Action Item 193 - Maine legislation 1/12-1/16
The second session of the 132nd legislature has convened so we are back to our attempt to get our heads around what’s coming up next week. Below is a table of selected upcoming public hearings and a few work sessions. Here’s your reminder:
Check complete bill listing here: https://legislature.maine.gov/Calendar/#PHWS.
Find the text of any bill here: https://legislature.maine.gov Form your own opinions! Instructions for testifying are here: https://www.mainelegislature.org/testimony/
You can also tell your legislators what you think of any bill, as they will all have to vote on all of the bills that make it out of committee. Know which committees your representative and senator are on: a table for Hancock County is below. They are likely to be very interested in your opinions on legislation in their committees! Note that “Billy Bob” Faulkingham does not appear on any of these committees, probably because he is the minority leader and ranking member of a rules committee. But he is termed out of his current job and will hopefully be defeated in the future election (he’s running to replace Marianne Moore, also termed out). For the full roster of committee members see
https://www.preti.com/publications/committee-assignments-for-the-132nd-maine-state-legislature/
Some highlights this week, by hearing date:
This is a pretty quiet week. Most of the legislation being discussed is carried over from the first session. Nothing seems even remotely adequate to meet the moment of the Trump administration’s lawless behavior, which is disappointing. One wonders why our legislators seem flummoxed. Maybe they have something in the development stage, like an impeachment resolution? One hopes.
Note: I’ve adopted the shorthand “RW” to designate a partisan, right-wing bill.
Also, carried over and coming up (although not yet scheduled) is LD 1383, An Act to Require Divestment from Perpetrators of International Human Rights Violations. More info can be found at this one page toolkit .
We discussed the plug-in solar bill, LD 1730, in Action 190.
The Maine Dept of Energy Resources (The Maine “DOER” if you will!) is undertaking an effort to revitalize what we used to call the “Maine Energy Extension Service” back in the 1970s. The concept is to have a team of experts on homeowner options for energy supply and conservation available to advise average Maine people who don’t have tons of cash to hire consultants. You can read about it here and comment on it via email to sy.coffey@maine.gov with the subject line
“LD 1967 Program Design Public Comment” no later than 5pm on January 22, 2026