The Second Regular Session of the 131st Legislature reconvenes in January 2024. Between now and then, our citizen legislature is focused on constituent work and committee meetings. Since our break in July, legislators have had committee meetings on a number of important topics.
These include:
- Government Oversight Committee review of Maine’s Child protection laws and department oversight.
- Consideration of legislation to enhance online privacy protections.
- A Maine Department of Environmental Protection update to lawmakers on efforts to create rules around Maine’s first-in-nation poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reporting law.
- An Education Department report on Maine’s School Funding Formula.
The Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business Committee, the committee I get to serve on, heard a few reports from different agencies including the Maine University System and the State Auditor. The University’s Maine Economic Development Administration made a great presentation of a website that can show incredible data about workforce and population in the state, divided by county. This can help pinpoint areas that need specific types of workers, time frames needed to fill positions, etc. This type of tool can help businesses with finding the right resources they need and where might be the best location to start a business.
Those are just a few of the topics that legislators have considered in advance of the Second Regular Session which begins in January. That session will take up several hundred bills that were held-over from last session. Fewer new bills will be considered since the second session is limited, by statute, to consideration of “emergency” bills. From what I’ve heard from members of past legislatures, that can be a subjective criteria that depends on who is in charge of the legislature.
Thank you for the opportunity to represent you in the Maine House. Please feel free to contact me at Caleb.Ness@legislature.maine.gov or call 207 287-1440 if I can be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Rep. Caleb Ness (R-Fryeburg)