A message from the Hancock Country Democrats (1/31):
Tuesday brings a bill that imposes an additional fine on certain convicted sex offenders, in order to boost a pool of funding for victims. It seems like a pittance considering the damage.
Wednesday we see a bill to create a statewide health info exchange. The obvious question is, what, if any, are the built-in safeguards to prevent exploitation of the information (by scammers, marketers, insurance companies, certain branches of the federal government, and others). One of the goals is to “meet the State’s matching fund requirements to obtain federal funding”. Pardon me, but… what are the federal strings attached? The bill’s writeup doesn’t say. This may be a good thing from a medical care standpoint, we just want to be sure there are safeguards.
Also on Wednesday is a small allocation of funds for helping trafficking victims, to replace loss of federal funds. Amazing how ICE can get Congress to fund their depredations, while states have to scrape the barrel to help trafficking victims.
Thursday we learn that harvesting seaweed requires a license, and the license holders should be required to take a course sanctioned or created by the Dept. of Marine Resources. Seems like a good idea to protect the resource: hopefully the fee for small-scale harvesters is affordable. Also on Thursday, a bill that looks like a comprehensive regulation of aquaculture nursery operations. Could be important for our coastal communities, seems to increase flexibility?
Also on Thursday: a bill to keep communicable diseases out of schools and provide support for life-threatening allergies, and another bill to give grants to public preschools so they can provide kids with nutritious breakfast, lunch, and a snack. Let’s see where the “compassionate conservatives” land on these bills.
And finally Thursday brings a concept draft to life. The current title of LD 307 is “Resolve, to Establish the Maine Artificial Intelligence Data Center Coordination Council”. The Council would be under the Department of Energy Resources, with a charge “to provide strategic input, facilitate coordinated state planning considerations and evaluate policy tools to address artificial intelligence data center opportunities and related benefits and risks to the State.” This is none too soon. See for example https://grist.org/energy/data-centers-are-facing-an-image-problem-the-tech-industry-is-spending-millions-to-rebrand-them/
- Check complete bill listing here: https://legislature.maine.gov/Calendar/#PHWS. Set the date range in the upper left corner. This listing also shows work sessions if you want to weigh in on any of those.
- Find the text of any bill here: https://legislature.maine.gov Or click through on the calendar, on the bill number, which is a link. Then read the pdf or the word version (link in upper left area). Form your own opinions!
- Instructions for testifying are here: https://www.mainelegislature.org/testimony/
