District 8 Legislative Update - April 1st, 2009
April 1, 2009 -
What a couple of weeks it has been in Augusta! The good news is that the statewide report for schools came out and Portland is receiving more then $2,600,000 in the upcoming budget. If it wasn't for the stimulus money, however, Portland's statewide share would have been less. Check out my website to read more.
Maine's 2009 Policy Scholars
On April 3rd, I had the great opportunity to sit on a panel that listened and questioned Maine's 2009 Policy Scholars. Conceived by the late Peter Cox and funded by many donors, the Maine Policy Scholars program engages University of Maine students in the public policy process. One student from each of the university's campuses, working with a faculty advisor, tackles a real-life policy issue facing Maine. After conducting extensive research, the scholar produces a final report in the form of a memo to the Governor or appropriate policy maker outlining the problem, the data available, and recommended policy solutions.
The students presented their public policies at the Michael Klahr Holocaust and Human Rights Education Resource Center at the University of Maine at Augusta.
My Bills - Update
My bills are coming out fast now. Here are some updates on bills that have been voted out of committee and the three more bills for public hearings this week!
Voted out of committee:
LD 489 -"Resolve, Regarding Continuity of Care in the Child Development Services System"
LD 806 -"An Act To Authorize Fuel Cost Stabilization Funds To Be Established in School Administrative Units"
Bills being heard at public hearings this week:
LD 725 - "An Act To Protect Student Privacy while Complying with Federal Law"
This bill was heard April 6th in the Education & Cultural Affairs Committee, and has a work session on April 8th. This bill prohibits the disclosure of the name of a student unless required by state or federal law and directs the Department of Education to work with schools to conform to this prohibition. This bill also allows a student or parent of a student whose name has been disclosed or a school official or school administrative unit in which the student attends school to enforce this provision by a civil action.
LD 1100 -"An Act To Preserve Government Documents"
This bill was heard April 6th in the State and Local Government Committee, and has a work session on April 8th. This bill transfers jurisdiction of campaign finance reports for a candidate for municipal office of a town or city with a population of 15,000 or more from municipal clerks to the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. Such municipal candidates will be required to follow the same procedures and guidelines as candidates for state or county office.
LD 961 -"An Act To Amend the Maine Condominium Act Regarding Liens"
This bill was sponsored by Rep. Cynthia Dill and I am a co-sponsor. LD 961 would allow a condominium association to collect condo fees for shared expenses (communal heat, electricity, grounds keeping, and other shared utilities) when a person forcloses on their condominium. The condominium association would have the ability to collect a maximum of six months of shared fees from the owner of the unit, if the condominium association must pay for those fees.
School Reorganization
Two years ago the state legislature passed the reorganization law. The goal was to reduce the 290 districts to 80. The law from the onset had trouble because there were not enough details for districts to work with as they reorganized into regional school units. Click here to see the results thus far. (PDF)
Why do I bring this up? First, because most of Southern Maine school districts, including Portland, have not been affected by the reorganization law (Portland was exempt because our student count was over 2,500 pupils). On April 1st, the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee had 15 public hearings on bills that would improve the law and 2 public hearings that would repeal the law all together, including the citizen initiative bill.
Clean, Renewable Energy
In energy news, there are some exciting things happening up in Bangor. The Maine Department of Transportation and Bangor Hydro Electric have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in pursuit of developing an underground High Voltage Direct Current electric transmission line in the State. The purpose of this line would be to facilitate the transmission of renewable energy to both Southern Maine and Canada.
This is a great public-private partnership where everyone wins. Bangor Hydro and the Maine DOT will explore the possibility of using the transportation corridor from Orrington South down to the New Hampshire border. It has been indicated this is possible and won't affect the transportation use of the corridor.
If the study produces a positive report, we can use mostly existing infrastructure to deliver renewable energy more effectively and efficiently while having minimal impact on the environment. Some folks say, however, that the projected cost of building the HVDC line (estimated at 2.5 billion) wouldn't lower our energy costs anytime soon.
I'm eager to see what the Feasibility Analysis reports back. What do you think?
Click here to read more about the project from MPBN
Closing
In closing, I would like to reiterate that it is a privilege and an honor to be representing the City of Portland in the State Senate. Feel free to contact me, and I hope to see you around town. Contact me on my website.
Thanks,
-Justin
