In addition to presiding over the body, the Speaker is also the chief leadership position, and controls the flow of legislation and committee assignments.

The Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and Maliseet tribal representatives are also entitled to sit as members of joint standing committees during hearings and deliberations, where they do cast votes, which can be very important with respect to specific legislative proposals.

Starting with the second session of the 125th Legislature, the Houlton Band of Maliseets was given a legislative seat in the House of Representatives.

After being sworn in by Governor Paul LePage, Bear stated he would introduce legislation to give the Micmac people of Maine a nonvoting seat.

Subsequently, Matthew Dana II of the Passamaquoddy and Wayne Mitchell of the Penobscot left the legislature leaving Henry John Bear of the Maliseet the only non-voting tribal representative.

As of December 2022, the Maliseets and the Penobscots haven't returned to the House, leaving just the Passamaquoddy Representative, presently Aaron Dana.

The previous district lines, which were drawn in 2013 and were first used in the 2014 primary and general elections, were only in effect for 8 years rather than the usual 10 as Maine adjusted its legislative redistricting cycle to conform with most other states.