Ambulance cameras, state bank, public notice rules, voting by mail, bagging turkeys

Sen. Dave Miramant returns to Augusta with long list of proposed bills

Lynda Clancy
Fri, 01/25/2019 - 2:00pm
Senator Dave Miramant (File photo)

    CAMDEN — Senator Dave Miramant, D-Camden, represents all of Knox County in Augusta after being reelected for a second term, and he has returned to the capitol ready for business. In fact, two bills with his name on them — An Act To Promote Youth Participation in the Maine Lobster Fishery (co-sponsoring, with Rep. McDonald, D-Stonington) and An Act To Require Cameras in Ambulances When a Patient Is Being Transported (presented and cosponsored by Miramant) are up for their public hearings in legislative committees during the first week of February. 

    As of mid-January, Miramant was primed for action in the 129th session of the Maine Legislature. Speaking frankly about each of the bills for which he is responsible, and whose origins come from a wide number of constituents, he says he firmly supports at least a public conversation in Augusta about each of them.

    While a few of them link to each other, or have been duplicated by other representatives or senators, the majority of the Miramant bills represent the concerns of Knox County, or individual and business concerns located in the county.

    “I won't put any in that aren’t important, or frivolous,” he said, going over each of the presented bills in a Jan. 15 conversation.

    Miramant has likely submitted the most number of bills this session, rivaled only by Senator Troy Jackson, D-Aroostook, and Rep. Sarah Gideon, D-Freeport. He is also familiar with all of them, and has even pulled more from his back pocket, just before the bill submission deadline closed last week.

    The bills have been presented but that does not ensure that every one will be considered as submitted, as the committees combine and whittle, and review them all.

    Click here for the entire list of proposed legislation for the first regular session of the 129th Legislature.

    What follows is a run down of his proposed legislation, with a brief explanation, courtesy of Miramant, of their intent and origin.

     

    LR 190, An Act To Fund Medicaid Expansion
    This bill is now moot, given that the state’s new governor, Janet Mills, has initiated the measure.

    LR 191, An Act To Establish and Coordinate a Volunteer Corps of Search and Rescue Specialists within the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
    Camden resident and Select Board member Marc Ratner, a former search and rescue volunteer in California, suggested Miramant introduce this bill, which moves the state agency’s seemingly parochial purview of search and rescue operations and establishes training of search and rescue volunteers and incorporates them into the response system.

    LR 192, An Act To Require Cameras in Ambulances When a Patient Is Being Transported
    This legislation is now L.D. 159, An Act To Require Cameras in Ambulances When a Patient Is Being Transported, and is presented by Miramant. It is also cosponsored by Rep. Ann Beebe-Center, D-Rockland; Senator Ben Chipman, D-Cumberland; Senator Geoffrey Gratwick, D-Bangor; Senator James Dill, D-Old Town; Representative Donna Door, D-Augusta; Representative Vicki Doudera, D-Camden; and Representative Deane Rykerson, D-Kittery.


    This bill requires that, whenever an ambulance transports a patient from the scene of an emergency or from a hospital or other health care facility to another place, the ambulance must be equipped with video recording equipment that is in operation for the duration of the transport and that is producing a clear video record of the care provided to the patient. In accordance with applicable federal and state law, the video records are to be maintained as confidential by the ambulance service operator and, if applicable, by the Emergency Medical Services' Board and the Department of Public Safety.

    The bill originated with a Rockland constituent whose friend, a prisoner who died en route to the hospital. Questions arose about the care received. A camera, said Miramant, “is a way to answer all these questions and not have second guessing.”

    The hearing on this bill will be Feb. 6, 10 a.m., in Room 436 at the State House, convened by the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety.

    L.R. 199, An Act To Improve Efficiencies in the Cosmetology Licensing
    A few constituents called Miramant describing how they went to cosmetology school in other states, spent the hours in training but did not finish. When they arrived in Maine, the state would not accept the prior training. The bill would require Maine to accept them, with proper documentation.

    LR 275, An Act To Allow Voting by Mail
    Other states, including Oregon, do this, said Miramant. It increases the number of citizens voting. The bill would establish a committee to analyze Oregon’s practice and report back to the Legislature. This is a bill that Miramant produced.

    LR 276, An Act To Require Background Checks for All Private Firearm Sales or Transfers An Act To Eliminate Certain Motor Vehicle Inspections in the State
    This legislation was put through previously, passed by the Senate, and vetoed by the former governor. The legislation has been changed, Miramant said, and includes provisions for a mark on one’s license if prohibited from owning a gun.  The revised proposed legislation removes the liability of the gun dealer, said Miramant. Wording has been changed in the bill and is in progress, he said.

    LR 277, An Act To Require Motor Vehicle Inspections Every 5 Years An Act To Restore State-Municipal Revenue Sharing
    This bill eliminates vehicle inspection for the noncommercial cars and trucks on the roads. “The Transportation Committee needs to listen to logic,” said Miramant. Sixteen states have inspection requirements and they are not making the roads any safer, he said. 

    Miramant cited the citizen who takes a car for the annual required inspection, attempts to get a sticker and is told that the car needs $1,200 work of work, when it is not necessary. The bill combats “unscrupulous inspector stealing,” said Miramant. 

    However, commercial vehicles and municipal trucks, including fire trucks, would not fall under the exclusion of sticker requirements, he said.

    L.R. 279: An Act To Restore State-Municipal Revenue Sharing
    State revenue sharing with municipalities decreased from 5 to 2 percent in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Miramant wants it restored back to 5 percent.

    L.R. 280: An Act To Require the State To Meet the Mandatory 55 Percent Contribution to Schools
    This issue has been before the Maine public for many years. Miramant wants to see it happen.

    LR 281: An Act To Allow Regional Service Center Municipalities To Assess an Additional One Percent Sales Tax for Infrastructure Costs
    Rockland is a regional service center in Knox County. Miramant wants the discussion to at least be had, and looks forward to a hearing. He said he may not lobby for it, but “it is good to talk about, and a good conversation for the taxation committee.”

    LR 282: An Act To Ensure Transparency in College Costs
    This bill tackles the hidden fees that are tucked into student packages when college applications are made, accepted, and students are presented funding packages that do not specifically include hidden fees, characterized by Miramant as, “a fee for walking on the sidewalk.” This “bait and switch” is a fraud, he said.

    LR 379: An Act To Match the State's Definition of "Industrial Hemp" to the Definition in Federal Law
    LR 380: An Act To Amend the State's Hemp Laws
    Both of these hemp bills adding more structure to Maine’s laws governing hemp production so that they better align with the federal laws included with the recent federal farm act. The impetus behind these bills follows conversations brought to Miramant by hemp growers and lobbyists.

    LR 525: An Act To Amend the Laws Governing the Issuance of Bonds
    This bill removes bond enactments from the hands of the governor, requiring issuance of a general obligation bond that has been ratified by the legal voters of the State.

    LR 526: An Act To Allow the Expansion of the Types of Newspapers That Qualify as Public Notice Publishers
    ”Times have changed,” said Miramant, referencing the push by alternative newspapers that want a share of the revenue generated by mandatory public notice advertising.

    In this effort, Miramant said he had been approached by the Rockland-based Free Press employees advocating for a change in the rules.

    The Maine statute now states: “To be qualified as a medium for the publication of legal notices, legal advertising and other matter required by law to be published in a newspaper, a newspaper, unless otherwise ordered by the court in the proceedings, must be printed in the English language; must be entered as 2nd class postal matter in the United States mails; and must have general circulation in the vicinity where the notice is required to be published. Any legal notice, legal advertising or other matter required by law to be published in a newspaper must appear in all editions of that newspaper and must appear on any publicly accessible website that the newspaper maintains in accordance with the requirements of section 603.”

    LR 527: An Act To Allow Courts To Prevent Certain High-risk Individuals from Possessing Firearms
    This bill is a Miramant initiative and he calls it a “red flag” bill, meaning it raises the bar on identifying individuals who should not be carrying guns. There are at least four other bills similar is scope, said Miramant, and his may be rolled into any of the others, with him as a cosponsor.

    LR 528: An Act To Allow the Sale of Ethanol-free Gasoline Statewide
    There are but a few counties in which ethanol-free gas cannot be sold, including Knox County. Miramant wants to change that. Rubber gaskets are especially susceptible to deteriorating caused by gas made with corn and soybeans, he said.

    LR 529: An Act To Replace the Medical Review Board of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System with an Independent Board
    The current board governing which public employees and their access to care through the retirement system is shortsighted, Miramant said. He wants to replace it will a bigger, nonprejudicial board (especially to medical marijuana care), citing employees who were covered under the public employee retirement system, became disabled, but wanted to keep their jobs. The bill was suggested to him by constituents and attorneys, he said.

    LR 530: An Act To Address Wage and Benefit Issues for Adjunct Teachers
    A number of professors in the University of Maine system are treated as part time employees and not being allowed access to benefits. Miramant wants this bill to be heard before the Education Committee and to illuminate current practices, and to make the system “more equitable and accountable,” he said. Miramant is responsible for the bill, he said.

    LR 531: An Act To Prohibit Law Enforcement Officers from Requiring Persons in Their Custody To Provide Sexual Favors
    While this bill is not his title, Miramant said current law is stricter governing prison guard behavior than it is for police officers. The bill is to expand the language and include law enforcement officers, in addition to the prison guards. The bill originated from conversations with constituents, he said.

    LR 532: An Act To Ban Child Marriage
    In Maine, if a parent agrees, a child can marry at about age 14, said Miramant. He wants to ensure that there are: “no incidents. We rob our kids of their childhood enough.”

    LR 533: An Act To Provide Equity in the State Income Tax Deduction for Maine Public Employees Retirement System Pensions
    This is a perennial bill, said Miramant. The bill’s summary from the 128th session reads: “This amendment, which is the majority report, provides that the maximum income tax deduction for a retired individual receiving retirement benefits under a retirement plan based on employment compensation for which contributions are not made to the federal social security system is equal to the maximum annual social security benefit that may be received by a person retiring at 66 years of age in January of the applicable year.”

    LR 534: An Act To Exempt Feminine Hygiene Products from Sales Tax
    ”Men need to be stepping up to eliminate inequality where it festers,” said Miramant. “Throw misogyny out.”

    LR 535: An Act To Eliminate the Cap on Solar Energy Generation Farms
    There are three bills on this topic; Miramant’s being one of them. “Why have a limit at all,” he asks.

    LR 536: An Act To Require Transmission and Distribution Utilities To Purchase Electricity from Renewable Resources at Certain Prices
    There is a flaw in this bill, said Miramant, and is getting rewritten.

    LR 583: An Act To Establish the Right To Practice Complementary and Alternative Health Care Act
    This bill concerns rules governing who gets medical licenses in Maine and who is prohibited. The bill would expand practitioner rights.

    LR 602: An Act To Change the Bag Limits on Wild Turkey
    Miramant said constituents are concerned about all the turkeys roaming throughout the state, “running into cars,” and want to increase the killing of wild turkeys so that someone can shoot four a day instead of two. Miramant said the turkey population is a problem in Knox County.

    LR 610: An Act To Require Maine To Adopt a State Equal Rights Act
    Miramant is a cosponsor of this proposed legislation. “I’ll be glad to speak to when it comes to the floor,” he said.

    LR 611 An Act To Adopt a National Popular Vote
    Hillary Clinton was elected by a margin of three million, said Miramant. He wants to do away with the Electoral College, a vestige of dealmaking “we made with the slave states,” he said. A number of states have already passed legislation to eliminate the electoral college. Miramant wants the popular vote, so that, “your vote counts how it was supposed to count.”

    LR 874: An Act To Establish an Appeal Process for Adverse Decisions of a Department
    This bill is gone, said Miramant.

    LR 875: An Act To Ensure That the Legislature Has the Information Necessary To Do the Work of the People of Maine
    This bill, cosponsored with several others, was introduced as a method of working with the LePage Administration and getting information in the hands of legislators.

    RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution To Establish Ranked-choice Voting
    This resolution is proposed by Miramant and is to expand the ranked choice voting on the ballot

    LR 942: An Act To Ensure Pay Transparency and Reduce Gender and Racial Inequities
    A group asked Miramant to put this bill in to require companies over a certain size to report compensation data.

    LR 1385: An Act Regarding a Transmission and Distribution Utility's Use of the Right of Eminent Domain To Locate Its Transmission Lines
    This is to stop the proposed Central Maine Power proposed electric utility corridor, which Miramant says is not benefit to the State of Maine.

    LR 1396 An Act To Create a Commission To Establish a State Bank
    North Dakota has a state bank, said Miramant. Why not Maine? A state bank would “work with communities and other banks, he said. The idea is based on that proposed several years ago by Randall Parr.

    In 2014, when he was running for office, Parr told Penbaypilot.com:  “A public state-owned bank can provide major advantages to the state economy. I believe we should reorganize government and transform the Maine Municipal Bond Bank and the Finance Authority of Maine into a full state-owned bank based on North Dakota's model.”

    LR 1497: An Act To Clarify the Definition of "Ancient Burying Ground"
    LR 1498: An Act Regarding Caretakers of Ancient Burying Grounds and Access to Ancient Burying Grounds
    LR 1499: An Act Regarding the Law Governing the Disclosure of Vital Records
    These three bills come courtesy of Rockport resident and genealogist Helen Shaw. The intent is to loosen state rules for historians and researchers “to keep our history alive,” said Miramant.

    LR 1559: An Act To Protect Residents of Assisted Living Facilities
    Miramant said he had been approached by a CNA employee of an assisted living facility who also happened to be a first responder and trained in first aid. That first responder said she was barred from using her skills (CPR and AED) given current restrictive rules.

    LR 1586: An Act To Provide School Districts with Full State Funding for Students with High-cost Special Education Needs
    LR 1587: An Act To Improve Consistency in Funding for Maine's Public School Students 
    Both of these bills were brought by the Maine Association of Charter Schools, said Miramant. He wants these bills to go to the Education Committee for discussion.

    LR 1592: An Act Regarding the Duties of the Public Advocate
    This bill would allow the state’s public advocate to weigh in on cases before the Public Utilities Commission.

    LR 1604: An Act To Facilitate Remote Learning during School Cancellations
    When School Administrative District 28 (Camden-Rockport K-8) wanted to implement a plan for requisite studies at home on snow days, the superintendent was informed by the Dept. of Education that it was not allowed. This bill would make sure a district has more latitude in school cancellation program planning and not be obliged to gain approval of the Maine DOE. 

    LR 1747: An Act To Amend Legislative Expense Reimbursement
    Legislators are not getting reimbursed enough to cover hotel and mileage costs. Currently, they are reimbursed $38 per night for hotels while sessions continue late in Augusta, and 55 cents per miles. It’s not enough, he said. Because there is a statute governing these expenditures, any proposed changes must go before the Legislature.

    LR 1753: An Act To Address the Shortage of Maine Snowplow Drivers
    The Maine Dept. of Transportation reports a shortage of 800 snowplow drivers across the state. The shortage is partly because they are not being compensated enough. Miramant wants to raise their pay.

    LR 1775: An Act To Create Fairness in the Redemption of Beverage Containers
    This bill comes courtesy of a St. George constituent who questioned the fairness of not being able to return bottles to a store where they purchased the beverage.

    LR 2170: An Act To Allow Medical and Adult Use Marijuana Stores To Share a Common Space
    LR 2171: An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Cannabis
    Both of these bills were put before Miramant by marijuana groups to get cannibas laws in place.

    One last one, no number, no name, yet
    Miramant said he had one more bill on the coffer, to allow vehicle trailers to be sold without the purchaser being subject to a sales tax, if delivered outside of Maine.

    Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657

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