Action 95 – MAINE legislation week of April 21-25
Attached is a table of upcoming public hearings with my (Abbie’s) thoughts about whether to support or oppose. You may think differently and that’s fine! You may also want to add bills that are important to you and which I don’t know enough about to have even a preliminary opinion. (I also tend not to list bills that seem to have widespread bipartisan support, or are just procedural cleanups.) I encourage you to check the complete listing here: https://legislature.maine.gov/Calendar/#PHWS. Form your own opinion! The Calendar lists both hearings and work sessions. While you can’t participate in work sessions, you can send written comments, and you can also contact your representative and senator about any item.
One VERY interesting thing to do is to load that Calendar onto your computer, and at the top, you will see a tab “By Sponsor”. Click on that tab, and the table will sort by last name of the legislator who is sponsoring the bill. Scroll down to find your legislator to see what they are up to, then let them know what you think! They may also be a co-sponsor on some items, but there is no easy way to look for all the bills they are co-sponsoring.
Tuesday the hearings include three bills to protect people (especially renters and low-income people) from PFAS by testing water supplies. These are LD 493, 500 and 1326, not on the attached table. See Defend Our Health for more information. There are other significant bills on the attached table with Tuesday hearings. There’s also an amusing bill permitting backyard chickens everywhere. (My caveat is that “chicken” not include “rooster” when neighbors are nearby, because it’s unfair to wake the neighborhood at 3 AM.)
Question: Is this the official Republican answer to the higher price of eggs?
Wednesday there are hearings on a slug of Republican-dominated bills taking direct aim at Paid Family and Medical Leave. Of course. Other bills include LD 1475 (to study the taxation of digital assets). If proponents of cryptocurrency want their meme coins to be taken seriously as more than just shady money laundering schemes, they had better be in favor of having profits taxed – anyway, this is just a study bill.
Thursday, there’s an interesting bill, LD 536 (on Net Neutrality), which contains almost no descriptive information. Net neutrality is a good thing, the question being whether the State has the power to ensure it.
All bills I’ve listed in the attached table for Thursday seem like they deserve support.
Friday morning, there will be hearings on a number of bills related to housing and sponsored by Democratic legislators from the southern part of Maine. They are not shown on the attached table. If housing is of particular interest to you, I suggest going to the calendar for April 25 and looking at the Housing Committee bills. https://legislature.maine.gov/Calendar/#PHWS.
Also on Friday is a bill that current events should render un-passable. This is LD 1656, which would require Maine to comply with ICE, a prescription for sending Maine people to El Salvador without due process. ENOUGH ALREADY.
Here’s your refresher Tips for weighing in on Legislation:
1. Find the text of any bill at: https://legislature.maine.gov
2. Maine Legislative Committee schedules change frequently. Please check Committee Schedules
3.You can submit testimony in writing or online, or virtually via Zoom or in person in Augusta (have 20 copies of your written testimony available to be distributed to Committee members). Be sure to submit testimony or call BEFORE the public hearing.
4. Put your reps on speed dial, or at least in your address book so you don’t have to go look them up every time.
5. If you are looking at a bill that’s listed in a work session (meaning it’s had a public hearing already), you still can influence its outcome by writing to your representative or senator, since they will have to vote on it eventually.
