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Sens. Carney, Rotundo celebrate Maine Senate’s initial passage of suite of bills to reduce gun violence, bolster public safety
AUGUSTA — On Friday evening, the Maine Senate voted in favor of a suite of bills to help improve public safety and decrease firearm-related violence and deaths in Maine, including suicide and homicide. In response, Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, and Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, chair...
Sen. Rotundo introduces bill to expand funding to affordable housing development
LD 2106 would increase the per-project cap on the popular Maine Historic Property Rehabilitation Tax Credit Sen. Peggy Rodundo introduces LD 2106, “"An Act to Accelerate the Production of Affordable Housing and Strengthen the Historic Property Rehabilitation Tax Credit,” before the Taxation...
Sen. Peggy Rotundo was first elected to the Legislature in 2000 as a senator and served the four terms allowed under term limits. During her first tenure in the Senate, she served on the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee for four terms, chairing it for two terms; chaired the State and Local Government Committee; served on the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, the Committee on Bills in the Second Reading, and the Senate Ethics Committee. She also served as the Senate chair of the Citizens Trade Policy Commission.
In 2008, she was elected to her first term in the House of Representatives. During her time in the House, she again served on the Appropriations Committee for eight years (chairing it for four years) as well as on the Government Oversight Committee and as the House chair of the Citizen Trade Policy Commission.
While in the Legislature, Sen. Rotundo was appointed to statewide commissions to study tax reform, ways to increase the number of students pursuing post-secondary education, state policy around rail transport, freedom of information issues, Native American tribal issues and state budget reform. She also represented Maine on the Education Commission of the States.
In 1995, Sen. Rotundo helped found the Center for Service-Learning at Bates College in Lewiston, a nationally recognized program that connects Bates students to the community through service. She is actively involved in her community, has served on a variety of boards, including the Androscoggin Chamber of Commerce and LA Arts. Sen. Rotundo was a founding member and co-chair of the Lewiston Aspirations Partnership with L. L. Bean, and served on the steering committee to establish the Lewiston-Auburn Youth Lacrosse Program in 1996 and Pettingill School Park in Lewiston. She was also a founding member and former president of the Lewiston Education Fund.
Education and its importance in economic development have always been of enormous interest and concern to Sen. Rotundo. In 1993, she was elected to the Lewiston School Committee, which she chaired for four years. Recognizing the importance of early education, she became active in the Head Start program, serving for many years as a board member. As a past president and the first vice president of the Maine School Boards Association, she traveled extensively across the state and around the country speaking as a volunteer on behalf of public education and advocating for the educational needs of Maine’s children. She has also served on the board of the Maine Compact for Higher Education and on the Board of Trustees of the University of Maine System.
Sen. Rotundo has sponsored legislation that has created greater public access to government information, a cleaner environment, greater educational opportunities for all Maine people and better services for veterans and older Mainers. She has also led in creating bipartisan state budgets. Sen. Rotundo has won numerous awards for her work on these issues and for her work in creating respectful public discourse.
Sen. Rotundo and her husband, Loring Danforth, have two grown children, Nicholas and Ann, both of whom attended the Lewiston Public Schools.
Sen. Rotundo is serving her fifth non-consecutive term in the Maine Senate, representing all the people of Lewiston.