1 p.m.

Agriculture and Cultural Affairs Committee; public hearing; room 214; Cross Building

L.D. 1527, “Resolve, Authorizing the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Division of Parks and Public Lands To Convey Certain Lands and Enter into Certain Leases with the Federal Government”: governor’s bill, allows the director of the Division of Parks and Public Lands to lease rights and lands within the Coburn Mountain public reserved lands in Upper Enchanted Township, Somerset County to the U.S. Government.

Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee; work sessions; room 436; State House

L.D. 189, “An Act To Establish a Central Concealed Handgun Permit Database”: directs the Commissioner of Public Safety to establish an online concealed handgun permit database that is accessible by law enforcement, courts and bail commissioners.

L.D. 1173, “An Act To Repeal the Law Allowing Concealed Weapons in State Parks with Certain Exceptions”: repeals the law that allows a person with a permit to carry a concealed firearm to carry a concealed firearm in the buildings or parts of buildings and other public property that are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Division of Public Parks and Lands, including state parks and historic sites with some exceptions.

L.D. 1229, “An Act To Regulate and Tax Marijuana”: establishes a tax rate of $50 per ounce for marijuana that is sold or transferred by licensed marijuana cultivation facilities; removes the civil violation for adults 21 years of age and older who possess up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana; allows a person 21 years of age or older to possess, purchase and use marijuana; requires that the marijuana be secured from unauthorized access or from access by a person under 21 years of age; removes the fingerprinting and criminal history record check requirements from the existing laws that allow a person to apply to the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry for a license to grow industrial hemp; provides that a person cannot be found to lack “good moral character” for personal, medical or commercial marijuana activities allowed by this legislation for purposes of obtaining a permit to carry a concealed handgun; and requires this legislation to be submitted to statewide referendum for approval by the voters.

L.D. 1240, “An Act To Promote the Safe Use and Sale of Firearms”: outlines the firearm safety course; prohibits a person who has been admitted to psychiatric hospital on an emergency basis; increases the fine for giving a false or fictitious name to a firearm dealer to $1,000; increases the minimum age for a concealed weapons permit to 21 years old; includes a private seller, even one at gun show, in the definition of “firearm dealer”; requires a firearm dealer to requires a firearm safety certificate, current hunting licenses or current concealed handgun permit prior to the sale; requires firearm dealers to conduct background checks except for sales between family members; and makes first offense a civil violation and second offense a criminal violation.

Education and Cultural Affairs Committee; work sessions; room 202; Cross Building

L.D. 301, “An Act To Remove Unnecessary Agenda from the School Day”: Requires review of items that are required by law or policy that are taught in addition to the curriculum to find additional and/or obsolete items and report back to the Legislature.

L.D. 944, “Resolve, To Review the Impact of Unfunded Education Mandates and Evaluate the Efficacy of Education Laws”: emergency bill, directs the commissioner of Education to establish a task force to review the effect of unfunded education mandates on school administrative units and career and technical regions in the state and to evaluate the efficacy of current education laws and report their findings by Jan. 10, 2014.

L.D. 963, “An Act To Expand Access to Early Postsecondary Education”: creates a permanent Commission on Expanding Early Postsecondary Access for High School Students; clarifies that adult education students, home-school students and students from private schools are eligible for state subsidy for postsecondary courses; requires high schools to grant academic credit for postsecondary courses; requires postsecondary institutions to provide information to students on the transferability of academic credit between postsecondary institutions; requires the Department of Education to pay 50 percent of tuition for up to 12 credit hours in an academic year; adds instructors of postsecondary education courses that are offered in secondary schools to the list of personnel that are subject to the fingerprinting and background check requirements; and requires career and technical education centers to serve as sites for the administration of assessment tests to determine college-level academic skills.

L.D. 1231, “An Act To Amend the Compulsory School Attendance Laws”: amends the laws related to compulsory school attendance in order to improve the enforcement of federal and state requirements.

L.D. 1412, “An Act To Create an Educational Collaborative To Implement a Program That Enables Career and Technical Education Students To Earn College Credits while Attending High School”: emergency bill, establishes a collaborative of publicly supported educational institutions to implement a program that enables career and technical education students to earn college credits while attending high school.

Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee; work sessions; room 211; Cross Building

L.D. 697, “An Act To Increase Maine’s Energy Competitiveness”: allows transmission and distribution utilities and gas utilities to provide grants and loans, including loans with on-bill financing, for customers converting to alternative energy sources.

L.D. 827, “An Act To Increase Access to Natural Gas”: requires a gas utility that is authorized to supply gas in a geographic area but is not serving customers and will not guarantee to serve those customers to allow another gas utility to interconnect to its existing pipes and requires the gas utility to provide wholesale service to that interconnecting gas utility for the purpose of serving customers in that area.

L.D. 863, “Resolve, To Reduce Greenhouse Gases and Consumer Energy Costs”: directs the Department of Environmental Protection and the Public Utilities Commission to work together to develop a new regional greenhouse gas initiative offset category for fuel switching and requires the department to submit substantive rules regarding the offset category by March 1, 2015.

L.D. 1060, “An Act To Address Rising Electric Transmission Rates”: requires that the Public Utilities Commission may not issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the construction of a transmission line unless a description of the need for the proposed transmission line is provided and requires that lower-voltage projects that are capable of operating at less than 69 kilovolts and projected to cost in excess of $20,000,000 must be reviewed and approved by the Public Utilities Commission before erection of the transmission line.

L.D. 1187, “An Act To Create the Maine Energy Cost Reduction Authority”: establishes the Maine Energy Cost Reduction Authority for the purpose of entering into contracts to procure and resell natural gas pipeline capacity and electric energy and capacity, to identify and designate corridors the construction of natural gas transmission pipelines and to enter into long-term contracts for the use of natural gas pipeline corridors through the development of natural gas pipelines.

L.D. 1251, “An Act To Lower Costs to Municipalities and Reduce Energy Consumption through Increased Competition in the Municipal Street Light Market”: requires electricity transmission and distribution utilities to provide three options for municipal street lighting programs: the utility-provided services option; the municipally owned, utility-installed option and the municipally owned, installed and maintained option.

L.D. 1262, “An Act To Reduce Energy Costs”: establishes the Energy Cost Reduction Oversight Board; gives the Finance Authority of Maine the authority to issue revenue obligation securities to finance an energy cost-reduction contract; gives the director of the Governor’s Energy Office the authority to submit energy cost-reduction contract proposals; establishes the standards for the Public Utilities Commission to approve an energy cost-reduction contract; gives the Public Utilities Commission authority to direct an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility, a natural gas utility and a natural gas pipeline utility; establishes the Energy Cost Reduction Trust Fund, to be administered by the Public Utilities Commission; exempts energy cost-reduction contracts for the resale of natural gas pipeline capacity from the competitive bid requirements of the State Purchasing Agent; and gives the Public Utilities Commission authority to investigate the exercise of market power by a gas utility, natural gas pipeline utility and any person who owns rights to natural gas pipeline capacity.

L.D. 1425, “An Act To Create Affordable Heating Options for Maine Residents and Reduce Business Energy Costs”: governor’s bill, includes energy cost reduction as a central mission of the Efficiency Maine Trust.

L.D. 1426, “An Act To Improve Maine’s Economy and Lower Energy Costs through Energy Efficiency”: repeals the base rate of .145 cents per kilowatt hour and requires the commission to ensure that all electric ratepayers procure all energy efficiency resources found by the commission to be cost-effective, reliable and achievable; establishes a voluntary heating fuels efficiency and weatherization payment imposed on the transfer of a barrel of #2 heating oil or kerosene or the equivalent amount of propane; prohibits transmission and distribution utilities and natural gas utilities from recovering costs from ratepayers for grants offered to a customer for fuel conversion of the customer’s primary heating or cooling system; and requires that at least 65 percent of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Trust Fund must be allocated for measures, investments and arrangements that reduce electricity consumption.

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

L.D. 480, “An Act To Establish Fees under the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act”: sets fees and the range of fees in the Maine medical marijuana program.

L.D. 1062, “An Act To Add Conditions That Qualify for Medical Marijuana Use”: adds to the list of debilitating medical conditions for which a physician may certify the use of medical marijuana post-traumatic stress disorder, opiate or pharmaceutical drug addiction and recovery and any other medical condition or its treatment as determined by a physician.

L.D. 1161, “An Act To Ensure Regulated Safe Access to Medical Marijuana”: increase the number of medical marijuana dispensaries.

L.D. 1404, “An Act To Ensure the Integrity of Maine’s Medical Marijuana Program”: emergency bill, allows primary caregivers to have an unlimited number of registered patients and employees.

L.D. 1423, “An Act To Amend the Medical Marijuana Law Regarding Excess Harvested Marijuana”: allows a qualifying patient or primary caregiver who possesses excess marijuana to sell the excess marijuana to a qualifying patient, primary caregiver or registered dispensary for reasonable compensation.

L.D. 1462, “An Act To Clarify and Correct Provisions of the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act”: changes the name of the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act to the Maine Medical Use of Cannabis Act; allows access to a registered dispensary’s cultivation facility or a cultivation facility by a licensed health care professional, vendor, consultant or person performing repairs or maintenance; eliminates the requirement that a dispensary or a primary caregiver tag each marijuana plant with a patient’s name or have any other method that allows the department to determine for whom a plant is being cultivated; and requires notification to be made within 30 days of the implementation of a change in policy.

Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee; work sessions; room 206; Cross Building

L.D. 177, “An Act To Expand Moose Hunting Opportunities”: increases the number of moose hunting permits based on the latest moose population estimate phased in over three years; changes the system of issuing moose permits to a drawing where persons who apply over a number of consecutive years may be guaranteed to receive a permit, sets aside 15 percent of permits for nonresidents and aliens, 10 percent for licensed guides and people associated with sporting camps; and provides 25 percent of revenues from moose hunting application and permit system is for the Moose Research and Management Fund and modifies the fund to include addressing moose health issues, overbrowsing of land and promoting and marketing moose hunting.

L.D. 738, “An Act To Promote the Northern Maine Economy and Support Maine’s Sporting Camp Tradition”: provides economic support for certain sporting camps by directing the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to offer for sale a certain number of moose permits for the camps’ use.

Insurance and Financial Services Committee; public hearings; room 220; Cross Building

L.D. 1512, “An Act To Increase Funding for Start-ups”: exempts from existing restrictions regarding registration and advertising an issuer transaction or sale if the issuer transaction or sale meets certain conditions.

L.D. 1519, “An Act To Update the Maine Insurance Code To Maintain Conformance with Uniform National Standards”: amends the insurance holding company laws, reinsurance laws and Maine’s Standard Valuation Law to conform them to the current laws; and gives the superintendent rule-making authority to establish financial standards and corporate governance standards for captive insurance companies.

Judiciary Committee; public hearings; room 438; State House

L.D. 217, “An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee Concerning Public Access to Records Relating to Public-private Partnerships”: requires the Department of Transportation to publish public notice on the department’s publicly accessible website or in newspapers when it has determined that a public-private proposal and agreement meets the standard and to wait at least 30 days after the public notice has been published to submit the bill.

L.D. 258, “An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee Concerning Meetings of Public Bodies”: authorizes the use of remote-access technology to conduct public proceedings; requires the body to adopt a policy that authorizes participation and establishes the circumstances under which a member may participate when not physically present and notice of any proceeding must be provided.

L.D. 420, “An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee Concerning Public Records Exceptions”: clarifies that all the information provided upon request to the director of the Bureau of Health within the Department of Health and Human Services about toxic or hazardous substances in use or present at a specific location is public; requires that a report of the State Board of Arbitration and Conciliation in a labor dispute must be released 15 days after its receipt by the governor and the executive director of the Maine Labor Relations Board if the conciliation process is not successful; and repeals language authorizing the secretary of State to adopt rules relating to maintenance and use of data processing files concerning motor vehicles.

L.D. 619, “An Act To Prohibit the Sharing of Personal Information by State Agencies”: requires all public entities to treat an individual’s personal information as confidential if requested by the individual.

L.D. 684, “An Act To Make Bylaws and Minutes of Board Meetings of Publicly Funded Hospitals Subject to the Freedom of Access Act”: makes bylaws and minutes of board meetings of hospitals that receive public funds public records for purposes of the Freedom of Access Act.

L.D. 1091, “An Act To Require Nonprofit Corporations To Disclose the Salaries of Their Employees”: provides that salary information must be provided on a nonprofit corporation’s publicly accessible website, or through other comparable means, and must be provided to any member of the public upon request.

L.D. 1118, “An Act To Amend Public Access Laws To Improve Accountability for Public Funds by Making Public the Board Meetings of Hospitals Receiving Significant State Funding”: requires that meetings of a general hospital’s board of directors be public if that hospital receives more than 50 percent of its gross operating revenues in the form of payments and reimbursements from the state and federal government in its prior fiscal year.

L.D. 1216, “An Act To Amend the Freedom of Access Act”: requires agencies and officials to respond within five calendar days to any communication about public records; provides that failure to provide a written denial or refusal is considered a failure to allow inspection or copying and is subject to an appeal to Superior Court; and gives the court discretion to award reasonable attorney’s fees and litigation expenses to the substantially prevailing plaintiff without making a finding of bad faith.

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

L.D. 314, “An Act To Create the Office of Marketing”: creates a centralized Office of Marketing within the Department of Economic and Community Development responsible for the coordination of all marketing efforts throughout State Government.

L.D. 1230, “An Act To Improve Access to Oral Health Care”: establishes a licensure process and scope of practice for dental hygiene therapists.

L.D. 1354, “An Act To Create the Aging in Place Program”: establishes the Aging in Place Program in the Department of Economic and Community Development to assist low-income seniors with aging in place and establishes the Aging in Place Fund and appropriates money to the fund.

L.D. 1451, “An Act To Require the Membership of the State Workforce Investment Board To Include Representatives of the Local Workforce Investment Boards”: requires that the membership of the State Workforce Investment Board include a representative from each of the local workforce investment boards in this state.

L.D. 1458, “An Act To Enact the Maine Small Business Investment Protection Act”: enacts the Maine Small Business Investment Protection Act to protect franchisees in the sale and operation of franchise businesses.

L.D. 1506, “An Act To Require Disclosures by 3rd-party Vendors Contracted To Perform Fund-raising”: requires a professional solicitor who receives more than 25 percent of the solicited donation to disclose to the donator the percentage of the donation the professional solicitor receives.

Taxation Committee; work sessions; room 127; State House

L.D. 1326, “An Act To Prevent Youth Tobacco Use”: emergency bill, requires that all tobacco products be taxed at rates equivalent to the current tax on cigarettes.

L.D. 1406, “An Act To Reduce Youth Smoking and Improve Public Health by Increasing Revenue from the Cigarette Tax to the Fund for a Healthy Maine and To Pay Debts Owed to Health Care Providers”: emergency bill, increases the cigarette tax by $1.50 per package to $3.50, to help deter the initial use of cigarettes by youth.

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.

L.D. 1496, “An Act To Modernize and Simplify the Tax Code”: overhauls Maine’s tax code to raise a larger share of tax revenues from nonresidents, while relieving the tax burden on year-round residents.

Transportation Committee; public hearing; room 126; State House

L.D. 1480, “An Act Making Unified Appropriations and Allocations for the Expenditures of State Government, Highway Fund and Other Funds, and Changing Certain Provisions of the Law Necessary to the Proper Operations of State Government for the Fiscal Years Ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015”: emergency governor’s bill, makes allocations of funds for the next two fiscal years; provides funding for approved reclassifications and range changes; repeals the transit bonus payment program; changes the useful life requirement related to projects receiving grants or loans from the TransCap Trust Fund to five years; continues for two years the freeze on merit increases and denies the award of longevity pay to employees in the various departments and agencies within the executive branch; changes the allocation of the funding for the Department of Public Safety, Bureau of State Police to 33 percent allocated from the Highway Fund and 67 percent must be appropriated from the General Fund; and requires the State Controller to transfer $5,210,691 in fiscal year 2013-14 and $5,334,017 in fiscal year 2014-15 from the Highway Fund unallocated surplus to the TransCap Trust Fund.

1:30 p.m.

Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee; work session; room 220; Cross Building

L.D. 718, “An Act To Protect Maine Food Consumers’ Right To Know about Genetically Engineered Food and Seed Stock”: requires disclosure of genetic engineering at the point of retail sale of food and seed stock and provides that food or seed stock except in those without knowledge of the genetic engineering, animals fed genetically engineered food, a minimum content produced by genetic engineering, restaurants, alcoholic beverages or medical food.

2 p.m.

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

L.D. 727, “An Act Establishing Health Care Practitioner Transparency Requirements”: ensures that patients receive accurate health care information by prohibiting deceptive or misleading advertising or misrepresentation in the provision of health care services.

L.D. 1078, “Resolve, To Establish the Task Force on the Creation of a State of Maine Partnership Bank”: emergency bill, establishes the Task Force on the Creation of a State of Maine Partnership Bank to develop a proposal to establish the State of Maine Partnership Bank, which must be specifically designed to partner with financial institutions that are headquartered in Maine or are Maine-owned, or both, in order to provide access to capital for local small businesses and family farmers.

L.D. 1410, “An Act To Update the Fair Credit Reporting Act Consistent with Federal Law”: incorporates federal fair credit reporting laws into state law while preserving enhanced protections found in current state law.

L.D. 1444, “An Act Relating to Title Insurers Issuing Closing or Settlement Protection”: allows title insurers to provide protection against theft or misappropriation of settlement funds and failure to comply with written closing instructions in connection with real estate closings.

L.D. 1453, “An Act To Increase the Transparency of Charges and Expenses of Hospitals That Receive State Funding”: requires the Maine Health Data Organization to conduct an annual study of hospital financial data and establishes the Commission to Study Transparency, Costs and Accountability of Health Care System Financing.

L.D. 1485, “An Act Relating to Insurance Company Formation and Dissolution”: updates references to Maine domestic insurance company “certificates of organization” in the Maine Insurance Code to “articles of incorporation”; simplifies and reduces the number of filings that must be made by those either forming or dissolving Maine insurers; and clarifies the procedure for the secretary of State, the superintendent of Insurance and insurers to follow with respect to certificates of dissolution.

L.D. 1508, “An Act To Create a Public State Bank”: establishes the Maine Street Bank that may not make, purchase, guarantee, modify or hold loans until the bank has adequate capital of at least $20 million.

L.D. 1512, ” An Act To Increase Funding for Start-ups”: exempts from existing restrictions regarding registration and advertising an issuer transaction or sale if the issuer transaction or sale meets certain conditions.

Judiciary Committee; public hearing; room 438; State House

L.D. 1511, “An Act Regarding Coordinated Access to Public Records of State Agencies”: directs the Department of the Attorney General to review the feasibility of developing a centralized system that includes a single website address and a single email address for the public to use to make requests for public records of all state agencies and report by Jan. 5, 2014.

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