A First Scan of the 129th ME Legislature's Proposed Bills

The First Regular Session of the 129th Maine Legislature convened last week, so far the Maine Legislature's website has 99 bills listed. This is a quick first scan down the list, looking at whatever catches my eye. Links to bills are all PDFs.

• LD1 codifies protections from the ACA into state law (protection for people with preexisting conditions etc.)
• LD3 establishes a student loan repayment fund for mental health professionals
• LD9 increases daily compensation for jurors from $15 to $40.
• LD13 creates an alternative regulatory scheme for electrical microgrids. That deserves a second read.
• LD18 creates sentencing enhancements for domestic violence offenses
• LD26 'An Act To Provide Complimentary Lifetime Hunting and Fishing Licenses to Retired Game Wardens with 25 Years of Service' (Maine af)
• LD34 is also Maine af: 'An Act To Exempt Fraternal and Veterans' Organizations from Cribbage Tournament Licensing Requirements'
• LD41 might more accurately be called an act to screw over small energy producers by compensating them based on the wholesale value of energy the export to the grid instead of calculating their billing based on net-energy usage.
• LD42 would allegedly attempt to make district attorney elections non-partisan by removing party identity from the ballot and nominating petitions
• LD51 is a place holder for a universal health care bill.
• LD52 is a place holder for a public option health insurance trust system
• LD54 makes prohibitions on lawmakers and staff from accepting or soliciting donations from lobbyists year-around instead of only effective while the legislature is in session
• LD58 proposes a state constitutional amendment to increase length of the terms of State Senators and Representatives from 2 to 4 years
• LD69 creates a paid family medical leave system for employers with 15+ employees (voluntary for smaller employers) 
• LD76 increases the number of years after their term that legislators are prohibited from lobbying to 4 years from 1 year.
• LD87 increases the 5c bottle deposit to 25c, does not effect bottles currently at the 15c deposit.
• LD92 removes the requirement that teacher performance evaluations must include as a significant factor students' "learning and growth measures" and standardized testing results
• LD94 removes public schools from the list of institutions exempt from the law governing the distribution of obscene material to minors. (OH COME ON! Kids just can't have any fun these days)

A couple of the listed bills showed up on the web page as I was working on this and I'd be lying if I said I didn't wait until 5:00 hoping they'd make it up to a round 100.