Attorney General Mills questions LePage plan to divert timber revenues
Source: Portland Press Herald
AUGUSTA Attorney General Janet Mills said a LePage administration proposal to divert timber harvesting revenue to a heating assistance program would likely meet great skepticism from the courts.
Writing to a task force reviewing the management of Maines state-owned lands, Mills said it was impossible to reach firm conclusions about the constitutionality of Gov. Paul LePages plan and other proposals to siphon off timber revenues for other purposes.
But Mills said past opinions from the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and one of her predecessors make clear that there are limitations to use of Maines public reserved lands, which are held in trust by the Legislature for residents.
While the purchase of heating equipment for low-income rural families is a laudable goal, as is public assistance for food, shelter and health care, it is not easy to draw a connection between these types of uses and the preservation of the Public Reserved Lands, Mills wrote to members of the Commission to Study the Public Reserved Lands Management Fund. Under the very limited language of the Opinion of the Justices, this proposed use would likely meet great skepticism from the Court.
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Read more: http://www.pressherald.com/2015/10/27/attorney-general-mills-questions-lepage-plan-to-divert-timber-revenues/
impeach already