SENATE OVERRIDES LEPAGE VETO OF ‘FOOD HUBS’ BILL HELPING MAINE FARMERS AND FISHERMEN

AUGUSTA—In a 30-5 vote, the Senate overrode Governor LePage’s veto of a bill to encourage the use of Maine-produced food in Maine schools.

“Maine has more working farms than any other state in New England. And while the rest of the nation is seeing a decline in working farms, Maine is experiencing an uptick,”said Democratic Senator Chris Johnson of Somerville, who is the sponsor of the measure. “Successes like these should be built upon. This new law will make it easier for local foods to get from farm to market.”

The bill supports the creation of “food hubs” where locally produced food can be aggregated, minimally processed (such as washing and chopping), stored, and distributed. It also creates a competitive, grant-funded school food service training program, and seeks federal grants to operate the program.

The bill received strong bipartisan approval from the Legislature with a vote of 33-0 in the Senate and120-19 in the House.

Republican Senators Hamper, Sherman, Thibodeau, Thomas, and Mason originally supported the bill, but flipped their votes and caved to Governor LePage’s veto.

The House will now take up the veto of LD 1431, “An Act To Support School Nutrition and Expand the Local Foods Economy.“

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