This week, I’ll discuss the five bills I introduced in Committee this week.

Portland as High-Tech InnovatorMore great news for Portland! Techie.com just ranked Portland as one of the Ten Most Unexpected Cities for High-Tech Innovation in the country. This puts us with cities like Chattanooga, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Ohio and Rochester, New York. Techie.com listed the Top Gun Accelerated Entrepreneurship Program and the Casco Bay Technology Hub as the major reasons for their decision. I am proud to support the innovative work happening in Portland and around the state.

Bills Submitted

This has been a busy week with public hearings for bills I’ve introduced. Four committees had scheduled five of my bills for public hearing. Public hearings allow committee members to learn more about an issue and hear from individuals in support and in opposition to a bill.

High-Capacity Magazines
On Monday, I appeared before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee for the first time to introduce my bill, LD 997, “An Act To Establish Restrictions on Ammunition Feeding Devices.” This bill would ban the sale, transfer or importation of ammunition feeding devices that can carry more than ten rounds, making it a Class D crime. The bill would exempt the high-capacity magazines already legally owned by Mainers before the law takes effect and exempts current and former law enforcement officials.

I have no illusions that restricting access to these high-capacity magazines in and of itself will stop the next massacre, but it could reduce the number of lives lost.

Click here to read more from the Portland Press Herald.

Click here to read my testimony.
Click here to read the bill.

Groundfishing Permits
On Wednesday, I introduced LD 939, “An Act To Restore Maine’s Groundfishing Industry,” to the Marine Resources Committee. This bill would appropriate $3.5 million to the Department of Marine Resources to purchase federal groundfishing permits to strengthen our Maine Groundfish Permit Bank. This appropriation will have real economic benefit by creating a mechanism to provide Maine fishermen access to additional groundfish quota at affordable rates. Doing so will benefit existing Maine-based fishing businesses, and create a tangible economic incentive for other fishing businesses to return to Maine and land their catch at the Exchange.

Click here to read more from the Kennebec Journal.
Click here to read the bill.

Revenue Sharing
On Friday, I will appear before the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee to introduce LD 940, “An Act To Reestablish State-municipal Revenue-sharing as a Compact between the State and Municipal Governments” Revenue Sharing is a mechanism the state uses to alleviate property tax increases by dedicating a portion of state sales and income tax revenue to towns. Cities and towns need this revenue to provide the services we all rely on: good public schools, drivable roads, a well-maintained police and fire department. Over the past few budgets, however, the legislature has raided revenue sharing to make the state budget, “whole,” unfortunately, to the detriment of every town in Maine. My bill will place the funds dedicated for revenue sharing in to a protected fund, making it very difficult for the legislature to take that money away from towns.

Click here to read the bill.

Charter School Bills
On Friday, I will introduce two bills to the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. The first is LD 1128, “An Act To Provide for Greater Public Input and Local Control in the Chartering of Public School.” This bill will require an applicant charter school to hold more community meetings and input into the creation of a charter school that could be established in their community
Click here to read the bill.

The second bill is LD 995, “An Act To Establish a Moratorium on the Approval and Operation of Virtual Public Charter Schools.” This bill will place a moratorium on establishing a virtual charter school in Maine. The only exception in the bill allows for supplementary online classes to be provided to high school students if they are administered by the state or by a nonprofit.

Click here to read the bill.