1 p.m.

Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee; public hearing; room 436; State House

L.D. 926, “An Act To Increase the Penalty for an Adult Who Provides Alcohol to a Minor Involved in a Fatal Accident”: makes the furnishing liquor to a minor a class B crime if the liquor causes the death of the minor or another individual.

Education and Cultural Affairs Committee; public hearings; room 202; Cross Building

L.D. 422, “An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Task Force on Franco-Americans”: requires the Board of Trustees of the University of Maine System to establish a working group to study and develop a strategy to increase enrollment and graduation rates for first-generation college students who are Maine residents and report annually.

L.D. 715, “An Act To Improve Access to Career and Technical Schools”: provides for the reimbursement by the State of the actual transportation costs for career and technical education students who reside in a school administrative unit that is determined to be an isolated small unit by the following fiscal year for the actual transportation costs for career and technical education students incurred in a fiscal year.

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L.D. 772, “An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Task Force on Franco-Americans Regarding the Reporting of Franco-American Ethnicity Data”: requires the superintendent of each school administrative unit and the administrator of each private school to report to the Commissioner of Education the number of Franco-American students in their schools.

L.D. 773, “Resolve, To Enhance the Study of Franco-American History in Schools”: directs the commissioner of Education to include Franco-American studies in the content standards for teaching social studies in Maine and adds $25,000 for this purpose.

L.D. 821, “An Act To Allocate the Balance of Funds Not Expended by the Task Force on Franco-Americans”: emergency bill; authorizes the executive director of the Legislative Council to retain and expand $300 in the Task Force on Franco-Americans funding for Franco-American Day and requires the executive director of the Legislative Council to pay $1,110.50, the funds contributed by outside sources for the Franco-Amreican task force but no used, to the Franco-American Center at the University of Maine by Nov. 1.

L.D. 822, “An Act To Establish a Program To Invite Legislators To Visit Public School Classrooms”: establishes the second week in April as a special week in which schools are encouraged to invite Legislators to visit to promote increased knowledge among students of the legislative process and to improve citizen interest and participation in the legislative process.

Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee; public hearings; room 211; Cross Building

L.D. 795, “An Act To Amend the Net Energy Billing Program To Allow Participation by Certain Municipal Entities”: allows a municipal or quasi-municipal entity with a renewable energy facility that generates no more than 800 kilowatts to participate in the net energy billing program.

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L.D. 796, “Resolve, To Enhance Economic Development by Encouraging Businesses Adjacent to Electric Power Generators To Obtain Power Directly”: establishes a stakeholder group to identify barriers to and incentives for the direct purchase of electricity by businesses adjacent to electricity-generating facilities with the intent that direct purchasing of electricity will decrease the total electricity costs to businesses and details the membership of the stakeholders and requires them to report to the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology by Jan. 15, 2014.

L.D. 894, “An Act To Provide Customers with Itemized Bills”: requires each provider of cable TV, phone or Internet services to provide to each of its customers by mail an itemized bill that includes an explanation of all charges, fees and taxes.

L.D. 927, “An Act To Further Energy Independence for the State”: requires the Governor’s Energy Office to draft a new comprehensive state energy plan, the Department of Environmental Protection to draft a new climate action plan and encourages and sometimes requires consultation between the Governor’s Energy Office, the Efficiency Maine Trust, the Department of Environmental Protection, the joint standing committee on natural resources matters and the joint standing on energy matters in the drafting of the plans or reporting out of legislation in response to the plans.

L.D. 964, “An Act To Encourage Community-based Renewable Energy”: removes the requirement that a participant in the Community-based Renewable Energy Act be located within the service territory of an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility with whom it contracts.

Judiciary Committee; public hearings; room 438; State House

L.D. 419, “Resolve, Directing the Family Law Advisory Commission To Study and Report on the Uniform Parentage Act and Other Similar Laws and Proposals”: directs the Family Law Advisory Commission to study the Uniform Parentage Act, rules for establishing paternity, and report by Dec. 1.

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L.D. 425, “An Act To Change the Membership of the Family Law Advisory Commission”: adds a representative of an organization of guardians ad litem to the Family Law Advisory Commission.

L.D. 512, “An Act To Allow Licensed Foresters To Use Mechanics Liens”: adds licensed foresters to the list of people who can place a lien on the property of another for nonpayment of services.

L.D. 549, “An Act To Allow a Person Who Is 21 Years of Age or Older To Expunge Certain Criminal Convictions”: allows a person who is 21 years old or older to petition the secretary of state to expunge their criminal record if the crime was committed when the person was between 18 and 20 years old and it is their only criminal conviction.

L.D. 726, “An Act To Adopt the Uniform Parentage Act”: proposes to adopt a law that is based on the Uniform Parentage Act.

L.D. 733, “An Act To Improve the Child Support Collection Process”: allows the secretary of state to suspend or revoke a child support obligor’s driver’s license and requires that, when an obligor requests a hearing on noncompliance with an order of support, an administrative hearing officer within the Department of the Secretary of State conduct the hearing and report the decision back to the Department of Health and Human Services for issuance.

L.D. 759, “An Act To Hold Harmless a Municipality For Volunteer or Unpaid Labor”: makes a municipality immune from liability for the activity of a volunteer, unpaid employee or a person performing community service for the municipality.

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Marine Resources Committee; public hearings; room 206; Cross Building

L.D. 632, “An Act To Improve Enforcement Mechanisms to the Elver Industry and To Make Technical Changes to Maine’s Marine Resources Laws”: authorizes the seizure of a bulk pile that contains illegally harvested elvers, prohibits the possession of elvers outside of the open season, restricts courts from suspending all or a portion of fines for elver violations, reduces the daily number of marine worms harvestable for personal use, restricts the allowable landings of northern shrimp for personal use to one tote, specifies size limits on scallop spat collected and sold for placement on a lease site, expands the sources of funds available to an aquaculture fund and clarifies that Atlantic salmon raised for restoration purposes are not exempt from certain fishing prohibitions.

L.D. 731, “An Act To Increase the Number of Elver Harvesting Licenses and Preserve the Fishery through Conservation”: establishes special elver fishing license lotteries in 2014 and 2015 where a person who possessed an elver fishing license in 1996, 1997 or 1998 or a person who has never held an elver fishing license and is not otherwise eligible may obtain that license, increases the overall number of pieces of gear that may be used for fishing for or taking elvers, prohibits harvesting yearling elvers, increases from 2 days to 3 days per week the closed period for elver fishing, establishes the Eel and Elver Advisory Council and establishes the Eel and Elver Advisory Council.

State and Local Government Committee; public hearings; room 214; Cross Building

L.D. 813, “An Act To Promote the Sale of Maine Milk”: requires a state-owned or state-operated facility that sells or contracts with a person to sell beverages directly to the public to have available for sale milk processed at a milk plant in the state except facilities in an institutional setting in which sales of beverages to the public are incidental.

L.D. 833, “An Act To Allow Municipalities To Place Liens for Failure To Pay Storm Water Assessments”: allows municipalities to place liens on real estate for delinquent storm water disposal system accounts.

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L.D. 855, “Resolve, To Create a Study Group To Research the Possibility of a Virtual Legislature”: emergency bill, establishes the Task Force To Study Issues Associated with Implementation of a Virtual Legislature.

L.D. 978, “An Act To Enhance Public Participation in Legislative Committee Proceedings through the Internet”: authorizes the Legislative Council to make all proceedings of the joint standing committees of the Legislature available to the public through a live video broadcast that allows for remote public participation, and records of these proceedings are permanent records.

Transportation Committee; public hearings; room 126; State House

L.D. 438, “An Act To Expand the Types of Vehicles on Which a Sportsman Registration Plate May Be Displayed”: includes motorcycles and trailers in the types of vehicles on which a special sportsman registration plate may be displayed.

L.D. 567, “An Act To Amend the Definition of “Special Mobile Equipment” in the Motor Vehicle Laws”: removes trucks carrying sand only for ballast from the definition of “special mobile equipment”.

L.D. 591, “An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Motorcycle and Moped Permits”: removes the prohibition on a holder of a motorcycle or moped instruction permit from operating a motorcycle or moped at night.

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L.D. 765, “An Act To Amend the Law Regarding Motorcycle Registration Expiration Dates”: changes the registration period for motorcycles to a period that runs until the last day of the month one year from the month of issuance of the registration.

L.D. 835, “An Act To Improve Organ Donation Awareness”: creates the Maine Organ and Tissue Donation Fund to facilitate the education and registration of residents of the State in organ donation and requires the secretary of State to place a $2 donation check off on driver’s license application and renewal forms to fund the Maine Organ and Tissue Donation Fund.

L.D. 937, “An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Disability Parking Spaces”: makes van-accessible handicapped parking spaces with an access aisle that are labeled as van-accessible available only to vans or vehicles adapted for use of a van-accessible parking space and increases the penalty to between $300 and $600.

Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee; public hearings; room 437; State House

L.D. 349, “An Act To Strengthen Maine’s Ethics Laws and Improve Public Access to Information”: proposes to strengthen Maine’s laws governing governmental ethics and to increase transparency and fairness by improving access by the public to information.

L.D. 859, “An Act To Increase Ethics and Transparency in Government Service”: provides that a person may not be employed in a position for which the salary is subject to adjustment by the governor or a major policy-influencing position if that person has engaged in lobbying in the previous 12 months, prohibits a person from lobbying if that person has been employed in a position for which the salary is subject to adjustment by the governor or a major policy-influencing position within the previous 5 years and includes attempting to influence regulatory or adjudicatory action by an executive branch agency in the definition of “lobbying”.

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L.D. 924, “An Act To Prevent a Conflict of Interest of the Secretary of State”: provides that a person may not serve as secretary of state while that person is conducting a campaign for elected office.

L.D. 1001, “An Act To Improve Laws Governing Financial Disclosure by Legislators and Certain Public Employees and Public Access to Information Disclosed”: governor’s bill, requires legislators and certain executive branch employees to report income of $2,000 or more, ownership interests of 5 percent or more, involvement as a responsible officer of a political party or political committee (or the legislator’s immediate family) and directs the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices to adopt rules that require reporting of income of $2,000 or more in ranges.

3 p.m.

Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee; work sessions; room 208; Cross Building

L.D. 149, “An Act To Make Gold and Silver Coins and Bars Legal Tender”: allows gold and silver in coin or bar form legal tender if the buyer and seller agree to the fair market value of the gold or silver, exempts gold and silver sales from sales tax.

L.D. 605, “An Act To Allow a Minor in the Police Explorer Program To Assist with Traffic Control at Civic Events”: allows minors who are volunteer participants in a career-oriented law enforcement program to perform traffic control duties at civic events after receiving the required training.

L.D. 689, “An Act To Clarify Compensation for the Panel of Mediators”: entitles mediators who travel in excess of 43 miles for public employee collective bargaining negotiations one half their hourly fee for their mileage in excess of 43 miles.

L.D. 691, “An Act To Prohibit Enforcement of Federal Laws Regulating Commerce in Violation of the Constitution of the United States”: enacts the Intrastate Commerce Act to express that the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution is valid for the regulation of interstate commerce but not intrastate commerce and prohibits a federal or state official, agent or employee from enforcing a federal act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation that attempts to regulate goods grown, manufactured or made in this State or services performed in this State.


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