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About this module
In this module, you will learn the basics of how a bill becomes law in Maine. We'll talk about who can write legislation, how committees work, the Governor's role, the People's Veto, and more.
The goals and lessons for this episode are detailed below. Click on a box to expand and learn more about each section.
Featuring
Will Hayward
Advocacy Coordinator for Democracy Maine
Will comes from a background of working in advocacy on a variety of issues including juvenile justice reform, worker’s rights, and foreign policy. He advocates for encouraging civic engagement and strengthening democracy in Maine
John Brautigam
Senior Advisor & Counsel for Democracy Maine
John is an attorney and consultant with over 25 years of experience in campaign finance and election law, public policy, advocacy, and legal representation. He is a former Maine State Representative (2004 - 2008) and House Chairman of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee.
Bob Howe
Retired Lobbyist
Bob served the Maine Legislature for two terms, worked for several consulting firms, and would later form Howe, Cahill & Company, the state’s largest firm specializing in governmental relations and association management. Bob has since retired after a long career in Augusta.
What does the Legislature look like — how many senators are there? How many representatives? What are legislative sessions and how long are they? We'll answer these questions and more.
Who can write legislation? Who can submit ideas for a bill? The short answer is that anyone can put forth an idea for a bill, but only a legislator can submit the bill to the registrar. Let's talk about it.
Key Links
Bills Before the Legislature: View every single bill that's before the current Legislature.
Legislature Bill Search: A basic search tool where you can check the status of a bill.
Advanced Bill Search: An expanded tool where you can search using more parameters.Bill Text Search: A search tool to look for bill text and other documents.
After the bill language has been finalized and submitted, the Senate Secretary and House Clerk refer the bills to the appropriate committee. There are 18 committees, and they cover important topics like energy, environment, housing, labor, and so on. Most of our bills, if not all of them, appear before the State and Local Government (SLG) and Veterans and Legal Affairs (VLA) committees.
Committees receive the bills, then set up dates for public hearings. This is the time for everyone to offer their opinion on the legislation through testimony. It's an important step in the process. Anyone can testify as: supporting, against, or neither for nor against.
After the public hearing, the committees hold work sessions. Usually the public is able to attend. Committee members discuss the legislation and decide if they want to advance it to the chambers or kill it on the spot. In our world, we're always excited when a bill makes it out of committee.
Key Links
Bill Status Search: If you know the LD number for a bill, you can plug it into the search box and check its current status.
Once a bill passes out of committee, it goes to the Maine House. Legislators read over the bill a few times before taking a vote. The bill could be passed along to the Senate or die.
On to the Senate: We're getting close. If the Senate agrees with the House, then it's close to a done deal. The Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate sign off on the enacted bill.
Key Links
Bill Status Search: If you know the LD number for a bill, you can plug it into the search box and check its current status.
Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: If the bill makes it out of both chambers, it goes to the Governor's desk. The Governor can sign off on it, veto it, or not sign at all (which means the bill becomes law anyways after 10 days.)
All bills and resolves (legislation concerning a temporary matter) become effective 90 days after the adjournment of the Legislature, unless another date is specified. But nothing is instantaneous. Let's use the example of Automatic Voter Registration (AVR), which now allows Mainers to register to vote when they visit a BMV. The AVR bill was passed into law in 2019, but it takes time, planning, and funding to get the ball rolling. We want things to run smoothly, right? That's why we didn't see AVR become officially official until the summer of 2022.
Key Links
Bill Status Search: If you know the LD number for a bill, you can plug it into the search box and check its current status.
Governor's Newsroom: The office of the governor will often release statements on bills that have been recently signed into law.
Further Reading
Here are additional links that may be useful to you as you learn how the Legislature works in Maine:Path of Legislation in Maine, Simplified: The Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate have written up a simplified explanation of how a bill becomes law. Click here to read.
Path of Legislation in Maine, Detailed: Here's the same explainer produced by the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate, but with more details and longer explanations. Click here to read.
How An Idea Becomes Law: This animated video, narrated by former Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, explains the process of lawmaking in Maine, using the 2016 State crustacean bill as an example. Is it silly? You bet. Click here to watch.
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