This bill proposes to increase funding to the ConnectME Authority from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 to expand universal broadband and high-speed Internet into rural areas identified as the 6% of the State unserved by high-speed Internet. This bill proposes to make expanding high-speed Internet into unserved rural areas a key emphasis in the economic development of and to multiply the return to the State by directing the ConnectME Authority to use the increased funding to increase the rate of strategic broadband investment and leverage additional federal funding to provide middle-mile and last-mile infrastructure in the unserved areas and to correct broadband deficiencies identified in the ConnectME Authority's baseline update of 2013.

This amendment also provides that, subject to appeal or grievance under the terms of an applicable collective bargaining agreement, receipt of summative effectiveness ratings indicating that a teacher is ineffective for 2 consecutive years constitutes just cause for nonrenewal of a teacher's contract as long as there is a reasonable basis in fact for the effectiveness ratings, the evaluation process leading to the effectiveness ratings has been performed in a manner reasonably consistent with the approved system and department rules and the effectiveness ratings are not the result of bad faith.

• 1. A $500 fine and a suspension of a driver's license for not more than 30 days for the first offense; and
• 2. A fine of not less than $1,000 and a suspension of a driver's license for not less than 30 days for a 2nd or subsequent offense occurring within 5 years of the first offense.

• 1. Poultry and poultry products sold or offered for sale may not be labeled with a certified "Maine" trademark or labeled or advertised as "Maine-raised" or by a similar designation unless the poultry was raised solely in the State from no later than the 7th day after hatching; and
• 2. Meat and meat products sold or offered for sale may not be labeled with a certified "Maine" trademark or labeled or advertised as "Maine-raised" or by a similar designation unless the animal was born in the State and raised solely in the State.

The bill also requires the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, chapter 562-A relating to preparation of livestock and poultry products for human consumption, to enforce the prohibition on labeling or advertising poultry, poultry products, meat and meat products sold or offered for sale as "Maine-raised" unless the requirements in this bill are met.

Amendment H-423
This amendment, which is the majority report, replaces the bill. It provides that poultry, poultry products, meat and meat products labeled or advertised as Maine-raised or by a similar designation are considered misbranded if offered for sale, sold or distributed within the State unless the poultry or animals were raised in Maine, as defined in the amendment. The Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry may grant a waiver of the determination that such poultry, poultry products, meat and meat products are misbranded upon consideration of economic factors, including, but not limited to, the proximity of processing facilities to the in-state poultry producer or meat producer and the availability of poultry processing facilities or meat processing facilities in the State.

LD 351 Chaptered Law
LD 351 Chaptered Law fiscal note

This bill proposes to create a paid internship program in the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in order to provide beginning wildlife biologists with a diversity of opportunities to increase their experience and make them more versatile and more likely to pursue careers in the State.

The program must:

• 1. Employ a competitive process to choose interns;
• 2. Offer a paid internship to each chosen participant for a period of no less than 2 years;
• 3. Include various fields of study in incremental blocks over the course of the internship; and
• 4. Be offered to no fewer than 3 interns per year.

It is intended that funding for this program would come, in part, from the consolidation of seasonal and other part-time positions in the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife the duties of which can be performed by interns participating in the program.

• 1. Adds language to specify that it is the policy of the State to ensure that nonpermanent records are preserved for the time required by an approved records retention schedule;
• 2. Removes the University of Maine System, the Maine Community College System and the Maine Maritime Academy from the definition of "state agency" for purposes of the Archives and Records Management Law;
• 3. Adds language to include the advice from the Archives Advisory Board in the State Archivist's consideration of what constitutes an archival record, to change the definition of "state agency" or "agency" to include all government agencies that transmit records to the Maine State Archives and to change the definition of "electronic records";
• 4. Adds language to specify the 2nd organizational unit within the Maine State Archives is records management and adds language to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, section 94 that was stricken from Title 5, section 95 regarding powers and duties of the State Archivist;
• 5. Changes the laws governing the State Archivist to reflect the 2 organizational units of the Maine State Archives: archives services and records management. It adds language to strengthen the records management practices for all state and local government agencies by using 4 criteria in the development of a guiding records retention schedule: administrative use, legal requirements, fiscal and audit requirements and historical and research value;
• 6. Specifies when local government records may be destroyed;
• 7. Repeals and replaces the laws governing the Archives Advisory Board to change the expertise required of members, to provide that members are appointed by the Secretary of State and to provide 3-year terms for members; and
• 8. Removes the requirement that the Maine Historical Records Advisory Board report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs but retains the requirement that the board report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over state and local government matters, which is the committee of oversight for the Maine State Archives. It also removes a reference to funding a full-time position that was eliminated in Public Law 2015, chapter 480.

This bill proposes to enact measures designed to provide flexibility in the regulation of development near the shore. The purpose of the bill is to encourage the development of creative approaches to protect beaches and critical near-shore infrastructure threatened by sea level rise and storm damage.

• 1. It adds 4 provisions to the laws regarding nontraditional limited purpose schools that were part of Department of Education rule Chapter 250 which has been repealed.
• 2. It adds response to intervention systems to the minimum requirements for basic school approval to ensure an all-encompassing, tiered system of support for general and special education students. It also clarifies that rules regarding those requirements are major substantive rules.
• 3. It facilitates collaboration between general education and special education, including a clarification that the Department of Education is required to facilitate a process to help schools apply for schoolwide status with respect to federal Title I funds.
• 4. It promotes dual certification programs by the Department of Education and the State Board of Education.
• 5. It requires recodification of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, Part 4, subpart 1, concerning special education, by the Office of Policy and Legal Analysis and the Office of the Revisor of Statutes.
• 6. It requires a review of the purpose of the maintenance of effort funding component of the essential programs and services funding formula and whether it is accomplishing this purpose and how to increase equity among all school administrative units.
• 7. It requires a review and improvement of MaineCare billing systems and procedures through a pilot program through the Department of Education in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services.

• 1. Enhancement of response to intervention to become an all-encompassing multitiered system of support in all school administrative units and removing the regulations on general education interventions from Department of Education rule Chapter 101: Maine Unified Special Education Regulation Birth to Age Twenty and amending rule Chapter 125: Basic Approval Standards: Public Schools and School Administrative Units to include regulations on general education interventions;
• 2. Facilitation of the process by which schools apply for schoolwide status with respect to funds under Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;
• 3. Increased use of dual certification programs for general education and special education certifications;
• 4. Review of the maintenance of effort funding component of the essential programs and services funding formula; and
• 5. Improvement of regional programs that facilitate MaineCare billing for medically necessary services for schools.

This amendment also requires the Department of Education to issue an administrative letter to school boards and superintendents addressing the benefits of proactive communication between the school administrative unit and parents of a student and the student regarding the credit options available to the student prior to the student's participation in the study abroad program.

This amendment also incorporates a fiscal note. The fiscal note identifies the requirement that local school boards adopt a policy on awarding credit to students who have studied abroad as a potential unfunded state mandate. The committee reviewed the fiscal note and determined that requiring a school board to adopt a policy on awarding credit to students who have studied abroad is not a mandate. Because school boards have a duty to adopt policies that govern school administrative units pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 1001, subsection 1-A, and because Title 20-A requires school administrative units to provide students with opportunities for learning in multiple pathways, the requirement that local school boards adopt a policy on awarding credit to students who have studied abroad does not require an expansion or modification of activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures.

It increases from Class E crimes to Class D crimes negligently importing, exporting, hunting, taking, trapping, possessing, processing, selling, offering for sale, delivering, carrying, transporting, shipping, feeding, baiting or harassing endangered or threatened species. It also increases from Class D crimes to Class C crimes intentionally engaging in any of those acts with endangered, threatened and delisted species.

Amendment H-275
This amendment replaces the bill. This amendment:

• 1. Provides that for conviction of certain Class E crimes of negligence related to endangered or threatened species, the maximum allowable fine of $1,000 must be adjudged;
• 2. Removes the requirement that, for a first-time offense of negligently feeding, setting bait for or harassing any endangered or threatened species, a law enforcement officer must issue a warning;
• 3. Provides that for conviction of certain Class D crimes involving intentional acts related to endangered or threatened species, the maximum allowable fine of $2,000 must be adjudged;
• 4. Removes the requirement that, for a first-time offense of intentionally feeding, setting bait for or harassing any endangered or threatened species, a law enforcement officer must issue a warning;
• 5. Provides that for conviction of certain Class D crimes involving intentional conduct related to a delisted species, the maximum allowable fine of $2,000 must be adjudged;
• 6. Removes the requirement that, for a first-time offense of intentionally harassing a delisted species, a law enforcement officer must issue a warning; and
• 7. Removes the prohibition on intentionally feeding or setting bait for a delisted species.

This bill proposes to create a seamless crisis services system that allows high-risk patients timely access to inpatient care and to increase communication within the crisis services system to better manage patients after discharge. The purpose of this bill is to save lives and improve the overall quality and integrity of the crisis services system by:

• 1. Creating a single point of entry for a high-risk patient by designating an independent entity of a hospital to provide clinical assessment of the patient and determine whether the patient meets inpatient criteria of care;
• 2. Adopting universal criteria under which priority admission for a patient is based on acuteness of crisis and length of stay in an emergency room;
• 3. Requiring hospitals to communicate with and make referrals to community providers for aftercare within 24 hours following discharge from the emergency room or inpatient treatment when patients are most at risk of suicide; and
• 4. Exploring further significant upgrades, access and training in developing prevention and post-intervention services with the goal of avoiding hospitalization of patients with mental illness who are not in need of psychiatric hospitalization and can be stabilized in the community.

The bill also prohibits a restrictive employment agreement between 2 or more employers that prohibits or restricts one employer from soliciting or hiring another employer's employees or former employees.

Amendment H-280
This amendment strikes and replaces the bill. It moves the language in the bill to another location in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 26 and restricts the enforceability of noncompete agreements to the extent that they are reasonable and are no broader than necessary to protect a legitimate business interest of the employer, such as trade secrets, confidential information or goodwill. It also adds a presumption that a noncompete agreement is necessary if the legitimate business interest cannot be adequately protected through an alternative restrictive covenant. As in the bill, it also provides for ongoing appropriations to provide for enforcement of the provisions.

Amendment S-208
This amendment prohibits an employer from requiring or permitting an employee earning wages at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, instead of at or below 300% of the federal poverty level as in the committee amendment, to enter into a noncompete agreement with the employer.

LD 733 Amendment H-280 fiscal note
LD 733 Amendment S-208 fiscal note

• 1. Removing the word "acquire" from the enumeration of the elements of an individual's right to food and removing the language limiting the exercise of acquisition;
• 2. Removing language establishing a fundamental right to be free from hunger, starvation and the endangerment of life due to scarcity of or lack of access to food; and
• 3. Specifying that the right to food does not allow an individual to abuse private property rights or abuse public lands or natural resources in the harvesting of food.

The bill also requires that health insurance carriers that provide coverage for maternity services also provide coverage for abortion services. The bill applies this requirement to all health insurance policies and contracts issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2020, except for those religious employers granted an exclusion of coverage. The bill authorizes the Superintendent of Insurance to grant an exemption from the requirements if enforcement of the requirements would adversely affect the allocation of federal funds to the State.

Amendment H-210
This amendment is the majority report of the committee. The amendment adds language exempting the provisions of the bill from the provisions of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 24-A, section 2752. The amendment reallocates the section of the bill requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to pay for abortion services for MaineCare members and adds language to authorize the department to adopt rules using the emergency rule-making provisions of the Maine Administrative Procedure Act.

Amendment S-275
The amendment adds an appropriations and allocations section. This amendment also makes technical corrections.

LD 820 Chaptered Law
LD 820 Chaptered Law fiscal note

• 1. It defines as a homeless student a student under 25 years of age who has been verified, at any time during the 24 months immediately preceding the student's admission to or while enrolled in a state postsecondary educational institution, as a homeless child or youth as defined in the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2001.
• 2. It requires each state postsecondary educational institution to designate a staff member as the homeless student liaison.
• 3. It authorizes each state postsecondary educational institution to award a homeless student a financial assistance grant, which is limited to the amount of the cost of tuition less all other financial aid received that a student is not required to repay. The availability of the grant and the amount of the grant is also subject to the amounts appropriated by the Legislature.

The bill expands the student teaching experience and academic achievement requirements for candidates for a professional teacher certificate. It specifies the number of hours of practicum an applicant must complete and clarifies the time frame during which the student teaching experience must occur. The bill enacts a grade point average requirement with respect to applicants recommended by educational institutions offering teacher preparation programs.

The bill strengthens the support and mentoring systems required to provide assistance for teachers, including teachers certified for less than 5 years, and requires the Commissioner of Education to pay salary supplements to teachers who are involved in the operation of such systems. The bill provides that a school administrative unit may not employ a conditionally certified teacher or educational specialist unless it has an approved, locally designed support and mentoring system or has received specific authorization from the commissioner.

The bill increases the minimum salary for certified teachers to $40,000 beginning with the 2020-2021 school year and provides that a certified teacher's salary may not remain at the minimum level for longer than 2 years. The bill includes in the school funding formula state funding for the incremental costs of meeting this minimum in fiscal year 2020-21, state funding for 66% of these incremental costs in fiscal year 2021-22 and state funding for 33% of these incremental costs in fiscal year 2022-23.

The bill requires the State Board of Education to amend its rule Chapter 114: Purpose, Standards and Procedures for the Review and Approval of Preparation Programs for Education Personnel to articulate and outline clear standards for a memorandum of understanding between student teachers, teacher preparation programs and participating school administrative units.

The bill directs the Governor to appoint members to vacant positions on the Professional Standards Board by November 1, 2019 and directs the board to convene a meeting by December 1, 2019.

The bill provides additional appropriations for the Educators for Maine Program within the Finance Authority of Maine in order to double the annual investment of state loan funds awarded to eligible students.

Amendment S-59
This amendment, which is the majority report of the committee, removes the requirement that a support and mentoring system must be approved by the Commissioner of Education, and it clarifies that the support and mentoring system is a peer support and mentoring system and that it must include opportunities for educators to share, learn and improve their practice in collaboration with peers, be formative in nature and be for the sole purpose of ongoing professional growth for educators.

This amendment also removes the provisions of the bill on teacher preparation programs and salary supplements for approved support and mentoring systems for teacher certification and the appropriations for the Educators for Maine Program under the Finance Authority of Maine.

Amendment S-332
This amendment removes the sections of the bill relating to establishing a minimum salary of $40,000 for certified teachers starting after June 30, 2020.

LD 898 Chaptered Law
LD 898 Chaptered Law fiscal note

The bill also prohibits the Department of Environmental Protection and the Director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands within the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry from permitting, approving or otherwise authorizing any oil or natural gas exploration, development or production in, on or under the submerged and intertidal land owned by the State.

It is the intent of this legislation to generally prohibit activities relating to offshore oil and natural gas exploration, development and production within the boundaries and jurisdiction of the State, which place the State's coastal communities at economic and ecological risk from oil spills, and from the pollution caused by routine drilling operations and onshore industrialization, and threaten the quality of life and livelihoods of Maine citizens and economically significant industries, including tourism, recreation and commercial and recreational fishing, and small businesses that rely on a clean and healthy ocean and clean and healthy beaches.

Amendment H-425
This amendment, which is the majority report of the committee, amends the bill to clarify the prohibition on oil or natural gas exploration, development or production activities as follows.

• 1. It amends certain definitions to more clearly delineate the activities regulated and to specify that the transfer of oil or natural gas resources to or from the waters of the State, including both on-loading and offloading of oil or natural gas resources between an oil terminal facility and a vessel or between vessels, is not prohibited under the bill.
• 2. It removes language specifically prohibiting exploration, development or production activities that may adversely affect the waters of the State.

This bill proposes to improve the training and retention of oil and hazardous materials emergency response workers and their ability to respond to oil and hazardous materials emergencies by requiring the State to:

• 1. Pay or waive the fee for workers for the cost of necessary training courses and any materials required for those courses;
• 2. Compensate workers fairly for the time spent in training courses, while on call and when responding to hazardous materials emergencies; and
• 3. Purchase hazardous materials emergency response equipment for use by municipalities or reimburse municipalities that purchase hazardous materials emergency response equipment.

• 1. Amends the labor relations laws governing municipal public employees and University of Maine System employees to provide that determinations by arbitrators with respect to controversies over all subjects, including salaries, pensions and insurance, are final and binding on the parties;
• 2. Amends the labor relations laws governing state employees to provide that, with respect to controversies over salaries, an arbitrator's determinations are final and binding on the parties; and
• 3. Amends the labor relations laws governing judicial employees to provide that an arbitrator's determinations with respect to controversies over all subjects, including salaries, pensions and insurance, are final and binding on the parties and that, with respect to controversies over salaries, determinations by mediator-arbitrators are final and binding on the parties.

• 1. It removes the provision regarding registering a dog as a service dog and issuing a tag identifying the dog as a service dog;
• 2. It clarifies that the dog licensing fee is waived for an owner who produces documentation that the dog is a service dog;
• 3. It provides for euthanasia of severely sick or severely injured stray livestock authorized by a veterinarian, humane agent, animal control officer or animal shelter;
• 4. It provides for immunity for a municipality, veterinarian, humane agent, animal control officer and animal shelter in instances involving handling of stray livestock;
• 5. It adds to the animal cruelty provisions the violation of intentionally giving an animal a scheduled drug;
• 6. It increases the penalties for civil violations involving animal cruelty;
• 7. It makes the violation of a court order involving a civil animal welfare matter a Class D crime;
• 8. It establishes municipal procedures for the handling of stray livestock; and
• 9. It repeals provisions related to stray beasts.

The amendment clarifies that a municipality, veterinarian, humane agent, animal control officer or animal shelter is not civilly liable to any party for authorization of euthanasia of severely sick or severely injured livestock if certain conditions are met nor is any person performing euthanasia under that authorization.

The amendment adds the intent to harm or intoxicate the animal to the bill's addition to the animal cruelty provisions of the violation of giving a scheduled drug to an animal.

The amendment strikes from the bill the provision that makes the violation of a court order involving a civil animal welfare matter a Class D crime.

The amendment clarifies under the provision establishing municipal procedures for the handling of stray livestock that "livestock" does not include feral swine or domesticated cervids.

The fiscal note on the bill identifies certain requirements in the bill, which are retained in the amendment, as a potential state mandate. In order to be a mandate pursuant to the Constitution of Maine, a provision must require a local unit of government to expand or modify its activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenue. The committee finds the provisions identified as a potential state mandate do not require a local unit government to expand or modify its activities in a manner so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenue.

Under current law, pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 7, section 3948, subsection 3, municipalities are required to control domesticated animals that are a cause of complaint in the community. Additionally, municipalities are required to control animals that pose a threat to public health or safety. This section of law also provides that a municipality may control undomesticated animals in matters no other department is charged by law to regulate.

• 1. It allows pet shops that are currently lawfully offering dogs or cats for sale to continue to offer dogs and cats for sale as long as the ownership of the pet shop does not change and the number of dogs and cats offered for sale does not increase. It allows for limited transfers of ownership of a family-owned pet shop to a spouse, domestic partner or child of the oldest member of the family having an ownership interest;
• 2. Removes from the definition of "animal rescue entity" the exclusions that allow for certain associations with breeders; and
• 3. Removes the word "nominal" as a descriptor of the adoption fee that may be charged for dogs and cats offered for adoption by an animal rescue entity.

• 1. It changes the focus of the bill from violent behavior to dangerous behavior and defines "dangerous behavior" to mean behavior of a student that presents a risk of injury or harm to a student or others.
• 2. It amends the process in the bill regarding investigations. It requires review of a report of an incident of dangerous behavior and the development of an individualized response plan. It stipulates that these provisions do not limit any federally protected right of a student, including, but not limited to, federally protected rights of students with disabilities, and provides that, in the case of a student eligible for services under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or protected from discrimination under Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, any discussions or actions related to the identification, evaluation or educational placement of the student or provision of a free, appropriate public education to the student must take place through the processes established under federal law rather than under the process described in the bill, as amended.
• 3. It moves the provisions in the bill regarding the counting of sick leave of a public school employee injured from dangerous behavior to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 13601, which contains other provisions regulating sick leave.
• 4. It adds a mandate preamble.

The amendment extends the time for the licensing board to review the applicant's or licensee's petition to withhold all or part of the record from 30 days in the bill to 60 days.

It allows an applicant or licensee who does not agree with the licensing board's decision to seek an injunction in Superior Court.

• 1. Expansion of educational programs at career and technical education centers and financial support of those programs;
• 2. Comprehensive scholarships for persons taking classes toward the attainment of an early childhood education credential or an associate or bachelor's degree that allow the persons to graduate without student debt as long as the persons agree to work for a year with an approved employer;
• 3. An increased number of apprenticeships; and
• 4. Salary supplements awarded to individuals who provide child care or who are early childhood educators. The amount of the supplement is based on the level of education and experience of the individual and other factors.

• 1. Is, and has been for the 5 years prior to application, a corporation or limited liability company organized under the laws of the State;
• 2. Has been headquartered in this State for the 5 years prior to application;
• 3. Pays at least 75% of its employees a salary that exceeds the income threshold for the county in which the facility that is the subject of the application is located;
• 4. Agrees to make an investment of at least $35,000,000 in the construction or expansion in this State of a facility for that business; and
• 5. Adds a total of 40 new full-time employees by the end of the first year of qualifying for the tax credit, maintains that number for the next 2 years and then adds 20 more full-time employees, maintaining a total of 60 full-time employees for each year after the 3rd year of qualifying for the tax credit. The employees added must be based in the State.