Members of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee are divided over legislation proposed by Gov. Paul LePage to suspend the driver’s licenses of drug law violators for six months.
Public Safety Commissioner John Morris urges compliance with the federal law.
“If you don’t, you lose a percentage of your highway fund, and for Maine this year it’s $14 million, obviously a significant amount,” he says.
The federal law has been on the books for years and so far the state has not lost any funding.
Opponents argue that the measure would clash with Maine’s new state law allowing personal use of marijuana, which is still banned by the federal government.
The bill now goes to the full legislature for its consideration.
This story was originally published on June 14, 2017 at 6:48 p.m. ET.
