March Madness Episode, 2025

Potholes and Politics: Bills, Brawls, and Birthday Cupcakes!

Welcome to Potholes and Politics, where Rebecca Squared navigates the whirlwind of local legislation, tackling topics from voter registration to fire safety standards. Join Lambo and Grambo as they dive into the minutiae of obscure bills, from regulating corner caucuses to updating voter registration systems and debating cannabis laws—and yes, even the state of public hearings and emergency services funding. Stay tuned for insights on the challenging balance between maintaining transparency and managing thousands of legislative proposals. And don’t miss the chat about the woes of Academy training, fire codes, and the nuances of implied consent. All this while celebrating a co-host's birthday with cupcakes and cookies—could there be a sweeter way to discuss politics?

00:00 Introduction and Catching Up
00:36 Legislative Overload: Bills and Meetings
01:27 Transparency in Legislative Processes
05:27 Election and Voter Registration Bills
07:37 Gambling and Liquor Legislation
09:33 Public Safety and Fire Training
13:07 Fire Safety Standards Debate
20:52 Police Training and Non-Residential Academy
28:06 Implied Consent and Driver's License Suspensions
31:03 Civics Education and Voter Registration in Schools
33:26 Cannabis Legislation Updates
35:01 Conclusion and Personal Notes

Transcript

March 14 Podcast 2025

Rebecca Graham: [00:00:00] Welcome, everyone, to Potholes and Politics, local main issues from A to Z. This week, you are listening to Rebecca Squared as it has been a real challenge getting us all in one space together. We're using this opportunity to try to Get something out at least to our regular listeners.

Rebecca Graham: Just 

Rebecca Lambert: minus one of the trifecta. 

Rebecca Graham: Yep, so it's Lambo and Grambo coming at you this week. 

Rebecca Graham: There's been 

Rebecca Graham: a lot of activity since our last podcast that we dropped. But, rather than go back all the way to, I think it was January, Oh, 

Rebecca Lambert: goodness. 

Rebecca Graham: We've been drinking from a fire hose of legislation.

Rebecca Graham: I think we're almost up to the thousands in the bills that have been printed. 

Rebecca Lambert: We sure are. Between Zoom polls and LPC meetings and public hearings and work [00:01:00] sessions, we've all been running around like crazy.

Rebecca Graham: Yeah, interestingly it is March and, The beginning of March for that matter, and already committees are assigning bills into a public hearing with less than five days notice.  

Rebecca Graham: I 

Rebecca Lambert: think that goes against the rule doesn't it thought it was two weeks. You know they set the rules. Oh. 

Rebecca Graham: As you got to hear today in Judiciary,, public meeting rules and public meeting norms that are well established, at least within the municipal context that people's work gets done on mic and in public and doesn't Constitute to a special meeting of individuals who are making decisions.

Rebecca Graham: There was an interesting bill that was before judiciary that had its work session today. Were you there for the public hearing as well? 

Rebecca Lambert: I do think I w I went back and watched the public [00:02:00] hearing. I was not in the room for the public hearing, but yeah, it was, it was a really interesting work session.

Rebecca Lambert: I was particularly interested because it's something that we always talk about corner caucuses and when, you know, the committee will run behind closed doors and they'll talk about things, come out of the committee room and then, , come back into the committee room and then they take a vote and you're not really sure what exactly was said behind those closed doors and it doesn't feel like a transparent process to do the public's work.

Rebecca Graham: So, this bill would require those caucuses to be subject to FOIA laws. 

That's LD12. It was sponsored by Senator Bennet of Oxford. Remarkably didn't have any co sponsors other than him on it.  

Rebecca Graham: Yeah, usually 100 percent of the appropriations discussions happen behind closed doors.

Rebecca Graham: Right. So it's really challenging to figure out what influenced individuals into taking the [00:03:00] positions that they have. Particularly on appropriations bills, that was the committee that did that most consistently and much to the ire of, , folks that are involved in the legislative process across the board.

Rebecca Graham: Historically, I believe our former director was writing about that 15 years ago as being a problem, but now it seems like it's widespread practice that particularly in this partisan legislature that all of the Discussions around how individuals come to the decision that they take on a piece of legislation happens behind closed doors, but they will come back on for a vote.

Rebecca Graham: I just can't imagine that flying in a select board process, for instance, or a planning board process.

Rebecca Lambert: Right, it just creates so much confusion, like they're meeting today here at 3. 30. This could be a potential solution for the Broadway show that occurred on Tuesday. And then [00:04:00] again on, was it Thursday when the Senate came back in to take up the supplemental budget?

Rebecca Graham: Yes, I don't know. The days are running together. It was a day that ended in Y. And it was good. That narrows it down. Thanks. Yeah, that's what it feels like. It's just one constant run in over and over. And I'm, you know, I'm sure it feels that way too for some of the folks that are straddling both, the legislative work and that particular committee.

Rebecca Graham: Sure. But 

Rebecca Lambert: hopefully there is a solution to that whole budget debacle. It just didn't make any sense as to why they, why the Senate Passed it all the way till the end and then didn't pass it. That just, just didn't seem, well, it's productive at all for anybody. 

Rebecca Graham: It's, it's politics and not policy, but I guess, you know, 

Rebecca Graham: it's, I think it's frustrating for all the folks that need that funding, but it's also interesting, I think, for folks that are looking at the process and how drastically it has shifted, , in the, and it's 

Rebecca Lambert: frustrating for me, people [00:05:00] like me who need a concrete answer.

Rebecca Lambert: Why did this happen? Well, 

Rebecca Graham: you see. Well, the sun was out and the moon was high and we just didn't want it to fly. I'm sure that that is about as much of a answer as we'll get because those are behind door caucuses. However, we digress. Yeah. So , there was a lot of activity in one of your other committees this week as well.

Rebecca Graham: VLA. You had quite a few election bills that were. Worked and presented    

Rebecca Lambert: Yes, on Monday, there was a public hearing, , on LD 266 and that bill had to do with updating, , voter registration signatures because, in theory, this bill is correct, As they age, people's handwriting changes.

Rebecca Lambert: Sometimes they have a medical condition or something that would, you know, make their hands shake. Or maybe they can't [00:06:00] grip the pen or pencil as, as tightly as they used to. But, understandably, our handwriting changes. However, there always is some sort of Telltale sign or unique characteristic about our signature that usually you can tell and testimony from the Maine Town and City Clerks Association was they have a lot of latitude when they're looking at in verifying signatures for a petition, the bill sponsor or Representative Smith from Palermo, , she gave a personal story that was when she, , was getting her signatures, seven out of those 25 weren't valid.

Rebecca Lambert: And it was because they couldn't be verified for whatever reason, because their, their signatures just didn't match. And sometimes it's because it hadn't been updated for decades. So this bill would aim to correct that, although there was no. [00:07:00] testimony in support of this bill. There was a lot of testimony in opposition just because the, central voter registration system, the CVR system that clerks use to, , for the voter registration rolls, that is not capable of tracking a date on which they get the signature.

Rebecca Lambert: So they would have to update all that software to track that date in order for them to be able to move forward with this bill, which was, I guess, a really Large number. I think it was two million dollars. I'm remembering correctly. I can't remember off the top of my head, but it was a big price tag. There was also a bill LD 811 sports wagering facilities.

Rebecca Lambert: It's would require a municipality to hold a public hearing and have a vote before a sports wagering facility could be placed in their community. MMA is supporting that measure too, , because it's a good idea to hold a public [00:08:00] hearing and have a vote because that allows the public an opportunity to ask questions and understand the whole scope of the project and how it's going to affect them and to get any questions answered that they may have.

Rebecca Lambert: And then a vote just kind of reflects that, yes, they want this , in their community. And honestly, that's the beauty of home rule, right? The people get to vote and to what comes into their community. That's why there's home rule and local control.

Rebecca Graham: And it provides them an opportunity to understand what's happening and instead of being blindsided, at least, you know, there's at least one public hearing.

Rebecca Graham: This has to do with a very specific sport betting entity that maybe didn't jump through some local hoops. Yeah, 

Rebecca Lambert: the online. When that was passed that created some loopholes. Several. Yes. So in addition to election bills, there's been a lot of gambling bills and lottery bills and liquor bills, not all of them.

Rebecca Lambert: Of municipal interest, but there's been a lot of activity and the VLA [00:09:00] committee has been very busy. Oh, geez. So, what about you? Every time I look at our schedule, you have a million and a half things going on. I'm not sure how you cloned yourself and get yourself to all these hearings and work sessions.

Rebecca Lambert: or how you have the time to do it, but please tell me more. 

Rebecca Graham: All right. Well, I don't have a life and I'm a glutton for punishment and , yeah, jack of all trades, master of none, which I hear that it's tragic, but when you've got a thousand bills coming at you, you're going to do something about it.

Rebecca Graham: So these past week And maybe it was like though, it was a little bit the week before as well, , seem to be a lot of kind of public safety focus, but also crossover focused. Let us pieces of legislation into like housing and economic development as well so there's a lot of stuff in CJ that was focused on improving fire training facilities by providing some state funds.

Rebecca Graham: For the statewide, , like investment [00:10:00] in training facilities that not only allow firefighters to train in a safe environment to understand how a fire acts under multiple different scenarios. , but also to keep and contain and make sure that they are environmentally friendly. It used to be that you would find a building that was derelict and someone wanted to develop and they would offer that as a training ground for firefighters, which sounds great.

Rebecca Graham: In theory, it sounds like it's, you know, achieving a couple of different purposes, but the stuff inside a building is toxic in nature. In general, so you can result in having some contaminated land after that event, but also a building, particularly one that's old or derelict, , is unpredictable. So if you're trying to train somebody who has no experience, you don't send them into a building that you don't really understand or know about its foundations and then hope for the best.

Rebecca Graham: Um, it did work for a long period, but [00:11:00] if you got to pay for injuries, you might not want to take that track and training in a safe environment kind of, , requires investment in those facilities, but you also don't want firefighters from Presque Isle needing to travel to Portland for their training. It's not realistic in a state that is heavily reliant on volunteers.

Rebecca Graham: to back up, , career and, , all fire agencies in general. And yeah, and it's just a hardship. It creates a barrier so that people that are willing to serve, , would face an added barrier that wouldn't necessarily exist otherwise. So there was that. However, 

Rebecca Lambert: as we have heard, those from Aroostook County will travel to Portland for that training because they're hardy up there.

Rebecca Graham: Yeah, they do. They have to do everything. They're so used to it. 

Rebecca Lambert: They travel distances. The 

Rebecca Graham: inconvenience, because nobody understands how far away that is. 

Rebecca Lambert: It is far. I'm always amazed every time I go up there, how far away it is. Yeah. 

Rebecca Graham: Which has [00:12:00] its beauty sometimes. 

Rebecca Graham: Oh, the other fire related bill was also inter related with EMS services and it is a commitment to continue to fund what was adopted in 2021, which was the community informed self determination grants that allow a. Knowledgeable third party to come in and help a community understand what services they have available around them, , and what might be necessary to achieve the type of emergency medical response that they might desire before they have to call 911 and get it and find out that they don't have a paramedic.

Rebecca Graham: And then understand the real costs of what that is, because that landscape in nature has changed drastically and Services don't make money. From emergency medical services. So there is a local commitment that needs to be there, but it allows them to look at what's realistic and possible within a regional or multi municipal [00:13:00] area.

Rebecca Graham: And that bill also, and both of those bills got passed out of committee, which was great. However, on the day that they got passed out of committee in the Housing and Economic Development Committee, there was a bill that would negate the ability for a municipality to adopt the NFPA, which are the National Fire Protection Association standards to have residences sprinkled.

Rebecca Graham: Because the sprinkler system is deemed too expensive under the current construction prices by developers. That was something that MMA was against. It was something that all of the fire departments who have those ordinances are against. In part because they are historically densely populated and developed areas of Maine.

Rebecca Graham: These aren't Reed Field doesn't have A sprinkler ordinance, but it also doesn't have a water system. A water 

Rebecca Lambert: system? [00:14:00] 

Rebecca Graham: A water system. As 

Rebecca Lambert: a matter of fact, there is the Reedfield Corner Water Association. Oh! We only have it on a corner. There's about 35 ish customers. Interesting. And it is managed by the Winthrop Utilities District.

Rebecca Lambert: They manage everything. Is that Dan? Dan, Dan, the little water man. 

Rebecca Graham: Interestingly the same day they did work those fire bills over in the housing and economic development committee, they were holding a public hearing on Preventing municipalities from adopting And FPA standards for sprinklers in single family and multifamily dwellings, which is something that several communities have adopted particularly in the densely more populated areas of the state and those with career fire departments and water districts as well that are pretty ubiquitous throughout a location for the simple fact that it flows.

Rebecca Graham: [00:15:00] The ability or the need to grow your fire department. So you can still rely on part time volunteers to supplement, but this is a, it's a life safety issue, not only for the occupants of that building but for the occupants of adjacent buildings. When a structure fire occurs, then you are endangering all the other buildings around you, particularly in densely populated areas the opponents.

Rebecca Graham: Of that bill are really focused on the fact that as the fire marshal's office in the fire departments and MMA, that you don't find death, largely in sprinkled buildings, unless there's been some sort of explosion, or something that occurred prior to that, but sprinklers unlike 007 movies do not go off and flood the entire building they are isolated to the fire and the point Of ignition.

Rebecca Graham: So you might get sprinkler going off in one building. But what happens is that [00:16:00] quickly suppresses the fire that allows for the time for the fire department to get into the building or to respond to the building. So it covers the building between the time of the fire starting and the fire department arriving on scene.

Rebecca Graham: And one of the fire chiefs told me this week that the flash overtime of new builds. The minimum time for a fire department is eight minutes which is faster than they can even leave the fire department. It has become a significant problem. The proponents of the bill state that it's too expensive, adds 12 a square foot to the cost of a build based upon current construction standards.

Rebecca Graham: Interestingly, countertops around 85 a square foot. So there's a cost benefit there as to what is necessary and what might be voluntary. Those are decisions that you make when you're building buildings but these particular areas that folks are [00:17:00] encountering these sprinkler requirements are historically very densely populated so there is a, an expectation.

Rebecca Graham: That you're not going to endanger the buildings next door, which might be older. This is how you allow this mixed development to occur and or might be closer than originally had planned for. The pushback was interesting on that one. 

Rebecca Lambert: Yeah, that is interesting. When you're talking about this, it reminds me when there was a fire in a building on Mount Vernon Avenue in Augusta.

Rebecca Lambert: And for a really long time after this fire, I mean, it demolished the whole building, but the building right next to it, the siding was melting off of the side of the building for the longest time. So, yeah, I get that point how it could kind of knock down a fire before the fire department gets there. And I remember when I worked at the, at the utility district that people would complain about their fire protection bills all the time.

Rebecca Lambert: They're like, what do I [00:18:00] mean paying for this for? But I mean, the size of the pipes and the amount of water that can get into that building when it's sprinkled immediately is such a benefit Or potentially mitigates the damage that can occur, depending on what kind of fire you've got.

Rebecca Lambert: I mean, there's so many factors, but I don't see why people would be opposed to having that where multiple lives that are not connected are at 

Rebecca Graham: stake. One, one of the proponents actually argued social Darwinism, which was shocking to me, but Um, if you're making a decision, it's your place. Like 

Rebecca Lambert: survival 

Rebecca Graham: of the fittest?

Rebecca Graham: Yeah, like, , you know, the folks don't change their smoke detector batteries enough, so they have to have , a public, , service announcement to remind folks to, to change, like, during fall, fall back and spring forward, you'll say, oh, yeah, , change your batteries, or you'll see those types of ads, but Or 

Rebecca Lambert: at 10pm, to remind you where your children are.

Rebecca Graham: It's 10pm, do you know where your children are? [00:19:00] One of the things that I just find, I, I struggle with, and I think All of the folks within that municipal sphere or anyone who has been to a fire or even the fire marshal who was at the scene of a single family residence fire that had four people injured one fire officer trapped in the building.

Rebecca Graham: It was not sprinkled. , those are things that you want to try to prevent, if at all possible. And yeah, it requires a lot more. Work on the on the side of fire to actually go through and and do these inspections, etc. But, where they're possible and where they make sense. That's why it's a national standard.

Rebecca Graham: Maine is chosen not to adopt the national standard, , largely because of the pushback around the cost of construction that you have heard and but they haven't prohibited. Municipalities from adopting that fire standard., I think all the fire chiefs and everyone that was there, anyone who has been to a [00:20:00] fire fatal fire, or even seen the type of destruction that can happen in an entire neighborhood is not really keen on selling safety for cost.

Rebecca Graham: I think there are ways to , cut costs that can allow you to Make sure life safety isn't one of those things that you,, ignore. I don't think you could get a house built because it didn't have heat. Or, I mean, we have a plumbing code, you know, flushable toilet. These are things that we accept as being important to the health and well being of individuals.

Rebecca Graham: And while it's not adopted statewide, it's still extremely important. And it's probably even more important in those heavily developed areas that , that it exists. So there's that I think that's having a work session at some point in time this week. Another more CJ bills that happened this week one was the non residential [00:21:00] Academy, which has been kind of a perennial request.

Rebecca Graham: But was it the MMA bill. There were two bills. So, yes. The M. M. A. bill was one of them. The M. M. A. bill created a basically a deadline that the board would need to adopt. a path for non residential academy and the other one just removed residential from the statute to basically allow it by not saying how that academy needs to be constructed. 

Rebecca Graham: It continually strikes me as interesting that there is this hardship, there is this recognized hardship, that you can point to consistently from transfers of individuals who've signed up for college under criminal justice, who decide that they're not going to do that. And one of the barriers is that consistently polled is the residential piece of that, that more than 50 percent of the [00:22:00] US doesn't have a residential Academy, but the United States as a whole has one of the shortest police training requirements in the globe.

Rebecca Graham: Japan has like three years I believe UK is to. We have 18 weeks. National standard is 21. They are doing a job task analysis right now, which is going to probably say that they need to be trained longer, which is going to be harder in the facility, and is probably going to require some hybrid approaches to how that gets delivered, , in general and some simultaneous running of , trainings as it is.

Rebecca Graham: But it's also been a problem expressed in border communities who have a relationship with federal employees who live within their communities and serve as border patrol and also have a relationship usually with those law enforcement agencies that are local. A number of communities have [00:23:00] tried to recruit those agents as they've retired.

Rebecca Graham: They've retired at an age where they're still able to give back to their communities, and they've already been embedded and want to stay there. But the academy doesn't take their credentials as federal officers and consider them comparable. So as a 40 year old who is retired from federal service, You would have to go back to the academy for 18 weeks, , in order to start all over again as though you were a fresh new officer, when in reality you probably need some sort of, bridging class as to the difference between federal government and federal enforcement and Maine enforcement.

Rebecca Graham: And to a certain extent, a lot of those folks already have that because they are deputized with powers to support their local community police. So they have the ability to enforce some main law already. A border 

Rebecca Lambert: patrol agent, you mean? Huh, that's interesting. 

Rebecca Graham: Yeah, it is really interesting because the academy [00:24:00] will waive in individuals and compare them from other states without a problem to see that they have met the , basic main standard.

Rebecca Graham: Residential is not part of that assessment. It's the curriculum that is the focus. So a lot of the the pushback comes from some folks who are just uncomfortable with change. Somebody said something to me that she thinks that police hate in general are change and status quo. And this bill probably exemplifies that.

Rebecca Graham: It has been asked for by a number of Southern Maine communities who are struggling, but also are on the borders with individuals that don't have residential requirements and wanted to send cadets to those academies because they could get them in there. and then we're totally put in. So , there's a lot of backstory.

Rebecca Graham: So we treat out of state folks differently than we treat in state folks. And then, , we claim , [00:25:00] that there's no issue. Right. , change of the coming and what was really fascinating around the, the testimony around that was, , Mayor Dion,. I wasn't quite sure where he was going.

Rebecca Graham: He started talking about his granddaughter, which was absolutely adorable, , in a dress and that his daughter had pulled up, her Google watch to show the dress and then flipped it over to Alexa in order to display the dress in a larger format so that he could see it. Well, he was only on his computer, but she was like, Flitting around and this allowed this instant communication and that she has already expressed a desire to go into law enforcement, but she doesn't learn or operate in a world that doesn't have that virtual component.

Rebecca Graham: So this is the next generation of individuals is not learning the same way. That's right. Historically, , folks that maybe are embedded in that model understand.  

Rebecca Lambert: [00:26:00] Right, . I remember when this was , talked about last in the last session, and one of the arguments was that, it establishes camaraderie and, , they, you get stressed and being away from your families and all that. And it's just, it seems like since COVID happened. there was a distinct shift in society and a lot of the kind of quote unquote old school principles are just people are like, why are we doing this?

Rebecca Lambert: And they're seeking 

Rebecca Graham: new ways. And I think that's a good question. And I know that they're not doing a lot of the things that folks were talking about. anymore. They're not waking individuals up. , you're covered by workers comp while you're in that space, by your community's workers comp. If you are injured, that is on your community's workers comp.

Rebecca Graham: So if you're being woken up and you're working beyond 40 hours, there's a case for overtime. I don't know that that's happening, but I'm saying, like, there's, there are very [00:27:00] clear labor related reasons why that's not happening anymore. And increasingly, individuals who come into the workplace don't do that.

Rebecca Graham: They want their 9 to 5 and that's it. Right. 

Rebecca Lambert: And flexibility. 

Rebecca Graham: Flexibility 

Rebecca Lambert: is big now. Yeah. I mean, not everyone's as messed up as Generation 

Rebecca Graham: X with their workaholic selves. 

Rebecca Lambert: Hey, you know, we get Stuff done. And 

Rebecca Graham: we have no life and we're all messed up. Well, to make sure the next generation is not right.

Rebecca Lambert: We'll help you up and tell you how you did, what you did wrong at the same time. 

Rebecca Graham: So there was not also, county corrections and backfilling the cost of county jails for the property taxpayer and trying to get more state skin in the game for what is fundamentally within the state.

Rebecca Graham: Fear of control, but it's being paid for too much by property tax. So there was a bill that had a public hearing and mma is bill on that has been [00:28:00] printed. I don't know that that's been scheduled to get that'll be coming as well. , and then we covered , in the. Bulletin, the difference between the Bureau of Highway Safety's view of what implied consent means and how it should apply and what the Secretary of State feels implied consent is.

Rebecca Graham: And that was a really interesting conversation that actually had some folks on the Criminal Justice Committee who have law enforcement history, a little bit confused because There, , was a talk about the administrative process and the administrative hearing versus the prosecution and what is involved in those spaces and at what point in time your refusal to comply to testing of impairment, , constitutes having your driver's license suspended because you failed to uphold your duty as a main license holder to submit. To the request of the authorities for a test, [00:29:00] and it was philosophical, as the Secretary of State said as to whether the impairment that was the intention of, implied consent.

Rebecca Graham: The intention of implied consent was to disincentivize driving while impaired. There isn't a trigger for impairment. , that has been recognized by the courts, like if a, if you have probable cause to establish that a driver's impaired and those observations are clear, articulable and mount to enough, you don't need the level or the type of drug.

Rebecca Graham: that is impairing you. So caffeine's a drug, alcohol's a drug, , over the counter medicines are a drug, your prescription medicines can be impairing, , you could Beers, bong, or blow. 

Rebecca Lambert: Doesn't matter what you do.  

Rebecca Lambert: . No, no driving.

Rebecca Graham: , so You know, [00:30:00] the, , trying to discuss that the impairment has already been established through probable cause, and that was the focus of implied consent because the level, , , , it's helpful.

Rebecca Graham: It can be an aggravating factor, but it's not necessary., 

Rebecca Lambert: I've heard committees get really confused when they start talking about implied consent, when they talk about criminal justice things, and they talk about what happened before the arrest and when they had probable cause.

Rebecca Lambert: And it's, it gets very confusing. Yeah. I 

Rebecca Graham: think we have all watched too much TV and 

Rebecca Lambert: yeah, it just people end up spinning, , conversations wind up spinning around and then they go back and then they're like, but wait, I thought that. You couldn't do that. 

Rebecca Graham: And the difference between articulable suspicion and probable cause.

Rebecca Graham: There's, you know, much higher standards and thresholds. Leave it to the professionals. Just 

Rebecca Lambert: don't, just don't watch Law and Order all the time. Or [00:31:00] Dexter, don't do that. Dexter, yeah, 1 M12 

Rebecca Lambert: They did hold a public hearing this week , in the Education Committee that would require schools, secondary schools, to hold voter registration drives which You know, on its face is a good idea because some hold mock elections, but the major point that was driven home by not only MMA, but, , a lot of main school management and others that.

Rebecca Lambert: That testified was that it's up to the local community what they're going to teach in their schools, and they don't have to participate in a mock election if they don't want to. It's a great way to, , provide civic education and, , promote voter registration or promote voting and voter education, but requiring each community to do it probably wasn't going to fly, , which I think the bill sponsor saw by the end of the Testimony, but 

Rebecca Graham: yeah, it would be all for bringing back [00:32:00] civics education in a robust way.

Rebecca Graham: You know, sometimes it falls on a passionate teacher, um, and it's always great. My friend brought her class up to, I think it was for Climate Action Day, up to the State House and I was able to give them a tour around and it's just so great to see someone come in without the jaded, oh my god.

Rebecca Lambert: Well, in excitement, they're almost in awe, they're like celebrities to them, you know, because they see them on TV, although not so much anymore, but 

Rebecca Lambert: I know last year when I went to that, , National League of Cities Congressional City Conference and I was walking around, , the state office building and the Senate building it's, and you see the names on the walls and all the marble, , and the big tall ceilings. It was super cool. I was awestruck.

Rebecca Lambert: I was like, Oh, look, that's so and so's 

Rebecca Graham: office, there's names right there. There's their flag. And I think that is great. And that's, that. That was, to me, what it was like to walk around with them, that they [00:33:00] had that. I was like, oh, I remember when I thought this place was great. The 

Rebecca Lambert: excitement. It's infectious, honestly, when people are that excited about something and they're talking and even if it's surface level and it's not too deep, it's, it's really cool to see that passion and enthusiasm.

Rebecca Graham: Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. And 

Rebecca Lambert: of course I'm a public service nerd, so. It gets me extra excited. I have, um, in the Veteran and Legal Affairs Committee, I have LD 948, Expanding the Cannabis Laws. And this bill, if I'm remembering , would expand the limits on the number of cannabis plants that a caregiver can cultivate.

Rebecca Lambert: I think the big ones around cannabis haven't come out yet. I think there's going to be some really big medical testing bills that come out. , I think there's still being worked on though. 

Rebecca Lambert: Means like the only state that does not.

Rebecca Lambert: Require testing in the medical side of [00:34:00] cannabis and it's it just it blows my mind that it's not tested But the recreational side is tested beyond belief. I know because you're supposedly using this Medicine that's not regulated by the FDA. 

Rebecca Graham: Clearly it ain't your uncle's weed that grew from your, you grew from your birdseed bag because hemp seeds used to come in birdseed bag and people used to pull them out and plant them.

Rebecca Graham: Did they really? 

Rebecca Lambert: Yeah. Interesting. That's what I was told. Anyway, 

Rebecca Graham: Hey, That was one of the, one of the locations that you could get your hemp seed was from a bird seed bag. That's funny.  

Rebecca Graham: Well, there we are then. That was quite a digression, so. Yes.

Rebecca Graham: Someday, we'll produce the offcuts of these, but. Yeah. 

Rebecca Lambert: 15 minutes of good content. Ugh. [00:35:00] Goodness gracious.

Rebecca Lambert: Well, there we are then. There we are. Then thank you for this lovely Friday afternoon. Pick me up. 

Rebecca Graham: You know, it was great to get together.

Rebecca Graham: I've missed you so much and I know, 

Rebecca Lambert: I hope you have an amazing 

Rebecca Graham: birthday 

Rebecca Lambert: this weekend, and thank you. I didn't have to come in on Monday. I. I asked my friend Annie, who makes the cupcakes, if she would be able to make me a half dozen of them so I could bring them in to share with you guys on Monday.

Rebecca Lambert: I, I bought these, , cookies for you guys last night.

Rebecca Lambert: And then when I didn't go in to work today, I realized that I I'm not going to see you on Monday if I do. So 

Rebecca Lambert: you're going 

Rebecca Graham: to 

Rebecca Lambert: have to eat the cookies. 

Rebecca Graham: I can't 

Rebecca Lambert: eat all those cookies. Sure you can. But they're all Irish themes. 

Rebecca Lambert: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You can have coffee in the morning. 

Rebecca Lambert: Don't forget water. I know. Gotta hydrate. I gotta hydrate. I gotta hydrate. Well, happy birthday, lady. Thank you. Thank you. Love [00:36:00] you loads. We will see you next week.