Maine lawmakers could soon sign off on several measures to improve security for themselves and family members in the wake of high-profile killings of political figures in the past year.

Proposals from Democrats would give lawmakers money to install security systems at their homes and would allow elected officials to remove their addresses from public records or government websites.

They are responses to various fatal shootings, assassinations and threats that have affected lawmakers around the country. Last year, a man impersonating a police officer killed former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband at their home and also wounded a state senator and his wife at their residence.

A man also assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah university last September, while President Donald Trump was targeted by two assassination attempts in 2024.

Additionally, threats tracked by Maine Capitol Police against state lawmakers tripled from 2023 to last year, and the State House in Augusta has seen numerous evacuations due to bomb threats.

A measure from Senate Majority Leader Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, would create a “Legislator Residential Security Fund” that would allow current lawmakers to request use of the funding to install a wireless, wired or hybrid home security system at their personal residence. The fund would start by receiving $450,000 through 2027.

The Legislative Council, a panel of top lawmakers, would use a competitive bidding process to choose licensed and qualified security professionals to install the systems if legislators request them. Members would no longer be able to access the state funding once they leave office, per Pierce’s measure. The legislation began as a vague concept draft “regarding the laws of the state of Maine” before an amendment turned it into the security fund proposal.

Pierce’s bill went before the State and Local Government Committee for a public hearing Wednesday, where Republican members raised a few questions that mostly focused on the price tag. It faces a committee vote at a later date.

At the hearing, Rep. Jeffrey Adams, R-Lebanon, asked Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, who testified in support of the bill, about “why any one of us should get an extra $2,200 and some change to protect ourselves?”

“Because this job specifically puts you at risk,” Daughtry replied. “…If your job puts you at risk, your job should be able to help make sure that you’re being protected.”

Nevada, Minnesota and Colorado have implemented similar home security funds for lawmakers in recent years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“While this one measure will not solve the issue of political violence, my hope is that it will give meaningful peace of mind to those serving their communities,” Pierce said.

Rep. Sean Faircloth, D-Bangor, has also introduced a proposal that would allow elected, judicial and constitutional officials and their immediate family members to request the removal of certain personal information, such as home addresses, from public records and government-managed online resources. Maine removed lawmakers’ home addresses from parts of the Legislature’s website after last year’s killings in Minnesota, but addresses for members and candidates have remained visible on various state websites.

That bill would also have the secretary of state oversee an Office of Information Privacy. It is awaiting a Judiciary Committee vote after a January public hearing in which Sen. Donna Bailey, D-Saco, shared how she has received a death threat and two bomb threats since 2024.

“I wish that we still lived in a world in which an email, a letter or a social media post did not convey the intent to cause serious harm — including death — to a public official,” Bailey said while testifying in favor of Faircloth’s measure. “But we do not.”

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat whose home was “swatted” in 2023 after she disqualified Trump from the state’s primary ballot, testified in support of Faircloth’s bill. So did Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Stanfill said jurists in Maine are routinely subject to “serious threats.” In 2024, The American Bar Association reported an uptick in threats against federal judges.

Stanfill shared her testimony with the Judiciary Committee not long after an Indiana judge and his wife survived being shot while at their home. Judges are “being attacked and killed for doing their jobs,” she added.

“We understand that this legislation will not guarantee the safety of any given jurist or elected official,” Stanfill said, “but it is an important step to protect the security of those who serve the citizenry of Maine.”