MSMA Legislative Information
2nd Session 123rd Legislature

Last updated 04/29/2008

HOUSE/SENATE ACTION (OTP - Ought to Pass; ONTP - Ought not to Pass)

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Maine Legislature

An Act To Increase Access to After-school Programs - This bill provides funds for grants to establish after-school programs in communities that currently do not have such programs.

An Act To Provide Funding for Mentoring Programs - This bill makes ongoing General Fund appropriations of $100,000 per year to fund the Maine Mentoring Partnership Grant Program.

An Act To Establish a Labor Center within the University of Maine System - This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208.  The purpose of the bill is to establish a center within the University of Maine System that would offer labor education and policy development for students and community organizations.

An Act To Modify the Maine Learning Results System - This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208.  This bill proposes to enact several modifications to the State’s system of learning results established in the education laws, the Maine Revised Statues, Title 20-A, chapter 222.

An Act To Clarify the Application of Prevailing Wage Requirements - This bill clarifies that in publicly funded construction projects under the jurisdiction of the federal Davis-Bacon Act or other federal act, minimum wages and benefits are the higher of the federal and state rates.

An Act To Ensure the Safety of the Public and of Victims of Sexual Assault - This bill is an emergency bill that requires the court to issue a standing criminal restraining order that applies to persons convicted of sex offenses under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A, chapters 11 and 12. The standing criminal restraining order takes effect when the defendant is released from confinement or at the time of sentencing if no confinement is ordered and continues until modified or revoked by the court for good cause shown. The order must include, but is not limited to, enjoining the defendant from residing within 10 miles of the victim’s residence, within 10 miles of where the offense occurred, and within 1,000 feet of a school, day care, or playground if there are fewer than 30,000 residents in that community. Violation of the order is a Class D crime.

An Act Regarding Occupational Safety and Health Training for Workers on State-funded Construction Projects - This bill requires that a contractor or subcontractor entering into a contract for a public work on or after July 1, 2008, that is for $10,000 or more provide documentation demonstrating that all employees working on that project have completed a construction safety training course, no shorter than 10 hours in duration, approved by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The bill also specifies that, in addition to fines provided in existing law, violation of these requirements may result in removal of employees for whom the required documentation is not provided, as well as cancellation or enforcement of performance of the contract.

An Act To Ensure Responsible Government Spending, Investment, and Educational Efficiency - Part A of this bill establishes new procedures to govern the act of exceeding or increasing the various spending limitations that currently apply to state, county, municipal and school governments. On the state level, Part A establishes a system to make the determination of compliance with the spending limitation system an accurate year-to-year comparison if the Legislature decides to fund a General Fund expenditure outside of the General Fund appropriation process. For counties, schools and municipalities, the existing approval procedures to exceed the current spending limitations would still be required, but, if the local government was proposing to exceed or increase the applicable limitation and the local government was the recipient of net new funding from the State, the approval would have to be accomplished by a referendum vote. For municipal and school governments, a 2/3 vote of the legislative body, such as the town meeting or school district meeting or city council, would avoid the need to obtain a referendum approval of the budget.

An Act To Improve the Essential Programs and Services Funding Formula - This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208.  This bill seeks to improve various aspects of the funding formula for local schools contained in the Essential Programs and Services Funding Act.

An Act To Improve Public Education in Maine - This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208.  This bill proposes to amend the education statutes to improve public education. The bill proposes to change:  1. The system of learning results, established in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 222, to improve elementary and secondary public education in the State by advancing educational equity, reinforcing accountability and promoting the assessment of student learning; 2. The Essential Programs and Services Funding Act, established in Title 20-A, chapter 606-B, to ensure the provision of adequate educational resources for all students to meet the standards in the 8 content standard subject areas of the system of learning results; and 3. The Child Development Services System, as defined in Title 20-A, section 7001, subsection 1-A, to ensure the provision of child find activities, early intervention services and free, appropriate public education services to eligible children as required by federal law and state statutes, including the provisions of Title 20-A, chapters 301 and 303.

An Act To Enhance the Prekindergarten Experience for Maine Children - This bill requires the Department of Education to develop standards for all prekindergarten early childhood care and preschool education programs developed by school administrative units. The standards are designed to ensure meaningful collaboration with existing community-based child care providers and early care and education providers and include an analysis of the effects of such programs on existing programs. The standards will also ensure uniformity of standards relating to class sizes, adult to child ratios, teacher and assistant teacher qualifications, curricula and instruction, student screening and assessment, nutrition and physical environment, access to outdoor play areas and family involvement and support services.

An Act To Care for Working Families - This bill requires an employer to pay each employee a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked by the employee. An employer is not required to provide to an employee paid sick leave in excess of 72 hours or 9 days annually. Paid sick leave may be used by an employee during an absence from employment due to the illness of the employee or the illness of an immediate family member.

An Act To Reduce Maine’s Tax Burden Over a 10-year Period - This bill puts in place a 10-year plan to reduce Maine’s tax burden by establishing a statewide tax burden reduction factor that would gradually lower taxes over time.  The bill also defines procedures necessary to override the tax burden reduction limits imposed in the 10-year plan.  The changes proposed by this bill are subject to approval by the voters at a referendum vote in November 2007.

An Act To Restore Equity to the Maine State Retirement System - The Maine State Retirement System currently contains two separate benefit structures based upon the status of participants on July 1, 1993.  This bill addresses one of the major benefit reductions imposed upon employees with less than 10 years of service on July 1, 1993 by reducing the penalty for retiring earlier than 62 years of age from 6% per year to 3% per year.

An Act To Provide Taxpayer Relief - This bill proposes to restrain the growth in state and local government by imposing expenditure limitations on state and local government and by requiring a procedure of voter approval of certain tax and fee increases.  Under this bill, growth in annual expenditures of the General Fund, the Highway Fund and Other Special Revenue Funds are limited according to increases in population and inflation. For the General Fund and Highway Fund budgets, revenues exceeding the expenditure limitation must be distributed by directing 20% of that excess to a budget stabilization fund and 80% of that excess to a tax relief fund. The budget stabilization funds may be used only in years when revenues are not sufficient to fund the level of expenditure permitted by the growth limits. The tax relief funds must be used to provide tax relief through refunds proportional to individual income tax personal exemptions claimed in the previous tax year or a decrease in motor fuels taxes. For state agencies that manage Other Special Revenue Funds, the managers of those funds must report excess surpluses to the Legislature with a plan for refund of those revenues.  State expenditure limits contained in this bill could be exceeded by a 2/3 vote of each House of the Legislature and approval by the voters. Local district expenditure limits could be exceeded by a majority vote of the voters of the local district.  Under this bill, an increase in state revenue would be possible only by a 2/3 vote of each House of the Legislature and the approval of the voters.

An Act To Improve Transparency and Accountability in Government - This bill amends the freedom of access laws in the following ways.  1. It creates a timeline that must be followed to comply with requests for public records.  2. It permits a person to request by telephone that a copy of a public record be mailed to that person.  3. It allows a copy of a requested public record to be mailed if the requester pays for the mailing service.  4. It establishes procedures for requests for inspection or copies of public records.

An Act Regarding the Application of Term Limits for the State Board of Education - This bill provides that if a person appointed to fill a vacancy on the State Board of Education serves more than 2 1/2 years of an unexpired term, that service counts as one term for purposes of the limitation on terms imposed on board members. It also clarifies that the limitation on terms imposed on members of the State Board of Education applies to terms served by current board members except that if a current board member’s service is in excess of that permitted by the limitation on terms, that member may finish the member’s term.

Resolve, Regarding Special Education Evaluations - This resolve directs the Department of Education to amend its rules governing special education to provide a deadline of 45 school days for the completion of an evaluation.

An Act To Improve the Compliance and Accountability of the Child Development Services System - This bill requires the Department of Education to submit quarterly reports to advisory groups about Child Development Services System regional sites that are under a corrective action plan and about regional sites for whose operations the Department of Education has assumed temporary responsibility, with the reports describing any progress or slippage by individual regional sites in meeting compliance requirements. Under this bill, the Maine Advisory Council for the Education of Children with Disabilities may continue to serve as both the state interagency coordinating council and the state advisory panel.

Resolve, To Establish a Statewide Protocol for the Early Detection and Treatment of Autism - This resolve requires the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education, working together and within existing resources, to develop and implement a uniform statewide protocol for the screening of all children between 18 and 30 months of age for signs of autism. The departments are further required to implement through rulemaking a program of intensive treatment for children who are diagnosed with autism through the Child Development Services System.

An Act To Allow Changes of Beneficiaries under the Maine Public Employees Retirement System - Current law allows a retiree to make a one-time change of the retiree’s previously designated beneficiary for retirement benefits without the permission of the beneficiary if the beneficiary is not the spouse or former spouse of the retiree. This bill would allow a retiree to change a previously designated beneficiary more than once.

An Act To Fully Fund School Breakfast from Kindergarten to Grade 12 - This bill requires public schools to provide all children who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Program with a meal that meets the requirements of the federal School Breakfast Program at no cost to the student and requires the State to provide the funding for the costs of the program that are not reimbursed by the Federal Government. This bill includes an allocation from the Fund for a Healthy Maine for the costs to the State in fiscal year 2008-09 and adds the school breakfast program to the health-related initiatives that are eligible to receive funds from the Fund for a Healthy Maine.

An Act To Provide Parents of Children with Disabilities Access to Ombudsman Services - This bill creates an ombudsman program to provide services to children and families in the State regarding special education programs and special education services and to provide support to students with disabilities and their parents, guardians and educators.

An Act To Equalize the Tax Burden for Education across Municipalities of the Lower Kennebec River Region Authorized To Form a Regional School Unit Pursuant to Private and Special Law 2007, Chapter 25 - This bill enacts a mechanism to equalize the tax burden for education across municipalities authorized to regionalize in the lower Kennebec River area pursuant to Private and Special Law 2007, chapter 25. The bill also authorizes limiting choice for students from municipalities that join the district after the initial date of consolidation.

An Act To Provide Support for At-risk Youth - This bill creates a program within the Juvenile Court to address punishment and proactive treatment of at-risk youth. Petitions for the program may be filed by a parent, a school official, the Department of Health and Human Services, a guardian ad litem or other legal advocate when a juvenile regularly runs away from home, exhibits extremely disruptive behavior or is habitually truant.

An Act To Protect Student Athletes - This bill is modeled after Texas legislation. It requires the development and adoption of an extracurricular activity safety training course by the Department of Education to be used in all public and certain private schools in Maine. It requires certain school personnel to take the safety training course, which includes training in the recognition of potentially catastrophic injuries, emergency response and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and requires the school to provide to students participating in extracurricular athletic activities training related to recognizing the symptoms of certain injuries and the risks of using dietary supplements to enhance athletic performance.

An Act To Improve the Elections Process under the Maine Labor Relations Board Laws - This bill amends the labor relations laws for municipal public employees, state employees, judicial employees, and employees of the University of Maine System, the Maine Maritime Academy and the Maine Community College System to:  (1) Require the Executive Director of the Maine Labor Relations Board to conduct a hearing in the event of a dispute over the appropriateness of the composition of the proposed bargaining unit. The hearing must be scheduled to occur within 15 days of the filing of the petition, with the goal of completing the election within 45 days; (2) Require an employer to recognize an employee organization that demonstrates majority support by the bargaining unit employees. Current law allows an employer to voluntarily recognize an employee organization or to ask for an election. Under this bill, unless the employer shows good cause to the board to believe that the majority support was obtained by fraud or duress, the employer must recognize the employee organization; and (3) Make final the review by the Maine Labor Relations Board of a decision of the executive director. Current law allows a party to appeal the board’s decision to the Superior Court. This bill removes that right and also removes the procedural specifications for how the board is to issue its decision.  The bill also standardizes the language of these labor relations laws, amending the laws to bring them into conformity with current drafting standards.

An Act Regarding Education Laws - Part A of this bill accomplishes the following.  It amends the school transportation statutes to clarify that public preschool students are included in the group of elementary students for whom school administrative units are required to provide transportation.  It makes several changes in the postsecondary educational institution statutes, including adding the certification of advanced studies to the list of degrees that may be conferred by postsecondary educational institutions, updating references to “junior college” to “community college,” adding the Maine Maritime Academy to the list of public institutions not included in the definition of “educational institution” and clarifying the postsecondary degree-granting approval process and the State Board of Education’s role in that process.  It specifically authorizes the State Board of Education to advise the Commissioner of Education and the Legislature on matters pertaining to education in elementary and secondary schools and post-secondary educational institutions.  It repeals the statutory provisions relating to the Maine State Commission for Higher Education Facilities, whose duties were assumed by the Maine Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority.  It clarifies that the school nurse consultant within the Department of Education is jointly supervised by the Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention within the Department of Health and Human Services and the Policy Director of Special Services within the Department of Education.  Part B of this bill eliminates the sunsets on the transition periods and makes the centralization of the fiscal, data and human resources of the Child Development Services System permanent to achieve a more efficient and effective Child Development Services System delivery and governance system.

An Act To Clarify the Laws Governing the Extension of Health Care Coverage to Dependents - Under current law, an insurer that provides coverage to a dependent child must offer to extend such coverage until the dependent is 25 years of age. This bill clarifies that it is not necessary that the dependent be currently insured by that insurer for that insurer to offer coverage until the dependent is 25 years of age. In addition, this bill amends the definition of “dependent child” to eliminate the requirement that the child is not provided coverage under any other individual or group health insurance policy or health maintenance organization contract or under a federal or state government program.  The bill also requires insurers to provide notice of the availability of coverage until the dependent is 25 years of age. Finally, this bill requires insurers to hold a special open enrollment period during which a covered individual may elect to enroll a dependent child.

An Act To Increase the State Subsidy for Adult Education within the Department of Education - This bill increases the state subsidy for adult education by 6% in fiscal year 2007-08 and by 6% in fiscal year 2008-09.  

An Act To Preserve Successful Historic Neighborhood Schools  - This bill allows the Public Utilities Commission and the State Board of Education to grant waivers from mandatory energy efficiency standards for building construction and renovation on a case-by-case basis for the renovation of historic school buildings. Under the bill, the Public Utilities Commission may grant a waiver from the mandatory energy standards for commercial construction to a local school authority that can demonstrate that a proposed renovation of a historic school building is in substantial compliance with the energy efficiency standards or that it provides substantial energy efficiency, education, social or environmental benefits over alternative proposals. The State Board of Education may grant a waiver from its school energy efficiency standards rules to a local school authority that has obtained a waiver from the mandatory energy standards for commercial construction from the Public Utilities Commission. The bill also directs the State Board of Education to amend its rules governing school energy efficiency standards to allow for such a waiver.

Resolve, To Expand Access to Foreign Language Instruction in Maine Schools - This bill allows teachers of modern and classical languages whose primary language is not English to retain certification while receiving support to pass the required Praxis test.  

Resolve, Requiring the State To Use Valid Risk and Preventive Factors for Youth Programs - This resolve requires the State, in its biannual survey of students, to use a survey of students in grades 6 to 12 that reliably and validly measures those risk and protective factors shown by research to predict adolescent health and behavior problems, including substance abuse and delinquency.

Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Portions of Chapter 115:  Certification, Authorization and Approval of Educational Personnel, Parts I and II, a Major Substantive Rule of the Department of Education and the State Board of Education - This resolve provides for legislative review of portions of Chapter 115: Certification, Authorization and Approval of Education Personnel, Parts I and II, a major substantive rule of the Department of Education and the State Board of Education. 

Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Portions of Chapter 64:  Maine School Facilities Program and School Revolving Renovation Fund, a Major Substantive Rule of the Department of Education - This resolve provides for legislative review of portions of Chapter 64: Maine School Facilities Program and School Revolving Renovation Fund, a major substantive rule of the Department of Education. 

Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Chapter 61:  State Board of Education Rules for Major Capital School Construction Projects, a Major Substantive Rule of the Department of Education and the State Board of Education -  This resolve provides for legislative review of portions of Chapter 61: State Board of Education Rules for Major Capital School Construction Projects, a major substantive rule of the Department of Education and the State Board of Education. 

An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Legislative Youth Advisory Council with Respect to Educational and Organizational Matters - This bill allows the Legislative Youth Advisory Council to meet more than 6 times per year if those additional meetings are funded by outside funding sources approved by the Legislative Council and extends the biennial reporting date of the Legislative Youth Advisory Council from December 1st in each odd-numbered year to the first business day in February in each even-numbered year.  The bill also amends the law governing the duties of school boards to allow, but not require, a school board to include a cocurricular honor contract as part of its districtwide code of conduct. The bill also directs the Commissioner of Education to adopt major substantive rules governing the minimum standards for cocurricular honor contracts if a school board chooses to include a cocurricular honor contract as part of the district’s code of conduct.

Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Portions of Chapter 101:  Maine Unified Special Education Regulation, a Major Substantive Rule of the Department of Education - This resolve provides for legislative review of portions of Chapter 101: Maine Unified Special Education Regulation, a major substantive rule of the Department of Education.  

An Act To Clarify Retirement Programs for Participating Local Districts - This bill makes consistent the standards for optional retirement system membership for employees of participating local districts that also have Social Security or another Internal Revenue Service-qualified plan. It eliminates the once per year option for a local district to join the Maine system. These changes are proposed in anticipation of school district consolidation and other local and regional consolidation efforts and to promote choice of retirement plans for employers and employees. 

An Act To Protect Children from Lead Poisoning - This bill expands the lead poisoning assessment and blood level testing program to require annual testing of children under 6 years of age and eliminates the exception that provides discretion to the provider of primary health care. It retains the exception for a parent or guardian who objects on the grounds of sincerely held religious or philosophical beliefs. It requires evidence of blood lead level screening for enrollment in public school in this State. It requires a school superintendent to keep records of blood lead level assessment status and to report to the Commissioner of Education and the Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention within the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the blood lead level assessment status of children entering school.  

An Act Regarding Curriculum Requirements and Standards for Awarding a High School Diploma - This bill amends standards for student assessment; basic school approval; the elementary, middle and secondary courses of study; the comprehensive program of study for the high school diploma; and the Department of Education diploma in order to more fully implement Maine’s system of learning results.

Resolve, To Ensure Support for a Model of Consolidated and Integrated Secondary and Postsecondary Education - This resolve directs the Department of Education to recommend to the State Board of Education an innovative model of consolidated and integrated secondary and postsecondary education that includes facilities for:  (1) A regional high school; (2) A fully integrated career and technical high school; (3) A higher education center that will provide courses and degrees from both the University of Maine System and the Maine Community College System; and (4) Centers of excellence that will provide industry-specific training.  It directs the State Board of Education to select a model by October 1, 2008 and directs the Department of Education to ensure that construction funding for the comprehensive high school and career and technical high school portions of the model is included in the next full round of new school construction funding.

An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee Concerning Training for Elected Officials - This bill amends the law regarding training requirements for elected officials, as enacted by Public Law 2007, chapter 349.  This bill maintains the minimum content requirements for the training programs but provides that an elected official who completes a training program that contains all the information contained under the Frequently Asked Questions heading on the State’s Freedom of Access law website meets the minimum requirements. Current law directs the Right To Know Advisory Committee to approve the training programs. This bill eliminates that role.  Current law requires an elected official to send notice of the completion of the required training to the advisory committee. This bill requires the elected official to make a record of the completion of the training and either keep it or file it with the public entity to which that official was elected. The record of completion is a public record. The advisory committee is directed to recommend to the Legislature a process for collecting the completion data and making it available to the public.  This bill addresses the application of the mandatory training requirement to elected officials. Current law applies beginning July 1, 2008. This bill revises the application to Legislators to begin for Legislators elected after November 1, 2008. This avoids training in July 2008 those Legislators who will not be reelected the following November. This bill also specifically spells out the elected officials who are subject to the training and provides a general description of those who, as part of the duties of their offices, exercise executive or legislative powers as elected officials of regional or other political subdivisions.  

An Act Concerning Public Records Exceptions - This bill implements the recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee regarding statutory changes to existing public records exceptions.  Under current law, personal contact information concerning public employees is not a public record. This bill clarifies that the exception also applies to personal contact information of voluntary appointees serving in State Government positions without compensation by cross-referencing the definition of “employee” in the Maine Tort Claims Act. The bill also addresses a potential conflict with this exception and the law governing state employee personnel records to clarify that personal contact information of state employees and applicants for state employment is not a public record.  The bill clarifies the law governing the confidentiality of reports, records and working papers of the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability. The bill clarifies that final program evaluation reports are public records and subject to disclosure. With regard to other records and working papers, the bill provides that those working papers and records that support reports or are related to any program evaluation are confidential and may not be disclosed except at the discretion of the Director of the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability in certain circumstances. Prior to the release of a program evaluation report, the bill gives the director discretion to disclose working papers to the agency subject to the evaluation when disclosure will not prejudice the program evaluation and the agency agrees to keep the working papers confidential. After the release of a program evaluation report, the bill gives the director discretion to disclose working papers as necessary and as long as the working papers remain confidential to the state agency subject to the program evaluation or any federal agency providing funding to that agency, to law enforcement agencies for the purposes of criminal investigation, to other state audit agencies and to other auditors reviewing the work of the office.  The bill narrows the current exception providing confidentiality to complaint and investigative files maintained by the State Court Administrator to only those complaints and investigations that are related to court and judicial security.  The bill repeals the exception making confidential any investigations by the Attorney General of the unauthorized practice of law. Title 16, section 614 addresses when investigative records or information held by the Attorney General for any type of investigation may be disclosed to the public. The bill repeals Title 4, section 809, dealing with investigations by the Attorney General, since it is not necessary.  The bill amends the provisions concerning confidential information within state employee personnel records to make the provisions consistent with the Title 1 language designating personal contact information of employees as not public records.  The bill narrows the exception in current law that designates the records and proceedings of technology centers as not public for the purposes of the freedom of access laws. The bill provides that the records and proceedings are public except for certain records designated as confidential, including records that are confidential by other provisions of law, financial statements, credit reports, tax returns and records that contain proprietary information or trade secrets. The approach taken in the bill is modeled on a similar exception in current law for records of the Maine Technology Institute.  The bill requires that the Maine Dairy Promotion Board and the Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council take a publicly recorded vote supported by a majority of the members before closing meetings or records to the public as allowed under current law when public disclosure of the subject matter would adversely affect the competitive position of the milk industry of the State or segments of that industry.  The bill directs the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary to review the recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee about specific statutory provisions and make recommendations about whether the public record exceptions contained in those provisions should be maintained, modified, repealed or clarified. These provisions were identified in the second annual report of the Right To Know Advisory Committee as raising issues for which more information should be provided by interested parties before final recommendations can be made.

An Act To Reduce the Percentage of the Cost of Local Schools Paid by the State from 55% to 49% - This bill reduces from 55% to 49% the level of the state share of the total cost of funding public education from kindergarten to grade 12.  The bill directs that the amount of savings resulting from this reduction be used to provide funding for the State’s foster care program, long-term care services and home-based care services and the Maine Community College System. 

An Act To Clarify and Improve the Laws Governing the Formation of Regional School Units - This bill is introduced by the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs pursuant to Public Law 2007, chapter 240, Part XXXX, section 47. The bill makes the following changes to clarify and improve the laws governing the formation of regional school units.  (1)  It provides that a kindergarten-to-grade-12 school administrative district that is reformulated as a regional school unit without dissolving the school administrative district may continue to use the same name and operate as the same legal entity; and it amends the definition of “school administrative unit” to clarify that community school districts and kindergarten-to-grade-8 school administrative districts that do not join a regional school unit may remain in operation after July 1, 2009. The current law reformulates all kindergarten-to-grade-12 school administrative districts as regional school units by July 1, 2009 but is silent on the ability of community school districts and kindergarten-to-grade-8 school administrative districts to remain operational after that date.  (2)   It changes the deadline by which a referendum must be held to January 30, 2009 and changes dates that are linked to the referendum date by the same amount of time. The current law governing the reorganization of school administrative units requires that a referendum must be held on a proposed reorganization on or before November 4, 2008.  (3)  It provides consistent language across the allocated and unallocated provisions in the law to clarify the budget referendum ballot question to be placed before the voters at a budget validation referendum vote.  (4)  It clarifies and amends the budget approval and validation process provisions to:

A. Increase the number of days from the legislative body meeting to the referendum validation from 10 days to 14 days;

B. Provide that absentee ballots may not be distributed until the day after the regional school unit budget meeting;

C. In the event that a regional school unit budget has not been approved and validated prior to the start of the fiscal year, authorize municipalities to levy taxes based on the most recent school budget approved at the regional school unit budget meeting until a budget is validated by voters; and

D. Eliminate the need for 2 separate ballot questions for the budget validation referendum vote and combine information on 2 votes into one document provided with the warrant for the referendum vote.

(5)  It clarifies the debt liability of the school administrative units that are members of a career and technical education region, including the disposition of debt incurred for a school construction or renovation project at a career and technical education region by the school administrative units that are members of the career and technical education region.  (6)  It clarifies the financial responsibility for the preservation of school choice in a new regional school unit when a member municipality continues to provide tuition for students to attend a school outside of the new regional school unit. The provision provides that the member municipality is responsible for providing appropriations for any additional expense above the sending regional school unit tuition rate for students who are educated outside of the regional school unit.  (7)  It clarifies the rights and obligations of regional school units concerning the reassignment of teachers and other employees of the regional school unit in the transitional period from the operational date of the regional school unit until the completion of negotiations for a regional school unit-wide collective bargaining agreement.  (8)   It replaces the so-called “53-86% penalty” for any school administrative unit that fails to approve a reorganization plan on or before January 30, 2009 and to implement that plan by July 1, 2009 with a penalty that provides that the school administrative unit’s full-value education mill rate pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 15671-A is increased by 2% for the purpose of calculating the school administrative unit’s required contribution to meet the local share of education costs established pursuant to Title 20-A, section 15688, subsection 3-A.  (9)   It directs the Department of Education to conduct a review of the results of referenda votes on proposed reorganization plans and the status of the reorganization of school administrative units as regional school units consistent with the July 1, 2009 implementation timeline. It also directs the department to develop recommendations related to the circumstances and criteria under which the Commissioner of Education could grant a waiver to a school administrative unit that has not complied with the implementation timelines, including any necessary flexibility that would provide the commissioner with the authority to adjust the timelines for complying with the law, to waive penalties or to approve an alternative plan submitted by a reorganization planning committee. It further directs the department to clarify what happens if voters of an individual school administrative unit fail to approve a reorganization plan that results in the school administrative unit’s not meeting the implementation timeline for reorganization. 

An Act To amend the Laws Governing the Reorganization of School Administrative Units - This bill is introduced by the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs pursuant to Public Law 2007, chapter 240, Part XXXX, section 47. The bill makes the following changes to the laws governing the formation of regional school units.  (1)  It provides an exemption for those regional school units in which the regional school unit board has approved a budget that proposes to spend less than 5% above the level of funding outlined in the essential programs and services funding model from the budget validation referendum process until the regional school unit board proposes a budget that meets or exceeds that funding level.  (2)  It provides an exemption for municipal school units from the budget validation referendum vote in cases in which the municipal charter defines roles and a process for developing and approving the school budget.  (3)  It provides an exemption for those municipal school units in which the school committee has approved a budget that proposes to spend less than 5% above the level of funding outlined in the essential programs and services funding model from the budget validation referendum process until the school committee proposes a budget that meets or exceeds that funding level. 

An Act To Make Technical Corrections in the Laws Regarding Funding Adult Education Programs and the Closure of an Elementary School in a School District - This bill is introduced by the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs pursuant to Public Law 2007, chapter 240, Part XXXX, section 47. The bill makes the following changes to correct inconsistencies in the laws governing the reorganization of school administrative units.  (1) It corrects inconsistencies in the laws pertaining to the authority of school administrative units to raise and appropriate funds for adult education programs. (2)  It replaces provisions that were repealed pursuant to Public Law 2007, chapter 240, Part XXXX that are related to the closure of an elementary school within a school administrative district or a community school district and establishes that these provisions are retroactive to June 7, 2007.  

An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Alternative Education Programs Committee - This bill is the unanimous report of the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs. It adds definitions for “alternative education program,” “alternative learning” and “at-risk student” to the definitions section in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A. It amends sections of statute to consistently use defined terms. It also establishes the Commission to Study Alternative Education Programs with directives to continue the work of the committee established in Resolve 2007, chapter 124.

An Act To Validate Certain Proceedings Authorizing the Issuance of Bonds and Notes by Maine School Administrative District No. 29 - This bill validates and authorizes the renovation project of Houlton High School in Maine School Administrative District No. 29 that votes approved in a referendum.  The Town of Hammond within the school district failed to get the warrant for referendum countersigned by the selectmen as required by statute, which affects the bonds or notes to be issued in connection with the project.