AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills offered targeted income and sales tax cuts as part of changes proposed to a bill aiming to give tribes a sweeping expansion of their rights.
The deal was unveiled before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Thursday. It was produced following negotiations between the Democratic governor and chiefs, although lawmakers delayed action on it because some of the four federally recognized tribes had not weighed in on the language.
It represents what is likely Mills’ final word on the fraught subject that has dominated State House politics during her tenure. She came into office seeking to improve the historically poor relationship between Maine and the tribes but has generally resisted their attempts to overhaul a landmark 1980 settlement that regulates them like cities and towns.
Mills has made several concessions in recent years, handing them control of a mobile sports betting market that went live in 2023 and signed a bill in January granting them rights to a regulated online casino industry. But she has not moved as quickly as others in her party, and her Democratic U.S. Senate primary challenger Graham Platner has hit her on the issue.
Thursday’s amendment came during the heat of that campaign. It would enshrine significant tax exemptions for tribal members and entities, including a full Maine income tax exemption for compensation earned from the four tribes regardless of where the member lives and sales tax exemptions on manufactured homes, vehicles and other property intended for tribal land.
It would also give the Mi’kmaq Nation the right to have a tribal representative to the Legislature. The Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and Maliseet tribes already have this right, but only the Passamaquoddy have a sitting representative in Aaron Dana. They cannot vote on the floor but can speak, vote in committees and present legislation.
The amendment was presented Thursday by Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, who has led the yearslong push to rewrite the terms of the 1980 agreement that settled a massive land claim.The governor vetoed a 2023 attempt to give tribes access to more federal laws and a 2025 bill that would have banned Maine from taking tribal land by eminent domain.
Tribes have had different postures through the last several weeks of negotiations. The Wabanaki Alliance, which generally advocates for positions that all the tribes support, has been quiet on the amendment. Chief William Nicholas Sr. of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township praised Mills for her work on tribal issues after the online casino decision.
In a Thursday interview, he said his tribe shifted its strategy last year to prioritize finding areas of agreement with Mills in the home stretch of her tenure. These tax changes would “have a direct impact on our community” and represent progress toward full sovereignty, he said.
“I would say it’s a good-faith effort by the governor’s office to work with the tribes,” Nicholas said.
