Democrats and schools offer A-F grading systems to compete with Gov. Paul LePage’s controversial rankings; a bill to ban food stamp purchases of junk food gets a narrow ought-not-to-pass committee vote; Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability looks into the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention scandal; and two long-shot bills that would impede access to abortion in Maine are scheduled to be heard by a legislative committee on Friday.
Michael Shepherd
Posted inPolitics
Maine bill would make more 911 info secret
Maine is already one of only a few states to keep 911 recordings fully confidential, and it also places restrictions on transcripts of the calls.
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Posted inNews
Bill would make 911 transcripts confidential
A confidentiality bill motivated by a MaineToday Media public-access request for a 911 transcript relating to a December 2012 homicide in Biddeford was heard by a legislative committee Friday.
Posted inNews
Annual comparison on hospital prices proposed
AUGUSTA — Jessica Falconer, of Belfast, told a legislative committee Wednesday that she was “staggered” when she saw the hospital bill for her Caesarean section.
Posted inNews
Democrats’ reaction cool to LePage plan for funding charter, certain religious schools
A long-awaited, sweeping school-choice bill from Gov. Paul LePage that would remove the cap on public charter schools and give public money to certain private, religious schools is getting a cool reaction from legislative Democrats.
Posted inNews, Politics
LePage bill for school choice hits resistance
He wants some religious schools to be partly funded by the public, as well as allow an unlimited number of publicly funded charter schools.
Posted inPolitics
Maine bill proposes yearly check of hospital finances
Sen. Geoffrey Gratwick of Bangor, a physician, also wants to appoint a special panel to review the data.
Posted inNews
Lawmakers hold public hearing on a proposal to simplify hospital bills
Lawmakers held a public hearing Wednesday on a financial-transparency bill aimed at Maine’s hospitals, motivated by a recent national dialogue on uneven costs of health care nationwide.
Posted inNews
Maine panel hears about high cost of hospital care
A proposed bill would allow the publishing of hospital financial data so consumers can compare pricing from hospital to hospital.
Posted inNews
Education department, Democrats heading towards charter school funding standoff
AUGUSTA — A standoff is developing between the Maine Department of Education and Democratic lawmakers about a proposed new way to fund public charter schools. Democrats on the Legislature’s Education Committee want to fund charter schools as a separate line item in each state budget, while the department prefers treating the schools like existing, conventional school systems supported by a state subsidy.