Maine Gov. Janet Mills will be one of the recipients of the Human Rights Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization. A ceremony will be held next month.

Mills will receive the award because of her battle with President Donald Trump’s administration over transgender athlete inclusion in women’s and girls’ sports.

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“I am honored to receive this recognition named for former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, a heroic champion for civil rights and the rule of law that governs our nation and inspires the world,” Mills said in a news release.

“Throughout my career as a District Attorney, Attorney General, and now as Governor of Maine, I have fought to uphold the Constitution of my state and my country. I feel it is the responsibility of all Americans to speak in defense of their principles, for the rights of others, and for the rule of law which protects us all. As a member of the generation of Americans who were inspired by the career of Robert F. Kennedy, I am truly humbled and grateful for this award, which recognizes how his remarkable legacy should inspire all of us today.”

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Democratic Gov. Janet Mills delivers her State of the State address, Jan. 30, 2024, at the State House in Augusta, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

Mills, along with Justice Department pardon attorney Elizabeth Oyer and immigration and reform activist Jeanette Vizguerra, was given the award “for their moral courage and willingness to act on their convictions – even at great personal risk.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sued the state of Maine in April as Mills bucked the president’s executive order to keep males out of girls’ and women’s sports. Maine’s transgender participation policies have been a source of consternation, leading to a public spat between Trump and Mills during a meeting with the governors in February. The USDA lawsuit was one of a few filed against the state.

The USDA announced a funding freeze and a review of federal funding to Maine for the state allegedly refusing to provide equal opportunities to women and girls in educational programs. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said at the time that the state must agree to protect female athletes from trans inclusion before funding would be restored.

Maine sued the USDA over the funding freeze and accused the department of “withholding funding used to feed children in schools, childcare centers, and after-school programming as well as disabled adults in congregate settings.”

President Donald Trump signs an executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing in women’s or girls’ sporting events, in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The state dropped the lawsuit against the administration as the USDA agreed to restore federal funding earlier this month.

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Maine is still facing other legal battles over the issue.

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The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com

Ashley Luszczki is a government relations specialist at the Maine State Chamber of Commerce.

From setting high water quality standards to creating the Land for Maine’s Future program and enacting the nation’s first extended producer responsibility (EPR) law for packaging, Maine has long embodied its motto — Dirigo (I lead) — in environmental policymaking. These bold policies have helped protect our natural resources and strengthen our communities. Real leadership, however, also requires a willingness to adapt when necessary to ensure policies remain effective, practical, and aligned with evolving realities.

In 2021, Maine led the nation by passing a landmark EPR law for packaging, shifting the financial burden of managing packaging waste away from municipalities and taxpayers and onto the producers that generate it. Following a multi-year stakeholder process, the Board of Environmental Protection voted 4-1 in December 2024 on a detailed rule outlining how the Stewardship Program for Packaging will be implemented.

However, the rule didn’t undergo legislative review before advancing. That decision has left critical concerns raised by Maine’s business community unresolved, including ambiguous definitions, significant cost uncertainty, and growing misalignment with the EPR packaging laws enacted in other states such as California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, and Oregon. A similar law recently advanced through the state of Washington’s House and Senate.

Without addressing these issues, Maine risks launching a program that could burden businesses and consumers with excessive costs and risks discouraging the kind of innovation and investment our economy needs.

Recognizing the need for course correction, Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, submitted LD 1423 this session. His legislation proposed what we consider common-sense changes to clarify the law’s definitions, better align Maine’s program with national peers, and prevent unintended economic harm.

The Environment and Natural Resources Committee recently voted to support several improvements championed in Baldacci’s bill including updating the definition of “consumer” to ensure Maine’s businesses aren’t taxed twice — once for the packaging of goods they use and again for what they sell, updating the definition of “producer,” and making enforcement clearer and more equitable across complex supply chains. Importantly, the legislation empowers the Stewardship Organization (the entity who will oversee the program) to review fee structures and assess whether they meaningfully incentivize the use of more recyclable packaging.

The Maine State Chamber of Commerce supports these changes, is grateful for the committee’s willingness to act, and encourages the Legislature to recognize the benefit of these changes when LD 1423 advances to the Senate and House. We believe these updates will help ensure that Maine’s EPR packaging program functions as intended: efficiently, fairly, and sustainably.

Unfortunately, Maine will continue to be an outlier. Unlike other states, Maine’s law makes no exemption for federally regulated products like infant formula, surgical instruments, or chemical solvents, which must adhere to strict federal packaging requirements. Failing to account for this puts businesses selling products in Maine at a disadvantage by forcing them to comply with standards that are unworkable in some cases. This misalignment risks making Maine a less attractive market for innovation and expansion and will cost producers significantly more in Maine compared to states like California where their products and packaging are recognized and exempt.

We commend Baldacci for working to address this issue in LD 1423 and we appreciate the support from committee members like Rep. Dick Campbell, R-Orrington, and Rep. Tammy Schmersal-Burgess, R-Mexico, who voted to exempt federally regulated medical products for humans and animals in a minority vote of the committee.

While the Maine State Chamber wishes the full committee had greater aligned Maine’s program with other states, we are thankful for Baldacci’s leadership in bringing LD 1423 forward, and to the committee for their openness to supporting changes brought by the business community that we believe will strengthen the program from the outset. Baldacci has proven to be a thoughtful leader who recognizes that bold environmental policy and a strong economy aren’t mutually exclusive — they must go hand in hand. With these necessary adjustments, Maine will be one step closer to achieving that balance.

The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com

Lisa Margulies is vice president of public affairs at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund.

Anti-abortion opponents are out of step with public opinion, yet they haven’t stopped their attacks on our health care. And they’ve expanded their playbook to include a wide range of attacks on reproductive rights beyond outright abortion bans.

The vast majority of Americans and Mainers support abortion rights, and these numbers have only  increased since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision. Yet this legislative session in Maine, like every legislative session, we’ve seen bills seeking to restrict access to abortion and related care.

These bills are part of a systematic, years-long effort by anti-abortion opponents to push a slate of policies across the country designed to attack our rights. These cookie-cutter policies are developed by politicians and anti-abortion organizations not informed by science but instead their own agendas.  

Take LD 1716. This bill seeks to force schools in Maine to show fetal development videos created by anti-abortion actors under the guise of sexual education, with strikingly similar language as legislation in Arkansas, Florida and Oklahoma.  

Another bill, LD 887, stokes a baseless anti-abortion conspiracy theory based on faulty science about purported environmental effects of medication abortion. This dangerous policy is being pursued at the behest of a national anti-abortion group in at least four other states this year.

Yet another bill seeks a constitutional amendment to strip young people of their ability to participate in decision making in all aspects of their lives, including reproductive health care, under the guise of protecting “parents’ rights.” This tactic has been pursued with success in states including Florida, Texas and West Virginia.

I could go on, but you get the picture. These bills are part of a broader strategy to quietly and covertly chip away at our reproductive rights and freedoms and achieve the ultimate goal of controlling our bodies.

Attacks are not slowing down at the national level, either. Like the state-level attacks, they are often more opaque than an outright abortion ban because these politicians know that the public supports abortion and related care. Abortion opponents know that shutting down reproductive health care providers is just as effective as outlawing care altogether.  

The latest: draft portions of the federal budget reconciliation package seek to “defund” Planned Parenthood. What they’ve proposed is blocking millions of patients who depend on public health care funds, like Medicaid, from receiving care from Planned Parenthood and other similar health care providers. This is the latest attempt to eliminate abortion in the U.S., and it shows they’re willing to hurt millions of patients and the health care system to do it.  

In Washington, D.C. and Augusta, some politicians aren’t interested in what the majority of their constituents want. They’re interested in forcing their own political agendas. Here in Maine, politicians peddling these policies ignore that Maine voters have twice elected a majority of reproductive rights champions to represent us in the statehouse since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal protections for abortion. Thankfully, the majority of our lawmakers continue to work to protect Maine values and represent the will of Maine voters.  

State-level leadership has never been more critical. In the face of these attacks, leaders have an opportunity to protect access to reproductive health care. LD 143 would adequately fund our state’s family planning care network, which serves tens of thousands of Mainers every year, regardless of ability to pay. This funding would not cover abortion care, yet anti-abortion lawmakers in Augusta refuse to support it. They refuse to help ensure their constituents can access birth control, cancer screenings, behavioral health care, well person care, gender-affirming care and more. But, there is hope.

That hope lies in the majority of lawmakers in Augusta — elected by a majority of Maine voters. LD 143 has advanced through the initial stages of the legislative process and is now before the Appropriations Committee. Now, these lawmakers have an opportunity to show their constituents — and all Mainers — their ongoing commitment to essential health care in our state.