Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Several tribal leaders confirmed that negotiations have been underway since November. Those talks already produced one breakthrough in a sometimes rocky relationship between Governor Janet Mills and the tribes. In January she allowed a bill to become law that gives them exclusive rights to operate internet gambling in Maine.
The move won her effusive praise from leaders of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, who wrote a recent opinion column in the Portland Press Herald crediting the governor for improving tribal relations. They specifically cited the internet gambling bill.
The column also contained a veiled reference to a separate column by Donna Loring, a Penobscot tribal elder who briefly served as the governor's tribal relations liaison during her first term. Loring was critical of the internet gaming deal, describing it as a "transaction" with the governor that traded sovereignty for the tribes' long sought quest for gambling rights that have been effectively blocked by the 1980 Maine Indian Settlement Act.
Clarissa Sabattis, chief of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, told lawmakers that she's hopeful for a compromise, but also expressed frustration that tribal leaders had to fight for rights already granted to other native people.
The other proposal aims for a larger rewrite of the settlement act by implementing a series of changes recommended by a bipartisan task force in 2020. A similar bill advanced in the legislature in 2022, but it was never funded.
Several candidates running for office this year testified in support of both proposals, including Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, Mills' leading primary challenger, also testified. Platner blamed powerful politicians for blocking significant changes to the 1980 agreement, "including the governor, who has fought against tribal self-determination her entire career," he said.
It's unclear when compromise legislation will be unveiled. Any proposal will have to clear the legislature before it adjourns in mid-April.
Read the full story by Steve Mistler at mainepublic.org.
Several tribal leaders confirmed that negotiations have been underway since November. Those talks already produced one breakthrough in a sometimes rocky relationship between Governor Janet Mills and the tribes. In January she allowed a bill to become law that gives them exclusive rights to operate internet gambling in Maine.
The move won her effusive praise from leaders of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, who wrote a recent opinion column in the Portland Press Herald crediting the governor for improving tribal relations. They specifically cited the internet gambling bill.
The column also contained a veiled reference to a separate column by Donna Loring, a Penobscot tribal elder who briefly served as the governor's tribal relations liaison during her first term. Loring was critical of the internet gaming deal, describing it as a "transaction" with the governor that traded sovereignty for the tribes' long sought quest for gambling rights that have been effectively blocked by the 1980 Maine Indian Settlement Act.
Clarissa Sabattis, chief of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, told lawmakers that she's hopeful for a compromise, but also expressed frustration that tribal leaders had to fight for rights already granted to other native people.
The other proposal aims for a larger rewrite of the settlement act by implementing a series of changes recommended by a bipartisan task force in 2020. A similar bill advanced in the legislature in 2022, but it was never funded.
Several candidates running for office this year testified in support of both proposals, including Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, Mills' leading primary challenger, also testified. Platner blamed powerful politicians for blocking significant changes to the 1980 agreement, "including the governor, who has fought against tribal self-determination her entire career," he said.
It's unclear when compromise legislation will be unveiled. Any proposal will have to clear the legislature before it adjourns in mid-April.
Read the full story by Steve Mistler at mainepublic.org.
