SO IS THIS THE HOPE, OR THE CHANGE? Weak Job Market Forces Maine Legislator to Resign, Look For Work Out of State. “A member of the House of Representatives and then the Senate, Bliss was laid off from his position as an administrator at the University of Southern Maine in late 2009 after two decades with the school. Maine legislators work only part-time, collecting about $13,000 a year for their service, leaving Bliss raising three children on only his partner’s full-time work as a low-income housing consultant.”