Governor LePage, as he is inclined to do with far too little thought, routinely vetoed a batch of legislation that arrived at his desk for signature last week.  Among those was LD 1468, a bill to improve safety at the Maine State Ferry Service (MSFS) and introduced by Senator Dave Miramant (D-Camden at the urging of the island communities, who are his constituents. 

Among the bill’s provisions was a requirement that a ‘lockbox’ be installed on each ferry to allow for the safe and efficient transportation of blood samples and other medical specimens.

Until now, island medical facilities and providers have had to rely on less secure means of transporting these critically important materials to mainland laboratories where diagnoses, often lifesaving results, are revealed.  

LD 1468 also compelled compliance with the provisions of the Operational Safety Assessment, a 2008 Safety Management Systems Report commissioned by the Maine Department of Transportation (DOT) and the MSFS. 

Clearly, the two were sufficiently concerned about safety and adherence to existing laws and regulations to have commissioned this report; nonetheless, it was filed away and ignored. 

In the decade since it was commissioned, the need for it to be dusted off and paid attention to has come up again and again because concerns about safety and compliance have never gone away. Nonetheless Governor Lepage vetoed this bill arguing that ‘No one has suggested the MSFS operates unsafely and studying an issue that is not an issue won’t make it any safer.’

He went on to say that, ‘the provisions called for in the legislation were unnecessary mandates that hinder the DOT and MSFS efforts to fulfill their core mission: to provide their customers the best service possible.’

Before the Governor’s veto, during negotiations, the DOT agreed with the two provisions described above but suggested legislation compelling compliance was unnecessary. This from the same department that commissioned the original study and then ignored it and who resisted mightily efforts to install the aforementioned lockboxes.   

Senator Miramant and supporters felt otherwise.  Last week, thanks to vigorous support from the islands, the Governor’s ill-considered veto was over-ridden.

Phil Crossman lives on Vinalhaven.