Sen. Bellows earn high marks for pro-state employee voting record
Sen. Shenna Bellows, D-Manchester, earned a perfect score from the Maine State Employee Association, SEIU Local 1989 for her support of state employees during the first session of the 129th Legislature.
“Without the hard work and dedication of Maine’s state employees, our state couldn’t function,” said Sen. Bellows. “Many people go into service to the state knowing that they’re sacrificing higher pay in the private sector because they truly love Maine and want to make it a better place. I’m proud of my voting record because I know that making their lives even just a little bit better is the just and fair thing to do.”
Sen. Bellows is the Senate Chair of the Legislature’s Labor and Housing Committee. She has a long history of supporting working Mainers and their families. This year, in addition to the proposals included by MSEA on the scorecard, she sponsored a new law to require that municipalities and school districts to notify employees as quickly as possible of actual or suspected breaches of confidentiality and thefts of an employee’s personal information due to cyber activity, as well as a bill to increase fairness between retired Mainers who receive a public pension and retired Mainers who receive Social Security benefits.
MSEA scored five key initiatives debated by the legislature this year, including the bipartisan state budget, pay parity for adult protective caseworkers, strengthening collective bargaining, excluding collectively bargained salary increases from earnable compensation limits for retirement, and funding a compensation and classification study for the Executive Branch.
Sen. Bellows is serving in her second term representing southern Kennebec County in the Maine Senate.
