Today we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., and the tireless efforts of the civil rights movement. Find a nearby event below, and read up on the incredible women who worked alongside Dr. King. This week, we are gearing up for two of…

AND WE'RE BACK! (Pics or it didn't happen!) The Legislative session kicked back off on Wednesday with huge crowds to support gun safety in our communities. You can follow along with the Maine Gun Safety Coalition (and partners like us!). Even if…

Dear friend , What a year! We saw some incredible wins for gender equity this year: moving forward major policies to expand access to care and caregiving (paid family and medical leave! childcare!), trans rights and dignity, and reproductive…

It's finally August, and the session is over (at last!). And that makes this the last Round-Up of the session - you can follow us on social media, and these weekly missives will return when the session lights up again next winter. Passing…

Friend, we are almost at the end. Last week, the Appropriations Committee 'ran the table' (decided which bills would be funded on top of the budget). There were over $1 billion in requests, but less than $40 million in funding. Most of the bills…

Friends, Last weekend, I had the chance to share with my mom that Maine was successful in passing Paid Family & Medical Leave. Neither of us had paid family leave when we had children. My mom shared about not having paid time to be with her…

Friend, we are almost at the finish line. But not quite. The Legislature wrapped up most of its business on Thursday. LD 1619, expanding access to abortion care, made it through its final vote. LD 2004 would have ensured that the Wabanaki Tribes…

Dear friend, We're BURSTING with the joy of watching LD 1964, the bill to create Paid Family and Medical Leave in Maine, pass through the House and Senate last week. The bill still needs to get start-up funding and to avoid a Governor's veto, but…

Hello, friend! "Today, this right to human autonomy remains under direct threat by the forces of white nationalist and patriarchal reaction. As was true for the Black female survivors of enslavement in 1936, and for their spiritual heirs and…

Last week this op-ed appeared in the BDN, featuring research from The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having—or Being Denied—an Abortion. The study followed 1,000 people seeking abortion care over 5…

Dear friend , Committees will complete their work this week, so all the last stragglers will get votes or get carried over to next session. A couple of our top priorities both have votes on Thursday - childcare systems improvement and paid…

Here it is. Paid Family and Medical Leave hearing week. If you're wondering why we care so much about this, it's because PFML is kind of a BIG DEAL. It's one of the most significant ways we can reduce the gender- and race- pay gap, and while…

May 25: the moment we've all been waiting for! The Labor and Housing Committee will hear LD 1964, An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Commission to Develop a Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits Program, on May 25 at 1:00 - and…

Dear friend, Last week, some of our team headed to DC because - as hard as this is to believe - there is ALSO legislation moving at the national level. We've been so busy at the Maine State House we almost forgot. We were focused on bills to…

Dear friend, We've hit the point in the Session when things feel like they've gone off the rails - bills are popping up as the requirement for longer notice has been waived, committees are packing in hearings and work sessions, and it's hard to…

Welcome to abortion access week at the State House, friend! Today is all about ensuring and expanding reproductive and abortion access, with bills in two committees. - An Act to Improve Maine’s Reproductive Privacy Laws - LD 1619 (Mills…

April break is over, and the Legislature will go into top gear over the next month as they race to get bills out of committee. About 400 bills still haven't been printed yet - including Paid Family and Medical Leave! - but there are plenty to keep…

The Legislature was closed yesterday, and so were we! Due to April vacation, this will be a lighter week, but we're gathering forces for what is bound to be a chaotic time. Controversial or partisan bills are often saved for later in the session,…

Big national forces are affecting the Maine gender equity landscape right now. Medication abortion is the most common way to access abortion, and involves two medications, mifepristone and misoprostol. On Friday, two conflicting federal court…

It was a wild week in Augusta, as the majority part completed a bit of tricky budget wrangling. In short, a 'baseline' budget which maintains government services was passed late Thursday night and signed on Friday, so that there is no chance of a…

Dearfriend , After a slow start to the session, so many of our priority bills are dropping! Last week we testified on salary transparency and income taxes (did you know the income tax is one of the fairest ways to raise money, and an essential…

After a slower-than-usual start to the Session, bills are rolling out of the Reviser's Office and hearings are stacking up in committees. This week, watch for hearings on salary transparency (Tuesday), increased access to Civil Legal Aid (Tuesday),…

Last week, the Commission on Paid Family and Medical Leave presented their report to the Labor and Housing Committee. After good questions and discussion, the committee voted 7-4 to include funding for PFML start-up costs in their recommended…

Dear friend The Legislature comes roaring back from break with a full schedule of hearings and work session. This week Appropriations will hold work sessions and a vote on the Health and Human Services portions of the budget (we testified in…

Last week was a huge week for Paid Family & Medical Leave - the Commission released their report after 18 months of work, and we rallied with hundreds of coalition partners, legislators, advocates, and friends to make PFML a reality for Maine.…

Maine Women's Lobby Legislative Round-Up News: January 30, 2023 Dear friend Bills are rolling out of the Registrar's Office (follow along with our Public Bill Tracker) and after weeks of orientation, committees are beginning to hold hearings…

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr Day! You can find a round-up of activities across Maine here, and Southern Poverty Law Center has this beautiful 2020 tribute to ‘women of the movement’. The Legislature is still mostly in orientation,…

For too long, care work has been invisible and undervalued work that powers our families, communities, and economy. Care work, whether paid or unpaid, is done by women of all ages, and the lack of care infrastructure is one of the primary drivers…