Sponsored and selected co-sponsored bills, 2015

LD 2 An Act To Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue for the Purchase and Development of the Bar Harbor Ferry Terminal as a Multimodal Transportation Facility

The funds provided by this bond issue, in the amount of $5,000,000, will be used to purchase the Bar Harbor Ferry Terminal from the government of Canada and to develop it as a multimodal transportation facility.

LD 3 An Act To Ensure Consistent Certification of Graduation Standards in Publicly Funded Secondary Schools

…makes demonstrated proficiency in the system of learning results a requirement for the award of a diploma indicating graduation from a public charter school, in order to match the requirements for public schools and private schools approved for tuition that enroll at least 60% publicly funded students. This bill also makes the statewide assessment program required under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 6202 applicable to public charter schools.

• Sponsor’s testimony for LD 3

LD 38 An Act To Allow Sufficient Time for Implementation of the Performance Evaluation and Professional Growth System for Educators

…delays by one year the phased stages to implement educator effectiveness requirements for school administrative units.

LD 131 An Act To Amend the Laws Related to Public Funding of Charter Schools

…provides clarification to the provisions established to fund public charter schools that are authorized by the Maine Charter School Commission beginning in fiscal year 2015-16.

LD 154 An Act To Promote Greater Flexibility in the Provision of Long-term Care Services

…allows facilities licensed under Title 22, chapter 405 to provide a continuum of care and services to clients residing in those facilities without requiring the clients to leave the facility, without requiring the creation of a licensed home health agency and without having to seek approval of area licensed home health agencies.

LD 205 An Act To Facilitate the Development and Operation of a Group Home for Post-High School Adults with Developmental Disabilities

…proposes to provide necessary statutory support for a proposal for the development and operation of a group assisted living facility in Bar Harbor for post-high school adults with developmental disabilities operated by Local Solutions, a Maine corporation, referred to in this legislation as “the project.” The project’s goal is to assist the facility residents in building independent lives in the local community, supported by funds provided by the Department of Health and Human Services through a MaineCare waiver program or other possible sources of funding.

LD 391 Resolve, To Create a State-run Virtual Academy Providing Maine Students with Access to Online Learning through Their Existing School Districts

…directs the Department of Education to convene a stakeholder group to develop plans to establish online and digital learning opportunities, which may include a state-administered virtual academy and a state-administered digital learning exchange, that provide all public schools in the State access to online instruction, online courses and digital learning resources for their students.

LD 405 An Act To Support Expanded Capacity for Breeding Wild Atlantic Salmon in Downeast Rivers

…proposes to explore funding competitive grants to establish hatcheries supporting wild Atlantic salmon based on the success of and knowledge gained by the East Machias Aquatic Research Center.

LD 415 An Act To Promote the Safe Use and Sale of Firearms

…creates the civil violation of the sale or transfer of a firearm to a prohibited person and strict liability Class E crime for a 2nd or subsequent offense of selling or transferring a firearm to a prohibited person. The bill also creates an affirmative defense to prosecution under this new civil violation and crime that the seller or transferor of the firearm requested a federally licensed firearm dealer to conduct a computerized background check under the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Instant Criminal Background Check System on the purchaser or transferee prior to the sale or transfer of the firearm and the background check indicated that the purchaser or transferee was not a prohibited person.

LD 427 An Act To Address and Mitigate the Effects of Marine Debris

…proposes to enact measures to address and mitigate plastic pollution in the marine environment, including but not limited to microdebris pollution. For the purpose of this resolve, “microdebris” means particles of plastic approximately 5 to 10 microns in length that may be ingested by filter-feeding organisms in the marine environment.

LD 428 An Act To Amend the Powers and Duties of the State Board of Education

…authorizes the State Board of Education to enter into an interstate reciprocity agreement regarding postsecondary distance education, to administer the agreement and to approve or disapprove an application to participate in the agreement from a postsecondary institution that has its principal campus in the State.

LD 454 An Act To Enact the Student Information Privacy Act

…establishes requirements for providers of websites, mobile applications or online services that collect, maintain or use personal information of elementary or secondary school students.

LD 461 An Act To Change the Notification Deadline for the Nonrenewal of a Teacher’s Contract

…provides that the deadline for a superintendent to notify a teacher of the superintendent’s decision not to renew the teacher’s contract is at least 6 months before the terminal date of the contract except for teachers who received a summative effectiveness rating indicating ineffectiveness pursuant to the performance evaluation and professional growth system established under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 508 for the preceding school year. The amendment also requires that unless the superintendent provides a written notice to the contrary not later than May 15th to a teacher who received a summative effectiveness rating indicating ineffectiveness pursuant to chapter 508 for the preceding school year, the teacher’s contract must be extended automatically for one year.

LD 471 An Act To Improve Childhood Vaccination Rates in Maine

…requires a parent or guardian who is seeking a philosophical exemption to routine childhood vaccination when enrolling a child in school or a licensed daycare facility to present written documentation signed by a healthcare practitioner that the health care practitioner has reviewed with the parent information about the risks and benefits of immunization that is consistent with information published by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

LD 536 An Act To Amend Provisions Regarding the Appointment of Members of the Maine Charter School Commission

…amends the provisions that apply to the appointment of the 4 members of the Maine Charter School Commission, who are currently nominated and appointed by the 3 members of the State Board of Education subject only to review by the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education matters and majority vote of the state board, to provide instead for nomination by the 3 members of the state board for appointment by the Governor, subject to review by the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education matters and confirmation by the Senate.

LD 601 An Act To Clarify the Authority of Individualized Education Plans in Relation to Proficiency-based Diplomas

…allows a child with a disability who demonstrates proficiency through the use of evidence and alternative measures specified in the child’s individualized education plan to be awarded a high school diploma.

LD 692 An Act Regarding Educator Effectiveness

…directs school administrative units to use state assessment data for English language arts and math as a measure of performance for teachers and as a measure of performance for principals. It clarifies the law regarding the usage of summative effectiveness ratings for certain categories of performance rating. It adds an additional component to the rules regarding monitoring of the performance evaluation and professional growth systems. The bill also directs the Department of Education to amend its rules regarding performance evaluation and professional growth systems.

LD 784 An Act To Authorize a Revenue Bond for a Student Loan Reduction Plan

…authorizes the Finance Authority of Maine to issue revenue bonds in the amount of $40,000,000 to fund a student loan reduction plan in order to allow residents of the State to refinance student loans.

LD 795 An Act To Encourage Prudent Development along the Coast or in a Flood Zone by Considering Predictions for Sea Level Rise

…proposes to enact measures that would require sea level model predictions to be taken into account in the design phase of any development project on the coast or in a flood zone if more than 10% of the total funding for the project is state funding. “Development project” includes, but is not limited to, the development of buildings, land, walkways, bridges, roads, culverts and piers. The bill also proposes to enact measures to require coordination among state and federal agencies, universities and stakeholders concerning development projects on the coast or in a flood zone that may be affected by sea level rise.

LD 840 An Act To Support the Implementation of Proficiency-based Diplomas and Standards-based Student Learning

…proposes to require the State to advance implementation of proficiency-based diplomas and a standards-based system of education by using strategic planning, monitoring and economies of scale to accelerate implementation of the diplomas and system at the local level.

LD 843 An Act To Raise the Minimum Wage and Index It to the National Average Wage

…raises the minimum wage incrementally until it is $12.00 per hour starting October 1, 2019, and it requires the minimum wage to be adjusted based on the increase in the national average wage index, starting October 1, 2020. It also reduces the tip credit incrementally until it is eliminated starting October 1, 2019.

LD 844 An Act To Improve Transit Services Statewide

…replaces the requirement in current law for biennial plans for regional transit with a requirement for quinquennial plans, which is consistent with federal requirements. The bill eliminates the Interagency Transportation Coordinating Committee and replaces it with a new Public Transit Advisory Council. The council is required to assist state agencies and the Legislature on issues related to public transit services.

LD 853 An Act To Allow Secondary Schools To Grant Certificates of Academic Proficiency

…authorizes school administrative units to award certificates of content area proficiency to students who demonstrate proficiency in each content area of the system of learning results.

LD 854 An Act To Increase Access to Health Security by Expanding Federally Funded Health Care for Maine People

…expands medical coverage under the MaineCare program to adults who qualify under federal law with incomes up to 133% of the nonfarm income official poverty line, with the 5% federal income adjustment for family size, and qualifies Maine to receive federal funding for 100% of the cost of coverage for members who enroll under the expansion. Adults who will be eligible are those 21 to 64 years of age beginning January 1, 2016 and adults 19 and 20 years of age beginning October 1, 2019.

LD 856 An Act To Amend the Competitive Skills Scholarship Program To Allow for Participation in Early College and Career and Technical Education Programs

…expands the Competitive Skills Scholarship Program to include participants who are under 18 years of age if they are full-time secondary students at a public secondary school and enrolled in a career and technical education program at a career and technical education center or a career and technical education region and:

1. Do not have a marketable postsecondary degree;
2. Have income less than 200% of the federal poverty level; and
3. Are applying for education or training for a job in an approved industry.

The bill also directs the Commissioner of Labor to transfer funds from the Competitive Skills Scholarship Fund to cover postsecondary education expenses for secondary students in a dual enrollment career and technical education program established pursuant to statute, also known as a “Bridge Year Program.”
The provisions in the bill are repealed on January 1, 2021.

LD 1174 Resolve, To Study the Feasibility and Cost of Providing Passenger Rail Service to the City of Bangor

directs the Department of Transportation to study providing passenger rail service to the City of Bangor.

LD 1263 An Act To Create Jobs and Promote Investment in Maine’s Economy through Increased Access to Solar Energy

…allows customers of transmission and distribution utilities to engage in net energy billing, a method under which a customer is billed on the basis of net energy over the billing period taking into account accumulated unused kilowatt-hour credits from the previous billing period. It changes the law regarding renewable resources to increase the new renewable capacity resources percentages in the portfolio requirements of competitive electricity providers and requires those increases to be met by new renewable capacity resources that rely on solar energy; and it removes the Public Utilities Commission’s power to suspend scheduled increases in portfolio requirements for new renewable capacity resources. It also establishes an alternative compliance payment mechanism and a system of solar renewable energy credits, including an auction for long-term contracts for these credits, in order to provide competitive electricity providers with alternative methods to satisfy the new portfolio requirements.

LD 1270 An Act Regarding Patient-directed Care at the End of Life

…enacts a process for patient-directed care at the end of life for Maine residents who are adults who are terminally ill and who have been determined to have a limited life expectancy. The bill provides that such a patient has a right to information and includes requirements for patient and physician action and documentation in the patient’s medical records of the steps taken. The bill authorizes a physician to prescribe a medication that the patient may self-administer for the purpose of hastening the patient’s death. The bill provides protections for the physician, the patient’s health care facility and health care providers. The bill protects the patient’s life insurance and the health care providers’ medical professional liability insurance. The bill protects the patient’s right to palliative care. The bill requires rulemaking by the Department of Health and Human Services to provide for safe disposal of medications that are prescribed for end-of-life care and that are not used by the patient. The bill specifically states that nothing in the provisions of the bill may be construed to authorize a physician or other person to end a patient’s life by lethal injection, mercy killing or active euthanasia. The bill specifically states that the provisions of the bill may not be construed to conflict with Section 1553 of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the federal Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.