As we look back at the second year of the 125th Legislature, the fact that Mainers granted Republicans the right to lead the Legislature saw many positive contributions. Most are just going into effect in the fall of 2012 and the benefits to our citizens and communities is yet to be seen. Below are a few items in bullet point format that exhibit what I feel will be of significance.

LD 849 – Tax Relief

The bill provides that 20 percent of future surplus revenue will be used to gradually reduce the income tax rate from 7.95 percent to 4 percent. This bill is inspired both by principle and by pragmatism. Republicans believe that when the government finds it has collected more in taxes than it needs for expenditures, the taxpayers should get at least some of their extra money back. This return of taxpayer dollars to the private economy and its attendant reduction in the income tax will make Maine, which before these cuts had the ninth highest income tax rate in the country, competitive with other states and primed for economic growth.

LD 1043 – Biennial Budget- Welfare Reform measures

The 2012-2013 state budget included several reforms to Maine’s welfare system designed to provide better stewardship for taxpayers’ money, curb the culture of dependency that welfare programs often create, and ensure that those programs will be around for those who truly need them. These welfare reform initiatives:
1. Cap TANF (a cash benefit welfare program) benefits at 5 years, which is the federal standard, ending unlimited lifetime benefits for TANF in Maine (exceptions will be made for cases of extreme hardship, including for the elderly and the disabled);
2. End MaineCare (Medicaid), TANF, and food stamps benefits for all non-citizens;
3. Impose strict sanctions for people who violate TANF rules, including a termination of benefits for adults on the first offense and a full family sanction for the second offense; and
4. Require those convicted of drug felonies to be drug tested as a condition of receiving welfare.

LD 1 – Regulatory Fairness and Reform

LD 1 is a comprehensive overhaul of Maine’s regulatory structure as it relates to business in the state. The bill was crafted by a special committee of legislators who toured the state to learn from entrepreneurs firsthand how state government can help their growth by eliminating red tape and bureaucracy. The ideas were sent to specific legislative committees of jurisdiction to be refined into this comprehensive bill.
The reform:
1. Establishes an audit program at DEP along the guidelines of less stringent federal EPA requirements;
2. Calls for state agencies to weigh both the costs and benefits of a rule under consideration;
3. Creates the Business Ombudsman Program to act as arbiter between businesses and state agencies;
4. Creates the position of Small Business Advocate within the Secretary of State’s Office to help businesses navigate the state’s various regulatory and licensing framework and advocate for business before regulators and legislators;
5. Requires agencies to cite information they relied upon in crafting a new regulation;
6. Eliminates any confusion in statutory language that agency rules are not enforceable in court unless they were implemented correctly pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act;
7. Limits the Board of Environmental Protection’s rulemaking authority and reduces its membership from 10 to 7; and
8. Allows legislative committees to require agencies to review rules when requested.

LD 1913 – Workers’ Compensation Reform

One of the signature legislative achievements of the Second Regular Session, the reform of the workers’ compensation laws will make the system easier to administer, fairer, and more efficient. The new law applies only to injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2013.
The bill has many measures that reduce costs for employers. Existing law provided for unlimited partial incapacity benefits; this bill limits them to 10 years for those with less than 18 percent impairment. The bill eliminates the requirement that employers pay benefits pending an appeal that the employer ultimately wins, and reduces the employee notice of injury filing period from 90 days to 30 days.
However, the bill also has many enhancements to worker protections. For example, it increases the maximum compensation rate from 80 percent of the state average weekly wage to 100 percent. Additionally, the Workers’ Compensation Board Appellate Division will be brought back so that workers may appeal Board decisions administratively.

LD 1806 – Transparency in Government

This bill makes the following changes to the laws governing financial disclosure by Legislators and certain executive employees, in a much-needed attempt to bring transparency and accountability to Maine government:
1. Requires Legislators to disclose organizations in which immediate family members hold certain positions, and not just spouses, as previously provided by law. Those certain positions have also been expanded to include management and the definition of immediate family has been expanded to include domestic partners;
2. Requires a Legislator or executive employee who has completed service to file a statement within 45 days of the last day of service to disclose the Legislator’s or employee’s sources of income in the Legislator’s final year of service;
3. Requires a Legislator who is an employee of another to identify the title of the position held by the Legislator;
4. Requires that, if the immediate family member of a Legislator or certain executive employees received income of $1,000 or more in compensation in a calendar year, the Legislator or executive employee must identify the source of the compensation, the type of the economic activity and the title of the position held by the immediate family member;
5. Requires Legislators and certain executive employees to identify each executive branch agency to which an associated organization has sold goods or services with a value in excess of $1,000;
6. Requires Legislators and executive employees to disclose organizations or businesses controlled by them that receive revenue of $2,000 or more but don’t provide income directly to the Legislator or executive employee; and
7. Requires disclosure if the Legislator or employee holds certain positions with a political action committee or ballot question committee.

LD 1553 – Charter Schools

Prior to the 125th Legislature’s passage of LD 1553 in 2011, Maine was one of only 11 states to prohibit charters schools, which are privately-operated schools operating under a charter from the state’s department of education that receive their funding on a per-pupil basis from public school systems. This bill allowed for the creation of 10 charter schools for a pilot period of 10 years. Several concerns and unanswered questions were resolved by a separate bill during the 2012 legislative session, but the prime accomplishment of the bill remains: Maine’s parents and students will have choice and Maine’s public school systems will have competition.

LD 1422 – Standards-Based Education

This bill directs the Department of Education to develop standards and procedures that enable school administrative units to transition to a standards-based system of education that awards a high school diploma based on a student’s demonstrated proficiency in the areas of assessment under state learning standards, effective Jan. 1, 2017. It also requires the DOE, if funds are available, to make annual grants to school administrative units to fund the costs of transition to proficiency-based graduation standards for the awarding of high school diplomas. The grants are equal to 1/10 of 1% of a school administrative unit’s total cost of education.
The bill maintains maximum freedom at the local level, leaving it up to school districts to decide how best to reach the proficiency requirements of a state-issued high school diploma. The bill puts a goal in place for Maine’s educators, sets a higher bar of achievement, and tells employers that a Maine high school diploma is a valuable credential.

LD 1858 – Teacher Performance Evaluation

This bill holds bad teachers and principals accountable and lets the best stand out by creating a new performance evaluation system for Maine’s educators. It creates the Maine Educator Effectiveness Council, composed of teachers, administrators, and the Commissioner of Education, to develop standards for the performance evaluation system and to oversee its operation. The Legislature’s Education Committee spent much time weighing the Governor’s original proposal and crafted an amended version that achieves his original goals while ensuring that the evaluation program can be implemented seamlessly into the state’s K-12 education system.

LD 1867 – Protection for Victims of Domestic Violence

A signature part of the Governor’s domestic violence initiative announced in his State of the State Address, this bill makes several changes to the bail code to protect victims of domestic violence. It expands the number of crimes that fit the definition of domestic violence for the purposes of the bail code; requires that a judge, and not a bail officer, make a bail determination; increases the penalties for violations of bail conditions in cases involving domestic violence; and requires that more information be available to those making a bail determination in domestic violence cases.
The bill also calls for the Judiciary to provide a written report to the Legislature by January 2013 on the efficacy of this law and make recommendations accordingly, which the Legislature shall address in appropriate legislation.

LD 1698 – Establishment of Veterans’ Treatment Courts

This bill is presented in memory of former Army Ranger Justin Crowley-Smilek of Farmington, who served his country in Afghanistan.
It provides that the Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court may establish veterans’ treatment courts, which are specialized sentencing dockets in select criminal cases in which the defendant is a veteran or a member of the United States Armed Forces. The specialized dockets will enable veterans’ agencies and social service agencies to provide treatment for that defendant. The bill also authorizes the State Court Administrator as well as other state departments and social service agencies to seek federal funding for these special courts.

LD 736 – Texting While Driving

This bill imposed a prohibition on texting, defined as “composing and sending electronic communications,” while driving. The bill originally imposed a $100 fine. However, LD 1912, passed the following year, increased that penalty to $250 after it became clear that texting while driving required an even greater deterrence.