1 p.m.

Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee; public hearings; room 214; Cross Building

L.D. 1282, “An Act To Help Small Farmers in Selling Raw Milk and Homemade Food Products”: exempts from state licensing and inspection requirements homestead food operations and raw milk producers who sell small quantities.

L.D. 1287, “An Act To Deregulate Face-to-face Transactions between the People and Small Farms and Small Food Producers”: allows persons preparing food in their own homes to sell directly to consumers or to offer homemade food at certain events without being licensed as food establishments.

Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee; work sessions; 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.

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.

L.D. 1085, “An Act To Establish the Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff”: requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish a renewable energy resources feed-in tariff program to encourage the rapid and sustainable development of renewable energy resources and technology; requires that utilities purchase renewably produced electricity and requires that utilities enter into a standard contract with all renewable energy suppliers for a set term.

L.D. 1146, “An Act To Encourage the Use of Renewable Energy”: requires that net energy billing credits do not expire, that the credits are transferable, that there is no ownership requirement to qualify for net energy billing, that there is no limit on the number of meters that may be net metered against an eligible facility and that eligible facilities may have a generating capacity of up to 2 megawatts.

L.D. 1252, “An Act To Improve Maine’s Economy and Energy Security with Solar and Wind Energy”: reinstates the solar and wind energy rebate program; increases the limit on the total amount of renewable capacity to 60 megawatts; requires the Public Utilities Commission to reserve 10 megawatts for solar-power generation; increases the limit on contract price for solar-power generation; and indexes the price limit to the Consumer Price Index.

L.D. 1403, “Resolve, To Require the Public Utilities Commission To Amend Its Rules Regarding Net Energy Billing”: increases the eligible size for net energy billing to 1,000 kilowatts or less; allows third party ownership of individual or multiple facilities; allows groups of customers to participate in net energy billing without sharing ownership of the generating facility; and requires a statement on contracts and agreements that the sale or delivery of kilowatt-hours of electricity to net energy billing customers is not subject to sales tax.

L.D. 1456, “An Act To Promote Local or Community-based Generation Projects”: requires that all meters installed by an electric transmission and distribution utility be electromechanical; creates a new class of electricity generators; and directs the Public Utilities Commission to develop a set of recommendations to encourage the development of decentralized microgrids or community-based or neighborhood-based clean energy generation facilities.

Health and Human Services Committee; public hearings; room 209; Cross Building

L.D. 534, “An Act To Improve Care Coordination for Persons with Mental Illness”: provides an exception to the health care information confidentiality laws that protect mental health information for the purposes of care management and coordination of care.

L.D. 633, “An Act To Grant the Commissioner of Health and Human Services and the Commissioner’s Designees the Independent Authority To Issue Adjudicatory Subpoenas”: grants to the commissioner of Health and Human Services and the commissioner’s designees the independent authority to issue administrative subpoenas for adjudicatory proceedings.

L.D. 929, “An Act To Amend the Requirements for the Reporting of New Hires”: emergency bill, requires an employer to forward the information, including the date the person starts work, within 7 days of the employee’s beginning or returning to service, without being notified by the Department of Health and Human Services.

L.D. 968, “An Act To Provide Needed Psychiatric Hospitalization for Persons with Mental Illness”: requires the commissioner of Health and Human Services to make psychiatric hospitalization available to a person with mental illness who is experiencing a psychiatric crisis and who has been determined by a health care practitioner to be in need of hospitalization.

L.D. 1029, “Resolve, Directing the Department of Health and Human Services To Amend Its Rules Pertaining to a Request for Mental Health Records”: directs the department to amend its rules to allow for a recipient of mental health services or the recipient’s parent or legal guardian to review their records daily.

L.D. 1165, “An Act To Improve the Safety of Workers Who Provide Direct Mental Health and Social Services”: requires all programs providing direct services to clients that are operated, licensed or funded by the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a workplace violence prevention program.

L.D. 1166, “An Act Regarding Records Retention by Mental Health Practitioners”: requires mental health agencies and mental health professionals to plan for and provide secure and private retention of client records and record destruction.

L.D. 1284, “An Act Regarding Delayed Birth Registration”: removes an affidavit of personal knowledge as an accepted document as evidence of birth required for a delayed registration of birth.

L.D. 1337, “An Act To Revise the Maine Wild Mushroom Harvesting Certification Program”: creates an annual licensing requirement, in addition to the existing certification requirement, for certain persons selling, transferring or otherwise delivering wild mushrooms.

L.D. 1387, “An Act To Provide Clarity and Consistency in Routine Public Health Licensing Activities”: clarifies to whom the definitions of “eating establishment” and “lodging place” apply; makes changes in the laws governing electrologists, tattoo artists and persons performing micropigmentation and body piercing to increase fines for violations and provide consistency; and makes toilet facility requirements for eating establishments consistent with rules of the Plumbers’ Examining Board.

L.D. 1388, “An Act To Clarify Civil Liability of Persons Making False Claims to the Department of Health and Human Services”: clarifies liability for conduct associated with false claims made to the Department of Health and Human Services.

L.D. 1407, “An Act To Increase Access to Postsecondary Education for Maine’s Children”: emergency bill, requires the Department of Health and Human Services to require a parent of an infant under one year of age seeking family assistance from the department to apply on behalf of the infant for a Harold Alfond College Challenge grant or sign a statement indicating why the parent chooses not to apply.

L.D. 1417, “An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Certain Human Services Licensing and Certification Requirements”: provides that the survey interval may be up to 15 months for intermediate care facilities for persons with intellectual disabilities; requires the Department of Health and Human Services to adopt routine technical rules necessary to license intermediate care facilities for persons with intellectual disabilities; specifies that the Department of Health and Human Services is required to adopt rules for various levels of children’s residential care facilities; and changes definitions and designations of rules.

L.D. 1449, “An Act To Amend the Composition and Duties of the Maine Children’s Growth Council”: requires the Maine Children’s Growth Council apointees represent a diversity of interests; adds the commissioner, or the commissioner’s designee, of the Department of Corrections, the Department of Economic and Community Development, the Department of Labor and the Department of Public Safety and the superintendent of Insurance, or the superintendent’s designee, as members; adds three more employees from the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Education; and staggers the terms of appointed members.

Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee; public hearing; room 206; Cross Building

L.D. 1435, “An Act To Amend Certain Provisions of the Fish and Wildlife Laws”: allows the commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to terminate any open season for hunting, fishing or trapping in any part of the state due to adverse weather conditions or unlawful activity; allows the commissioner to issue, in extenuating circumstances, two other permits or licenses for other fishing or hunting adventures to a nonprofit organization providing hunting and fishing adventures to children under 21 years of age; and removes the requirement that the commissioner or the commissioner’s designee meet with an applicant with a permanent physical disability seeking special authorization to hunt, trap or fish in a manner not otherwise authorized.

Insurance and Financial Services Committee; public hearing; room 206; Cross Building

L.D. 1495, “An Act To Amend the Laws Pertaining to Employee Health Insurance”: provides that state employee contributions to the cost of the individual health insurance premium and credits for healthy behaviors are based on actual rate of pay.

Judiciary Committee; public hearings; room 438; State House

L.D. 37, “Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Portions of Chapter 4: Rules of Practice, a Major Substantive Rule of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry”: emergency bill, provides for legislative review of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry rules.

L.D. 688, “An Act Concerning Adverse Possession”: provides that a person may not use a claim of adverse possession to gain ownership of property against an owner of record who has paid property taxes on the property during the period for which the claimant has asserted being in possession of the property.

L.D. 861, “Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Portions of Chapter 2: Rules Concerning the Processing of Applications and Other Administrative Matters, a Major Substantive Rule of the Department of Environmental Protection”: emergency bill, provides for legislative review of the Department of Environmental Protection rules for applications.

L.D. 1039, “An Act To Promote Regulatory Fairness”: establishes standards for relief when state regulation takes value from an individual property owner.

L.D. 1253, “An Act To Allow Tribal Members a Choice of Venue”: provides that the jurisdiction over certain tribal members in civil and criminal actions is shared concurrently by the state courts and the tribal courts of the Passamaquoddy tribe, the Penobscot Nation and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians.

L.D. 1400, “Resolve, Directing the Attorney General To Confer with Tribal Governments To Establish Procedures Regarding the Tribal Provisions of the Federal Violence Against Women Act of 1994”: directs the attorney general to consult with tribes in the state that have tribal domestic violence programs to establish procedures concerning the newly enacted tribal provisions of the federal Violence Against Women Act of 1994.

L.D. 1424, “An Act To Increase Mileage Reimbursement and Compensation for Jurors”: changes the mileage rate paid to jurors and witnesses 44 cents per mile.

L.D. 1450, “An Act To Connect the Citizens of the State to the State’s Natural Resources by Establishing Standards for Relief from Regulatory Burdens”: establishes standards for relief when state regulation imposes an inordinate burden on an individual property owner, as well as efficient mechanisms for pursuit of such relief.

Taxation Committee; public hearing; room 127; State House

L.D. 1478, “An Act To Avoid Potential Loss of Revenue by Municipalities and the Unorganized Territory from Donated Property”: provides that the property tax exemption for publicly owned property does not apply to property donated to a public entity on or after Oct. 1, 2013.

1:30 p.m.

Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee; work sessions; room 214; Cross Building

L.D. 218, “An Act To Promote Small-scale Poultry Farming”:

L.D. 259, “An Act To Allow a Person Who Owns a Slaughterhouse To Slaughter Poultry for Other People”:

L.D. 271, “An Act To Facilitate the Processing of Livestock That Is Not for Resale”:

L.D. 836, “An Act Regarding the Use of Mobile Poultry Processing Units”:

L.D. 1282, “An Act To Help Small Farmers in Selling Raw Milk and Homemade Food Products”:

L.D. 1286, “An Act To Protect Maine Communities by Prohibiting Horse Slaughter for Human Consumption and the Transport of Horses for Slaughter”:

L.D. 1287, “An Act To Deregulate Face-to-face Transactions between the People and Small Farms and Small Food Producers”:

Insurance and Financial Services Committee; work sessions; room 220; Cross Building

L.D. 547

L.D. 681, “An Act To Improve Oversight of Insurance Rates and Ensure Consistency with Federal Law”:

L.D. 1236, “An Act To Amend the Maine Insurance Code To Ensure Fair and Reasonable Coverage and Reimbursement of Chiropractic Services”:

L.D. 1367