robbie Feinberg.

I'm here with Maine Public's chief political correspondent, Steve Mistler, and we are coming to you from the State House in Augusta, where in just a few minutes the governor will deliver an address before a joint session of the legislature.

We're expecting the governor to speak for about an hour tonight, and after she's completed her remarks, we'll then be turning to Republican leaders for a response.

Steve, this is a different kind of State of the State than we're used to.

It's being delivered in two different parts today.

We've already heard one of the parts.

Tell us about this approach.

- Yeah, so she's basically bifurcated her address into two parts.

The first part was communicated to the legislature this morning.

It basically outlines her priorities for changing the state's two year budget.

The part we're about to hear is an actual speech, and that will be about two issues primarily.

One will be the mass shooting in Lewiston and that occurred in October.

And her response to that, and then of course a focus on these extreme weather events that have ravaged the state.

And her response to that as well.

- What's the reasoning behind why she's decided to take that approach?

- Well, she said that essentially that those two extraordinary events demand sort of an extraordinary response, and that's why she's doing this tonight.

I think she felt like she needed the extra time to talk through these two more recent events, and so that's why she's basically cleaved those off and left the budget discussion to a written communication.

- Yeah, and let's get into a little bit of what Mills did talk about earlier today in the letter that she did send to lawmakers, her basic message seemed to be, yes, there are issues to address across the state, but let's use some caution when it comes to spending.

- That's correct, yeah.

That was essentially the fiscal prudence message delivered to the lawmaker to the legislature essentially saying, you know, I mean, I think the big highlight was that she, there's a revenue surplus right now and she wants to take half of that, or about 40% of it, a hundred million dollars, set that aside for the next two year budget.

And I think the reasoning behind that is to basically make sure that these programs that have been green lit in the last couple of years actually have money to continue forward in the next biennium when there's a new legislature and new lawmaker sitting in the seats tonight.

- Yeah, and at the same time, these speeches, we are often hearing about new policies and those policies often cost money or maybe they don't, take us through a little bit of what we might be hearing about tonight in terms of new policies, things she might propose.

- Yeah, well I think you won't hear too much tonight about those policies, but she laid them out in the communication this morning.

I think there's three big things.

One is additional money for public education funding K through 12 to make sure that the state is still fulfilling its 55% obligation, and then there's going to be some additional money for response to the opioid crisis.

A big highlight there, I think is getting medication assisted treatment into the county jails to help deal with that problem.

And the housing crisis too is another issue.

There's certainly some money there.

Some of the total amounts are not specifically outlined in her address, so we're gonna have to wait for that proposal to see what those are.

- Great, and so those are a few of the things we've heard so far.

You mentioned extreme weather events, gun violence, gun safety, a few of the things that we might be hearing about tonight.

Tell us a little bit more in this part two tonight.

- Right, so part two, I think what you'll hear tonight is the governor basically has been a very ardent supporter of gun rights.

And I think, you know, she's under some pressure, I think to have some sort of a response that basically threads the needle between gun rights and preventing gun violence.

And I think that that's what you'll see tonight is some proposal or a few proposals that attempt to do that.

On the climate issue and the extreme weather events, I mean, I think what she will probably say is that you know, these events were a message to Mainers that all should hear and receive and that, you know, she may end up backing that up with more funding to programs that help with resiliency, specifically municipalities being able to pay for and, you know, pay for infrastructure that may have been destroyed in the last two storms or at least protect it going forward.

- And I know we will be getting a GOP response later on, but have we gotten much response so far in terms of at least some of these early proposals from the governor?

- Not really, I mean, there was a press conference earlier today where they discussed, you know, what the governor proposed, but they really are basically just trying to amplify and project their own message about what they stand for.

It was less of a rebuttal to anything the governor has put forward and more of essentially like, here's what we want to do.

And some of those things are unrelated to the supplemental budget necessarily.

I know they're obviously still pushing for tax cuts, but, you know, what we're talking about, hearing a revenue surplus wouldn't really pay for much of a tax cut.

So, you know, if they decide to hold that line and push that going forward, I think they'll probably end up being disappointed once again.

- Can you talk a little bit about that, that fiscal piece here, just in terms of the budget, how much, I think you might have mentioned this, but how much money do we have available, how it's gonna be able to be spent?

- Yeah, it's $265 million.

It's, we keep calling it a surplus, but it's basically a projection of the surplus, which is slightly higher than what they originally projected and which really isn't that much in the context of a $10 billion budget.

So there's not a lot you can do with that amount of money in terms of, you know, transformative policies.

I think there's certainly people who disagree with that assessment, but I think, you know, generally speaking, it would be a lot, it would be pretty difficult to make $256 million, you know, or $265 million transform much of anything unless you plowed it into one particular program.

- Sure, and as we just saw right there, we saw Senate Democratic leader, Troy Jackson there, he was up at the podium and you know, folks are coming in right now as we speak.

But going back to that budget piece, I wanted to get into a little bit of the actual kind of the fiscal restraint question from the governor.

Why is she kind of having that tone right now when it comes to this budget?

- Yeah, I think the big reason is that she wants to protect some of the initiatives that she's been able to advance in the past three and a half, four year, well, almost seven years now.

So I think she wants to be able to protect those investments.

Additionally though, like we're seeing around the country is we're seeing a lot of state budgets that are experiencing deficits long term, short term, some structural, and that means that they've had to make cuts.

Now, Maine has been pretty good in terms of like putting money into its rainy day fund and so much so that the rainy day fund is about as full as it could possibly get.

And so, but the governor still thinks that in order to protect some of these investments that she's, these initiatives that she's been able to advance, that we need to set aside another a hundred million dollars to make sure that that money is there for those programs.

Additionally, I think she plans on tapping that rainy day fund for some of the initiatives we're gonna hear about in a few minutes, hopefully specifically on the climate and severe weather, you know, remediation or planning.

- Yeah, it'll be interesting to see as well, there are lots of bills in the legislature right now, lots of policies that people are asking for.

I'm wondering if there's gonna be a lot of things that are gonna be left on the cutting room floor.

- Yes, there will be per usual.

That's constant tension here in the legislature and it's always a tension, it's a source of tension between the legislators, the lawmakers, whether they're in the same party or not as the governor.

It's just a constant push pull and negotiation and I think that will not be any different this year.

- Yeah, and I'll just add once again, we are watching live coverage of the State of the State address.

We are waiting for Governor Mills to arrive.

She should be arriving relatively shortly.

We are expecting right now, but again, this is an unusual structure that we are seeing as well.

This is part two as you were saying, of this budget address.

And so this will be a very interesting thing, I guess are there particular things that you are watching for as well in terms of a particular, I guess are there major policies that you're looking for that have been addressed already that you- - Make way, make way, make way for her excellency, the Governor and Commander in Chief of the State of Maine, the honorable Janet T. Mills and the Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Court, the honorable Valerie Stanfill.

- Please recognize and welcome, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, accompanied by the honorable Valerie Stanfill, Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

(gavel banging) (members clapping) - [Steve] So, Robbie (indistinct) to see the governor interim with the Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill.

Shaking hands with Jeff Timberlake, if I'm not mistaken.

- [Robbie] No, I don't think that's him.

The Republican senators are seated in the front of the house today, which is unusual but common for a joint session of the legislature.

So we don't see all of their faces.

So walking past Eloise Vitelli, who's one of the Democratic Senate leaders, and of course Rachel Talbot Ross, who's the speaker of the house.

And Troy Jackson, the Senate President, is presiding over this joint convention.

(members clapping) (gavel banging) - The chair would like to thank this evening's herald, Staff Sergeant Gary Allen Croley Tucker from the 101st Air Refueling Wing, Maine Army National Guard.

Would he please rise and accept the greetings of the convention?

(members clapping) (gavel banging) The chair will now request Governor Janet T. Mills to please step forward and address the convention.

(gavel banging) (members clapping) - Thank you.

Thank you, thank you very much.

Mr. President and Madam Speaker, Madam Chief Justice, distinguished members of the 131st legislature and members of my extraordinary cabinet, and honored guests, thank you for joining me tonight.

I am pleased to be joined also by the constitutional offices of our state and by the members of my cabinet, as I mentioned, including Major General Douglas Farnham, who is retiring next month and Brigadier General Diane Dunn, soon to become the first woman commissioner of Veterans and Emergency Management.

Thank you for being here.

(members clapping) Please join me in recognizing Major General Farnham's nearly 40 years of decorated service and in welcoming Brigadier General Dunn again.

(members clapping) I am also joined tonight by members of my family, including my daughter, Tammy, and my sister Dr. Dora Mills and her children, Anthony and Julia and my brothers Peter and Paul.

Tonight we're sadly missing my brother David, who passed away last Friday and I honor him tonight in my thoughts.

My approach to the State of the State this year is a little unorthodox and a departure from those of the past, a change from the tradition in which the chief justice stands and before you to discuss a series of high profile issues, challenges, and opportunities, but a State of the State address true to its storied purpose must be a reflection of the times.

These times, especially these past few months have been anything but normal for Maine.

Maine people value straight talk, so I'll put it to you straight.

We have had a very rough couple of months.

We've been sorely tested time and time again.

We have some pretty serious stuff to talk about.

In late October, a gunman took the lives of 18 innocent civilians, citizens from ages 14 to 76 and injured many more physically and emotionally in an act of senseless and unconscionable violence that devastated our communities and shook our sense of security.

The worst mass shooting in Maine history, the 10th worst in our nation's history.

Then in December, another traumatic event hit us as heavy rains and powerful winds brought massive flooding that destroyed homes and businesses, roads, and bridges.

Four people lost their lives.

And in January, two more violent storms caused some of the highest tides ever, which swept fish houses into the sea.

Kicked pilings out from under once sturdy piers, broke dunes and breakwaters, chewed up roads and sea walls, wiped store keepers dry of stock and changed the very landscape of our coast.

These things break our hearts.

Now, Maine people do not welcome crisis or disaster, but we will always rise to meet them.

And in these difficult times when it sometimes feels like we have little control over our fate in our future, the people of Maine have banded together in support of one another and our communities and our state like never before.

And it is because of Maine people, because of their undying and unyielding resilience and resolve in the hardest of times that the State of our State is strong.

(members clapping) And it is because of you, the people of Maine, that I am more confident than ever before in the future of our state and in our ability to prepare for and overcome whatever challenges the future has in store.

What gives me cause for such optimism in the face of such loss and hardship?

Look no further than the simple acts of kindness, compassion, and generosity demonstrated by people across Maine in the wake of these recent storms, when Doug Hartkopf's dairy barn in Albion was destroyed by powerful winds, his neighbors brought all his cows to safety and shelter.

When the fishing boat, the Tara Lynn 2 ran aground on the rocks of Cape Elizabeth at the height of the storm, fire and rescue crews braved those rough seas twice in the middle of the night to rescue all four people on board.

And when the storms in January threatened to toss J.O.

Brown's boatyard into the sea, that fixture that has withstood storms since 1855, this whole community stepped up to save it, young and old, friends and family.

And when the storm receded and the boatyard still stood strong and tall, owner Foy Brown said "it worked."

He said "it worked because the whole town turned out for us."

Yep, that's what Maine people do.

We take care of each other, we roll up our sleeves and we rebuild.

With help from the federal government and the support of this legislature.

And with the ingenuity and grit that are the hallmarks of Maine people, we will rebuild stronger than ever.

And like other states, also feeling the brunt of extreme weather events, Maine is not safe from climate change.

We know more storms will come and make no mistake about it, it is climate change that is causing storms to be more frequent, more intense and more devastating.

The ocean is warming, the sea is rising, the winds are wilder.

We no longer know the storms and winters of yesterday because when we burn fossil fuels like gasoline, oil, and natural gas, we expel harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and those gases envelop our planet.

Trap heat and moisture that melts the ancient glaciers, raises sea levels and increases global temperatures.

The scientists know this, the meteorologists know this.

Farmers, fishermen, foresters know this.

Our sportsmen know this, our kids know this.

We all know this now.

We will address climate change in the long term by investing in clean energy, by weatherizing homes and businesses, by expanding our state's network of EV chargers.

And by advancing cleaner and more efficient technologies like heat pumps, while also creating good paying green collar jobs and informed by the work of the Maine Climate Council, those scientists, citizens, business leaders, and state and local officials, we lead the nation in many of these respects.

In fact, we've exceeded our original goal for installing heat pumps and we've set a new more ambitious goal.

And as a result of our clean energy initiatives, we're seeing significant capital investments in this state that are creating new jobs and new businesses.

We have the fastest growing clean energy economy in all of New England.

We must and we will continue to address climate change in the long term for the health of our people, the health of our environment, the health of our economy.

But we've gotta take immediate steps right now to make our towns, homes and businesses more resilient to climate change and these awful storms.

Thankfully we've laid the groundwork for how we do that.

In 2021, with the support of the Maine Climate Council, we organized the Community Resilience Partnership, which helps communities plan for the impacts of climate change.

175 cities, towns and tribal governments have taken part in this voluntary program and we awarded more than $6 million to them.

One of those communities is Rockland, a city that was hard hit by the recent storms, as you know, recognizing that its waterfront piers and seawall are deteriorating and in need of repairs even before the storm.

These resiliency funds, they use not only to plan for the rebuild of the pier and seawall, but they use 'em to make long desired improvements to public spaces and infrastructure.

Having that plan in place gives Rockland a clear path towards obtaining other available funds and to protecting and strengthening its downtown waterfront.

This is important work.

Cities and towns across Maine are on the front lines of climate change.

And these recent storms underscore the importance of fortifying them in the long term.

And so tonight I'm proposing to add $5 million to our community resilience partnership to allow another 100 cities, towns, and tribal governments to identify their vulnerabilities to extreme weather events and to be ready for the next storm.

The next flood, the next washouts, the next threats to our bridges, piers and homes.

Let's give them the tools to continue this desperately needed work and let's turn those plans into action.

In 2021, we created the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund that provides grants to municipalities, tribal governments, and others to improve infrastructure that is vulnerable to flooding or rising sea levels and other weather events.

Exactly the type of upgrades that will help communities better withstand the type of storms we're seeing now.

For example, in Kennebunkport, the town is using a grant to raise the road that leads to Bickford Island and the utilities underneath it.

And to improve storm water runoff in order to mitigate the impacts of flooding, prevent road closures, reduce disruption for commercial fishermen and the need for costly repairs.

And in Winslow, they're replacing storm water structures with larger ones that will handle more water to reduce the risk of flooding and property damage.

These are common sense projects that will strengthen our resiliency in the long run.

And tonight I propose that we bolster this infrastructure fund with $50 million from our record high rainy day fund to allow Maine communities to build and rebuild infrastructure, roads, culverts, working waterfronts, storm water systems, make them tough enough to withstand the impacts of climate change.

Essentially I'm talking about taking from the rainy day fund to respond to some pretty rainy days we've had and some pretty rainy days ahead.

(members clapping) At the same time, we will seek every available federal dollar for disaster assistance and resiliency, but the sooner we pass the supplemental budget, the sooner we can get state funds to contractors and fishermen and towns, to get things up and running once again, before the height of fishing season, it's urgent.

And as we recover and rebuild from past storms, as we prepare for those to come, so too will we recover and repair from those shocking events that have threatened our personal security, our community safety, the very character of our state.

It is time to have a conversation about violence, violence in the media that pervades our subconscious.

Violence in homes, streets, towns, in schools, violence in America, violence abroad, violence that has been an all too common and all too wrong way to resolve differences, violence that we know all too well this past year on a scale previously unknown to us.

On Monday, October 23rd, we boasted that we were the safest state in the nation with the lowest violent crime rate in the country, according to the FBI.

We relished the easy comfort of this brand that attracts people to our state, the sense of personal safety along with our natural beauty and the sense of place and community unmatched in other parts of the country.

But on October 25th, everything changed.

Folks at Just-In-Time Recreation and at Schemengees Bar and Grill in Lewiston, just doing what many people in Maine do all the time, bowling with their kids, enjoying a cold beer at a game of Cornhole after work, spending time with family and friends.

Those people had their lives shattered by gunfire.

Darkness descended on our state.

18 people lost their lives to a senseless act of violence.

Many others injured, tens of thousands of people sheltered in place for several days.

Restaurants, shops, retailers, public buildings were shuttered.

College students locked themselves in libraries and dorms and classrooms.

Our streets emptied, an eerie (indistinct) of silence enveloped our state.

But those moments of darkness were also punctuated by great heroism.

Heroism when Jason Walker, Michael Deslauriers and Joe Walker each rushed the shooter in a courageous attempt to stop him and lost their lives.

(members clapping) Or when Tom Giberti instinctively ushered a group of children out the back door of that bowling alley, getting shot himself seven times in the legs while saving those young lives.

Or when someone still unknown turned the lights off at Schemengees to obscure the shooter's vision, thank God.

(members clapping) And there was heroism as first responders came from far and wide to help.

And when every doctor, nurse, and healthcare worker at Central Maine Medical Center answered the call and came running and did everything they could to save lives.

And when ASL interpreters from near and far though reeling from the loss of four of their own, stepped up in their own moment of grief to ensure that crucial information was delivered to those who are deaf and hard of hearing, and so many more.

(members clapping) Ordinary people demonstrating extraordinary courage.

An example of the resilience and resolve of Maine people.

And tonight we are joined by Tom Giberti and by Lewiston Police Chief David St. Pierre, Lisbon Police Chief Ryan McGee, Maine State Police Lieutenant Colonel Brian Scott, all of whom worked with an incredible team of state, county, local federal officials and by our wonderful ASL interpreters, Regan Thibodaux, Amanda Eisenhart, and Julia Schaefer who remain on the job today, thank you.

Thank you, Tom.

(members clapping) Another fact about Tom Giberti is he was the state senior Candlepin Bowling Champion in 2022.

Just put the icing on the cake.

Tonight, we acknowledge all of them, recognizing their heroism and that of their loved ones and in honoring the memories of those we lost.

Please know that Maine people are standing by your side offering what comfort we can in a moment of immeasurable pain, that we know that the pain and hardship of October's tragedy will last a lifetime.

And in recognition of that, I propose that we create a fund similar to the one they created in Virginia last year, to cover the medical needs, the health needs of those injured last October long into the future, I propose that we capitalize it with an initial investment of $5 million.

We know the road to healing will be long, but we will help you walk it.

(members clapping) We also know that many people in Maine still feel a lingering sense of anxiety and vulnerability, feeling of being unsafe.

Our calm complacency has been shaken to the core.

Now, I know there are some who may prefer to consider the shootings an aberration, the product of one unstable individual who went on an unconscionable rampage that is unlikely to reoccur.

But hey, many people felt it was unlikely to occur before October 25th.

And honestly, the hope that it won't happen again is of little comfort to the children, the grandchildren, the wives, partners, and parents who in an instant lost a child, a spouse, a breadwinner, a staple of the community and who now face an uncertain future without them.

It gives no comfort to the people of our second largest city and its surrounding towns or to all the businesses, schools, shops and homes where a shooter on the run required them to shelter in place for 48 long hours.

It gives no comfort at all to the people last April who were shot by a violent felon recently released from prison while they were simply driving down a public highway minding their business.

This after he had already killed his parents and two other people in their home.

It gives no comfort to the families who have lost loved ones to the tragedy of suicide or domestic violence.

Yes, we're different than other states, but violence is here.

It does exist here in the state of Maine.

And it strikes at the very heart of who we are and everything we hold dear for this precious place we call home.

I've heard some say that no matter the law, a dangerous person will always find a way and no new laws can prevent that.

There is some truth to that.

A person who's intent on doing harm to themself or themselves or others for whatever reason may well succeed.

But boy, the idea that we shouldn't make laws, change policies just because they'll be broken, creates a cynical attitude that certain bad things are just inevitable, we can't do anything about it.

I, for one, refuse to give into that idea and I refuse to let it stop us from taking action.

Some have said, well, it's really just a mental health issue that we just need to fix our behavioral health system and this violence will end.

Well, certainly there may be people with mental health issues who commit violent crimes, but the vast majority of people with those issues do not commit violent crimes.

And it would be wrong to stereotype anyone who has mental health problems as a potentially violent individual.

I have heard others say that we should not do anything until the independent commission finishes its work.

Well, they're right that the findings of that commission may very well result in conclusions that need a policy remedy.

And we will welcome the commission's conclusions when they're ready.

But fixing our laws to address a single attack does nothing to anticipate those other acts of violence, which we might, with wise actions, prevent.

Actions which might also restore our sense of personal safety, actions whose time I believe has come.

Because for the sake of the communities, individuals and families now suffer an immeasurable pain.

For the sake of our state, doing nothing is not an option.

(members clapping) Throughout my time in office, I've tried to bring people together, lawmakers and law enforcement, public health and others to achieve enduring reforms that strengthen public safety, that protect our constitutional rights and that honor Maine's longstanding outdoor traditions and you, on a bipartisan basis have agreed.

Together, we've enacted laws that allow judges to remove weapons from people under domestic violence orders.

Laws to ensure that survivors of domestic violence are notified if their abuser tries to buy a firearm.

Penalties for straw purchases of firearms, incentives for the safe storage of firearms, funding for the Maine School Safety Center to help make our school safe and an extreme risk protection law to remove weapons from someone who's a danger to themselves or to others with appropriate due process protections.

These common sense measures were not easy to achieve.

They were the product of great discussion and debate, but together we got them done.

And to me, they're the type of pragmatic and responsible solutions that we can also achieve this session.

In recent months, my office has talked with Republican and Democratic lawmakers and people and organizations across Maine, listening to ideas and concerns and trying to develop a balanced approach to this difficult issue.

What I heard from folks all across the state is that they recognize the problem of gun violence.

They see it in acts of domestic violence, of suicide and mass shootings.

And each person had ideas about what we could do to address the problem and each of those ideas was different.

But what was not different, what was largely agreed upon was an overarching belief that violence prevention is important, that we have to strengthen our mental health system and that dangerous people should not have access to firearms.

So out of those discussions, tonight, I'm announcing that I will be filing legislation to address these three major areas of concern.

Legislation that would implement meaningful public safety protections that would honor the rights afforded by our state and federal constitutions to safe and legal gun ownership.

And that will uphold our state's longstanding outdoor heritage.

First, let's talk about prevention.

Many states have programs that approach the issue of violence through the broader lens of public health in order to understand and address long-term trends.

Maine is not one of those states and I'd like to do something to change that.

Right now, data about violent injuries and death is kept separately in police reports, medical examiner files, vital records, emergency department records, those things are not easy to understand and analyze.

So tonight I propose we establish an injury and violence prevention program at the Maine CDC as a central hub to bring together all this information already collected by diverse entities and sectors like healthcare, education, social services, criminal justice agencies.

Bringing together these data that will allow us to identify patterns to inform public health and prevention measures to reduce suicides and homicides in Maine.

Now let's do a better job at preventing violence to begin with and make Maine a safer state.

Now let's talk about mental health.

As I mentioned earlier, Maine, with almost unanimous bipartisan support enacted an extreme risk protection law that allows a court to order the removal of dangerous weapons from an individual determined by a mental health professional to be a risk to themselves or others.

Law enforcement first must take a person into protective custody at which point they undergo a mental health evaluation and a judge issues a decision on whether to temporarily remove their weapons.

This law has come under some scrutiny since the Lewiston shooting, which is appropriate.

It's always right to question whether our laws are adequately serving their intended purpose and whether more if anything can be done to change or strengthen them.

For example, some have questioned the necessity of a mental health assessment, suggesting that it it's an unnecessary hurdle that only makes the removal of weapons more difficult.

But I believe that the mental health assessment strengthens our law, protects due process right, and makes it less subject to being struck down if anyone were to challenge it.

It also serves as a doorway to mental health services that might not otherwise be available to that person.

So this law has been used 94 times in the past 97 days since October 25th, about once a day since the shooting in Lewiston, in courts all over the state, every county.

About 15 times more often than it was used two and a half, three years before that when it was first implemented.

The law is being used and it is working.

It's not to say that we shouldn't or can't strengthen the law.

For example, we know that even with the progress we've made in recent years to expand behavioral health services, access to those services still can be a serious struggle.

I wanna expand behavioral health services, particularly for those in crisis.

So I propose that we establish a network of crisis receiving centers across Maine so that any person suffering a mental health crisis can get prompt and appropriate care instead of being alone or languishing in an emergency department or a jail, as is too often the case.

And I wanna establish the next receiving center in Lewiston, which I will fund.

(members clapping) And we will fund it in the forthcoming supplemental budget.

My bill will direct the Department of Human Health and Human Services to expand these receiving centers over time into a broader network and provide greater access to services for people.

We know those centers work.

My administration with your support opened the first center in Portland in February, 2022.

And 20 months after that, nearly 3000 people visited the center to get help and resolve a crisis.

Since then, we've also announced plans to create a hybrid crisis receiving center in Kennebec County that offers substance use treatment as well.

Crisis centers, crisis receiving centers work.

Let's build on them.

Now let's talk about how we can keep weapons out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them.

We know that in the case of the Lewiston shooter, law enforcement officers were not able to take him into protective custody to initiate our extreme risk protection law to remove his weapons.

Whether law enforcement could have or should have done something different is a question that is being heavily scrutinized.

But to me, the fact that they were not able to do that also reveals a gap that must be addressed.

What happens in the circumstance when law enforcement officer knows where a person is, knows they're in trouble, causing trouble, but is unable to take them into protective custody and still believes they pose a likelihood of serious harm to themselves or others?

My proposal will close that gap by allowing law enforcement to seek the approval of a judge in unusual circumstances to take a person into protective custody and if deemed dangerous by a medical practitioner and a judge, remove their weapons pending a full court hearing.

This will remove a barrier by providing law enforcement with another tool to find the person with a court order to ensure that someone's taken into protective custody and their weapons are removed.

Well this will strengthen the ability of law enforcement to remove weapons from dangerous people who already own them.

What about preventing dangerous people from getting a weapon in the first place?

I think we can address this too.

When a person is subject to our extreme risk protection law, their name is entered into a national database of persons prohibited from having firearms, a database which includes convicted felons and people subject to a domestic violence order, among other things.

In other words, people who we can all agree should not have a dangerous weapon.

This is a process that works well if the individual attempts to buy a gun at a federally licensed firearm dealer, your local gun shop or Cabela's or L.L.Bean for example.

There the dealers are required to verify that a person is legally allowed to buy a weapon through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System or NICBCS.

If that person is in NICBCS, and they're a prohibited person and the system flags them, the sale is denied.

But it's not a process that works well when that very same person can walk out of the gun shop and go to Facebook marketplace or Craigslist or Uncle Henry's and buy through private commercial sale the same weapon they were just denied, a weapon they're not legally allowed to have.

In 2016, the broad question of universal background checks was put to Maine people through referendum whether they wanted to close this so-called private sale loophole.

At the time people rejected it.

And that vote has framed my approach to the larger question since then, frankly.

But now in the aftermath of the violence we have seen across Maine, I've asked myself whether this approach is still the correct one, and I've arrived at the conclusion I don't know how we can allow people who legally cannot have guns to buy them through a private sale and pose a risk to themselves or the public.

And I do not know how we can hold commercial sellers to a higher standard while allowing an underground market of private commercial sellers to advertise guns for sale without any restrictions.

(members clapping) In my conversations with Maine people, I believe they agree, people who can't legally own guns should not have such easy access to them.

And I believe the time has come to address the issue of private gun sales.

So I propose two things.

One, that we require any sale of a firearm that is advertised whether through Facebook, Craigslist, Uncle Henry's, a gun show or other means, require them to be checked against the NICBCS system, the same system used by licensed firearms dealers.

In doing so, we will ensure that when a gun is sold through an advertised sale, it cannot be sold to someone who's prohibited from having a firearm.

Now secondly, you're probably wondering, well what about sales that are purely private and not advertised?

It's a good question and that's one I've thought a lot about too 'cause these are the kind of transfers that are most often from one family member to another, from one trusted friend to another, from a neighbor to another.

In other words, the type of sale or safe transfer among law abiding gun owners that is common in our state.

We have to acknowledge that someone could sell a weapon again privately and unadvertised without knowing whether the buyer is legally allowed to own a weapon.

So I wanna encourage people to make damn sure that if they're selling a firearm to someone they don't know, they should know that that person is legally allowed to own a gun.

And that's something we can do in a way that respects our longstanding tradition of passing down family firearms from one generation to the next or from one law abiding gun owner to another.

Now please forgive me in advance, I swear the former attorney general in me is gonna come out.

I know you're all surprised.

Right now it's a crime in Maine, a misdemeanor for someone to intentionally or knowingly sell a firearm to someone who's a prohibited person.

Intentionally or knowingly, well a lot's writing on whether or not you actually know.

I don't think that's quite the right approach.

It's too loose a standard because the bottom line is you should know and most gun owners would wanna know, it's common sense.

It's the right thing to do.

So let's change our law a bit to reflect that.

Tonight, I'm proposing that we expand our law, improve it by adding the term recklessly to intentionally or knowingly, making it a stronger standard and making it easier to successfully prosecute someone who does sell a gun to someone who's prohibited, not allowed to have a gun.

And then on top of that, I propose we toughen the law to make that type of illegal sale a felony, not just a misdemeanor.

What does all this mean in practicality?

Well, it means if you're transferring a firearm to a relative or a friend you know is allowed to own one, you have nothing to worry about, nothing changes.

The longstanding tradition in Maine remains the same.

It also means, look, if you're selling to a stranger, you should perhaps visit a licensed firearm dealer to check the NICBCS system and make sure they're not a prohibited person because I'm sorry, I just didn't know, just isn't gonna fly like it used to and you wouldn't want a felony charge and the possible prison time that comes along with that.

Nor would you want to be the one who made a sale to someone who then goes out and does something terrible.

Now I know it's quite a bit of stuff, so let me recap.

Let's strengthen violence prevention by establishing an injury and violence prevention program at the Maine CDC, let's expand our crisis mental health systems.

Let's keep weapons out of the hands of dangerous people by strengthening our extreme risk protection law and by requiring those who advertise guns for sale to check the NICBCS system.

And by toughening our law that already makes it illegal to transfer a firearm to a prohibited person.

Prevention, mental health, keeping weapons away from dangerous persons.

That's what my proposal boils down to.

I recognize that on the one hand, this legislation may be too little to those who believe that more is needed while on the other hand it may be too much to those who believe the opposite.

But violence is not a simple problem and the remedy is not a simple single measure.

And these proposals, I believe, represent progress and they do not trample on anybody's rights.

They are practical common sense measures.

They are not extreme or unusual.

They are not a cookie cutter version of some other state's laws.

They are Maine made and true to our culture and our longstanding traditions while meeting today's needs.

If you are a law abiding citizen who owns firearms in Maine, you'll have nothing to fear.

If you're a collector of firearms in Maine, you have nothing to fear.

If you like to hunt in Maine, deer, bear, duck, pheasant, coyotes, you have nothing to fear.

And if you are a 14-year-old boy bowling with your dad on a week night in Lewiston, you too should have nothing to fear.

(members clapping) If you are a truck driver, a postal carrier, or an ASL interpreter with a young wife and four kids at home or delivery driver taking an evening off to play Cornhole with friends, you should have nothing to fear.

If you are a 35-year-old father of two with another on the way who just got his bachelor's degree from USM out for a bite to eat with friends, you should have nothing to fear.

Over the last few months I've been to too many funerals, expressing your condolences for all of you to the loved ones of too many lost too soon.

And I've sat with myself and my own conscience reflecting upon what is right for Maine in the wake of Lewiston and of Bowdoinham and of the tragedies of suicide and domestic violence that are all too prevalent in our society.

I hope that you too, as elected officials of the people will do the same.

Reflecting not only on what you may think is right or best, but on what those who disagree with you believe is best as well.

The issue of guns in America is so often marred with acrimony and divisiveness.

Tending to polarize people of goodwill, further entrenching people in already deeply held beliefs and positions, hardening our uncharitable opinions of one another and widening a great divide that only serves to immobilize us and obscure reasonable solutions.

Let us not lose our way in the vitriol and heated rhetoric that too often accompanies these debates.

Let us have substantive, respectful, vigorous discussions and arrive at solutions that work for our state, for our people.

It's worth doing, worth doing for the victims of yesterday's horrors.

For the survivors of today and the vulnerable of tomorrow, it is worth doing for Ron Morin.

For Peyton Brewer-Ross, for Josh Seal, Bryan MacFarlane, Joe Walker, Arthur Strout, Maxx Hathaway, Steve Vozzella, Thomas Ryan Conrad, Michael Deslauriers II, Jason Walker, Tricia Asselin, William Young, Aaron Young, Bob Violette, Lucille Violette, Billy Brackett, Keith Macneir.

And for Cynthia Eaton and David Eaton and Robert Eger.

Patricia Eger for the people who took their own lives and those who were killed by an abuser.

For the family and friends who now have to live with the unimaginable pain that comes from losing a loved one to violence and for anyone who survived that violence but who can never fully heal.

We have a lot of work to do in this body, creating and debating proposals that are balanced and measured with care, with dignity.

But it is worthwhile because one of the fundamental obligations of government is to keep people safe.

As I close, I cannot escape the troubling fact that violence has become all too common in our culture.

Acts of brutality, cruelty and anger are glorified and normalized in video games, TV shows, films and social media, acts that reduce our humanity, that leave us angry and bitter towards one another.

Acts that are part of a culture that too often promotes violence as a way to address but never really resolve differences.

As a society, we've got to consider how we can reject the vitriol that too often consumes us, how we can tune out the rhetoric of rage, how we can recognize the humanity and dignity of others through our own eyes.

And how we can lead with grace, compassion, and understanding in our own private and public lives.

We can't legislate all of this.

Instead, I think the true solution lies in our hearts, in the lessons we impart to our children, in our daily interactions with each other, in our spiritual faith.

As a people who, despite many differences, truly have more in common than we know, we who walk the same Earth, breathe the same air, striving for purpose, happiness, the chance to love and be loved, to be safe, and perhaps to make just a small positive difference in our short, blessed time on this Earth.

My friends, we cannot this month, this spring alone, heal every damaged heart or broken life.

Or pretend that we are immune from acts that tear us apart.

Nor can we repair every broken brick of every damaged bridge, replace every washed out culvert, reweave our wooden wharves, or reimagine the contours of our coast in a single moment.

We will never forget Lewiston, but neither will we let October 25th define us.

We have to embrace each other and believe in each other every day.

We are still a civil, safe, and welcoming state with a backbone as strong as Katahdin.

We are who we always have been.

A people with a deep and abiding sense of right and wrong, determined to look out for one another, knowing how very lucky we are to live in this beautiful state.

And so we will repair this scar of violence on our communal soul just as we rebuild our wharves, beaches and bridges with a cohesive will and a consciousness of the future.

As we fortify our state against the ravages of unpredictable storms and the predictability of climate change, so will we restore and strengthen our sense of personal security and collective safety based on the principles of the golden rule, protecting others as we would protect ourselves in our state and in our nation.

And fundamentally, we will continue to look within ourselves and to each other for the confidence, courage, and compassion to face the future, to weather things we've never weathered before, to defeat the dangers of today and prevent the disasters of tomorrow as we replenish our souls and renew our indomitable sense of hope.

One people made up of many with one purpose, one broad vision to be the best we can for ourselves, for our family, for each other, and for our state.

I know that we can because we are all of us, the people of the great state of Maine and the state of our people is good.

The State of our State is strong and as always is a privilege and honor to serve as your governor, thank you.

(members clapping) - [Robbie] And that was Governor Janet Mills concluding her State of the State address to a special joint session of the legislature.

You see her there sitting down right now.

You see house speaker Rachel Talbot Ross right there with her, her two big themes tonight, gun violence and extreme weather in the wake of last year's Lewiston shootings as well as the extreme storms that hit our state over the past few months.

- [Steve] A little more shaking of hands here, Robbie, just as she exits the house, so just taking the wrong way.

- [Robbie] Going lawmaker by lawmaker, shaking hands.

Going back with the chief justice there.

- [Steve] Interesting speech, Robbie, obviously, you know, really trying to thread the needle on the gun violence issue.

And of course on climate announcing that she'll be tapping the rainy day fund to help with resiliency to protect against future storms.

- [Robbie] And now we will go to the Republican response recorded earlier today before the governor's address, we will hear from the House Minority leader Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor and Senate Minority leader, Trey Stewart of Presque Isle.

First up is Trey Stewart.

- Good evening, I'm Trey Stewart from Aroostook County, the Senate Republican leader.

- And I'm Billy Bob Faulkingham, from Winter Harbor, the House Republican leader.

Thank you for joining us tonight for the Republican response to the governor's State of the State address.

- First and foremost, we must pause from any political message to express our sincere and utmost condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the senseless tragedy that occurred in Lewiston last year.

- We will continue to support these folks however we can and stand together in honoring their memory and their lives.

As for the response, we need to set the record straight on a few things that the governor shared today.

- While she can try to paint a different version of reality for Maine's people, we know that you aren't buying it.

The cold, hard truth of our economy under Democrat control is that Maine people are struggling and things have gotten worse, not better on their watch.

You don't need to be an economist to recognize that when your bills are rising faster than your paychecks, it's harder to make ends meet for your family.

And nursing homes are closing across the state for a lack of a plan and leadership, leaving families to struggle with the consequences.

It seems like the only thing that's gotten cheaper under Maine Democrats is lobster prices and cannabis.

What's worse is gaslighting people into thinking that everything is fine.

- Governor Mills was elected in 2018.

For three consecutive terms, democrats have controlled the governor's office, the Senate, the House, and all constitutional offices.

Democrats think they can control the weather by making us suffer.

Unless you wanna freeze in your homes or be stranded because the battery powered car's dead, the Democrats are not working for you.

Governor Mills was elected at a time when the economy was thriving under a Republican president.

When that president was replaced, the state of Maine benefited from an astronomical amount of federal funding, money printed out of thin air.

I am here today to declare that the State of the State is an illusion.

It is a house of cards on the verge of collapse.

- Well said, next, let's wade into the waters of immigration for a moment.

Under current leadership, Maine has rolled out the red carpet and turned into the northern most all-inclusive resort for anyone and everyone.

Free new housing, free healthcare, free food, you name it, we're giving it away.

All courtesy of the good, hardworking folks of Maine.

While Texas has garnered the national spotlight on this topic, it's hitting close to home too.

In my own district, in Aroostook County, illegal immigrants are crossing our border in droves and being released because of the same failed Democrat policies you see in Texas.

They're given court dates four years later and never seen again, you can't make this up.

Our country and our state are in dire need of solutions to these problems.

- For Republicans, the solution is simple.

Believe in the Maine people, believe in their decisions, help them by not making things harder for them.

This has been a giant wealth transfer from working people to support more government.

Why should government get larger and larger while family budgets get smaller?

Are you better off than you were six years ago?

The government is taking from family budgets and paying for windmills, wiping out our skylines and threatening our pristine ocean waters.

The government is paying for undocumented immigrants to have two years of free housing while our homeless suffer.

- That's right, Billy Bob.

Unfortunately, there are now more sightings of illegal Chinese marijuana operations.

Used needles in the streets and homeless tent cities than there are moose sightings.

Portland, Maine is giving Portland, Oregon a run for its money, as the poster child for how to create a socialist utopia and fail miserably.

We've become the greenhouse capital of New England and not the kind that's helping the environment.

Our overdose deaths as a result of fentanyl entering our state have only gotten worse since the pandemic.

Our state can't even keep our children safe with more children dying on the state's watch year over year, folks, Maine is in a race to the bottom and we are winning.

- Unfortunately, the Maine people are losing.

I wanted the governor to show leadership by publicly calling on the Secretary of State to let people decide whom they want to vote for.

I wanted the governor to lower the tax and regulatory burden on Maine people.

I wanted the governor to commit to lower electric rates by reversing the flow of money to out-of-state solar and wind corporations.

There's no reason to pay artificially high prices just to follow a California agenda that will destroy our state.

- And if all that's not bad enough, kids in Maine schools are being fed a new curriculum that should concern every mother and father in our state.

One where keeping secrets from your parents is the new extra credit and common sense and obvious truths get pushed aside for the liberal agenda.

You may have even heard in the national news about one Democrat proposal to legalize child trafficking to get sex change surgery without parental knowledge.

It is time for our collective voice to rise in a resounding chorus that declares enough.

- I know I've had enough, Trey, I wanted the governor to publicly call on the Board of Environmental Protection to abandon their efforts to mandate electric vehicles.

In a wild twist of irony, that decision was only postponed because of a storm that caused widespread power outages.

Imagine if that storm happened when an EV mandate was in effect.

- Look, folks, we know the real guardians of Maine's future aren't seated in the legislative halls.

They're standing strong in every home, every town, every heart across our state.

So let's march forward, not just in frustration but with purpose.

Our actions today will shape the Maine of tomorrow.

We must recognize the truth of where we are at, including the harsh reality of life under total Democrat control.

Together we can lift the veil from our eyes and recognize that we are in control of our own future.

We have the tools to reshape our trajectory and make sure that the next generation will be better off than our own.

That all starts with this November's election.

- That's right, Trey.

The course of Maine's future is chosen by her people.

We all know what the problems are.

Republicans have been offering solutions.

Our solutions let individual Mainers decide what is best for their lives.

Let citizens keep more of what they earn.

Let citizens decide what kind of car they want to drive.

Let citizens decide whom they want to vote for on the ballot.

Prioritize those who live here before others who skip the line for welfare benefits.

If those seem simple, it's because it's common sense.

People know what is best for their lives, not the government.

Republicans believe in the Maine people, we believe in you.

- Thank you for tuning in tonight to the Republican response.

- May God bless you and God bless the state of Maine.

- And that was Maine House Minority Leader, Billy Bob Faulkingham and Senate Minority Leader, Trey Stewart with the Republican response to Governor Janet Mill's State of the State address.

Steve, we certainly heard some GOP talking points there.

Clearly a different view of the economy compared to Governor Mills, but not a lot of that was I guess, direct response to the governor's address.

- Yeah, I think Robbie, what you heard there was basic, you know, it was essentially election year message, you know, an alternative vision from the Republican party, which, you know, certainly wasn't gonna get a lot of airtime in the governor's address.

And you know, they outlined some of the things that they care about.

Not that those are not, those are relevant issues obviously, and they certainly are to certain members of the public.

But no, not in not a rebuttal of the governor's speech and certainly not a rebuttal of the speech she just gave, which was so focused on gun safety or public safety and the extreme weather events.

Granted, they pre-taped, so they didn't have an opportunity to respond in that setting, but there you have it.

- Let's quickly talk a little bit about what the governor did talk about tonight in her speech, as you mentioned, the two big themes for her responding to these extreme weather events that we've seen as well as responding to violence, to gun violence.

On that violence piece, I wanna talk just a little bit about these proposals that she put forward.

It seems like they're trying to walk a little bit of a political tightrope here, what was your take on it?

- Yeah, exactly that.

I mean, I think the proposals that she offered up, especially the piece on giving law enforcement an additional way to begin the protective custody process, which was a key issue in the Lewiston shooting or the run up to it, was so nuanced that it's actually hard to do it justice here in the short amount of time that we have.

But I think what was interesting about it is on that piece, she's not changing these extreme protection order laws, or more commonly known as a red or yellow flag law.

We have a yellow flag law in the state.

She's not actually changing that or removing obstacles in that or the steps in that law.

What she's doing is giving law enforcement like an opportunity to start the process a little bit sooner than they otherwise, than they do right now.

So I think gun control advocates, we'll have to see what they have to say.

They may be disappointed by that 'cause I know that they wanted to decrease the number of steps that would require to confiscate somebody's weapon.

At the same time, she may not have pleased gun rights groups either, especially on this expansion of background checks to private sales, which is an issue that this state has seen in a referendum in 2016.

She attempted to sidestep some of the third rails in that particular referendum, which was background checks on private sales between family members.

She's staying well clear of that, but she is making it.

She is expanding background checks to include private sales, which is something that's not in place right now.

- Yeah, Steve, a complicated, nuanced issue as you were saying.

I'm sure we are going to hear a lot more about it tomorrow, the rest of the week through the legislative session as well.

I wanted to ask one more question.

Where do you see the Republicans specifically kind of fitting into these negotiations around all these different proposals?

Do you see areas of agreement there?

- Well, maybe on the gun control piece, perhaps it depends on how those proposals are presented.

Are they separate individual bills?

Then maybe, you know, maybe they could get behind this issue on the protective custody.

They might be able to do that.

Don't know where they're gonna stand on the background checks expansion.

I think that that is something that they may not be, they may not be willing to negotiate on.

So we'll have to see.

On the climate issue, another unclear, I'm not sure about that.

We'll have to wait and see, but of course, she's tapping the rainy day fund to pay for that one particular initiative, and they may not be happy with that.

- Yeah, well, thank you Steve.

Steve Mistler is Maine Public's Chief Political correspondent, and that concludes Maine Public's live coverage of the State of the State address from Augusta.

We will have more coverage of the address and reaction to it tomorrow on Morning Edition on Maine Public Radio.

And you can also see this program at your convenience online at mainepublic.org.

I'm Robbie Feinberg, thanks for tuning in.

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