Hello MYAN Members,

Letting your state officials know how bills will affect you and your community is super important--if you don't tell them, how will they know? The state legislature is currently in the regular session of the 126th Maine legislature. Here are some bills we think you might be interested in along with info about where you can go to learn about and then influence our State's legislative process. To find the complete texts of these bills along with information on sponsors and committee schedule, you can search for them by LD # in the online directory.

Anti-Tobacco & Substance Abuse:

LD 166: An Act To Criminalize Importation of So-called Bath Salts Containing Synthetic Hallucinogenic Drugs - A person is guilty of illegal importation of synthetic hallucinogenic drugs if intentionally or knowingly conveys or causes to be conveyed a synthetic hallucinogenic drug into the State from another state or country.

LD 386: An Act To Reduce Tobacco-related Illness and Lower Health Care Costs in MaineCare. This bill requires the provision of tobacco cessation treatment for MaineCare members who are 18 years of age or older or are pregnant. It provides for comprehensive evidence-based coverage without copayments or other cost sharing and directs the Department of Health and Human Services to pursue opportunities for federal reimbursement of the cost of coverage. 

 LD 468: An Act To Protect Public Health at Public Institutions of Higher Education. This bill prohibits smoking on the grounds of any campus of the University of Maine System, the Maine Community College System or the Maine Maritime Academy.

LD 480: An Act To Establish Fees under the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act - Sets fees and range of fees in the Maine medical marijuana program, provides for payment of cost of obtaining criminal history record information about certain registered primary caregivers & principal officers, board members & employees of registered dispensaries, lowers fees for a fiscal year if fees paid in prior year.

LD 1229: An Act To Regulate and Tax Marijuana. This bill reforms state marijuana laws by establishing an excise tax on marijuana, allowing the personal use and cultivation of marijuana and allowing, regulating and licensing certain commercial marijuana-related activities, while providing provisions to protect minors, employers and schools. 

Health & Safety:

LD 180: An Act Concerning the Use of Tobacco Settlement Funds for Children's Health Care - This bill amends the law on the Fund for a Healthy Maine to require that funding for children's health care not be reduced in order to address a budget deficit.

LD 753: An Act To Prohibit the Sale of High-caffeine Energy Drinks to Persons under 18 Years of Age.

LD 961: An Act To Ensure Safe School Grounds. This bill restricts the use of pesticides on school grounds.

D 1160: An Act To Reduce Obesity among Schoolchildren This bill requires a student from kindergarten to grade 5 to participate in a minimum of 30 minutes of daily physical activity at school. A physical activity period may not be denied as punishment or discipline.

LD 1185: An Act To Enhance Efforts To Use Locally Produced Food in Schools This bill requires a school administrative unit to report on its use of local foods in its school meal programs. It requires the Department of Education to make the reporting available to the public and to publish a list of schools that meet benchmarks for increasing the use of local foods.

LD 1232: An Act To Maintain the Integrity of the Fund for a Healthy Maine Under current law, the Fund for a Healthy Maine is funded by ongoing funds from the so-called tobacco settlement. These funds may not be transferred to the General Fund to be used for any purpose other than specified prevention and health promotion purposes except when specifically approved by the Legislature. This bill removes the provision of current l aw that allows the Legislature to approve transfers of funds from the Fund for a Healthy Maine to the General Fund.               

 LD 1241:  An Act To Protect School Athletes from Head Injuries - This bill requires all students participating in field hockey, lacrosse, snowboarding or skiing as part of an activity of an elementary or secondary school, beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, to wear protective headgear. This bill also requires the Commissioner of Education to convene a working group to study the injuries that occur to students participating in field hockey and lacrosse and determine measures, including the use of protective equipment, that may be taken to avoid injuries.

Education & Social Issues:

LD 370: An Act To Increase Elementary School Applied Learning Opportunities - This bill proposes to assemble a working group to identify opportunities for and best practices of applied learning opportunities in kindergarten to grade 8. Theseopportunities and practices will then be posted on the Department of Education's website so that all schools may access them and benefit from them.

LD 233: An Act To Require the Department of Education To Report on the Costs and Sources of Funding of Charter Schools -  This bill directs an authorizer of public charter schools to report yearly to the Commissioner of Education the total amount of funds expended by each public charter school.

LD 624: An Act To Encourage Local Business Involvement in Local Schools. This bill provides a nonrefundable income tax credit to a qualified employer equal to the amount expended on a qualified adopt-a-school activity that benefits a public elementary or secondary school.

LD 750: An Act To Make the Completion of an Internship a Requirement for High School Graduation.

LD 822: An Act To Establish a Program To Invite Legislators To Visit Public School Classrooms This bill establishes a special week each year in which schools are encouraged to invite Legislators to visit to promote increased knowledge among students of the legislative process and to improve citizen interest and participation in the legislative process.

School Safety

LD 609: An Act To Increase Suicide Awareness and Prevention in Maine Public Schools - This bill requires the Department of Education to adopt rules on standards for schools and school administrative units for suicide prevention education and training. The training and education will include suicide prevention awareness education for all personnel and more advanced suicide prevention and intervention training for at least 2 persons per school district.

LD 662: An Act Regarding Sexually Explicit Text Messaging by Minors - This bill proposes to prohibit sexually explicit text messaging, also known as sexting, by a minor in a manner different from the prohibition in current law. The current provisions in the criminal law that prohibit sexting images of a minor do not except minors, even minors who transmit images of themselves, and potentially subject minors prosecuted for sexting to being listed on the sex offender registry for life. This bill would create exceptions or other avenues in the law to discourage sexting by minors and provide educators and other adults with tools to prevent sexting and to punish minors short of treating them as sexual predators or serious criminals as current law does.

LD 723: An Act To Ensure the Proper Treatment of Bullying Situations in Schools - This bill modifies the law governing school policies on bullying to require that:Policies governing written documentation be developed and established by each school board in consultation with teachers,The policies include procedures for investigating and attempting to resolve an allegation of bullying involving a person without any prior history of bullying, under which the incident, if it can be informally and satisfactorily resolved among the affected individuals, does not require written documentation; andWithin 90 days after the effective date of this legislation, the Commissioner of Education modify the commissioner's model policy to address bullying and cyberbullying to make it consistent with the provisions of this legislation and provide the modified model policy to each school administrative unit in the State and post it on the publicly accessible portion of the Department of Education's website along with any training and instructional materials related to the policy that the commissioner determines necessary.

LD 1233: An Act Regarding Cyberbullying - This bill establishes the crime of cyberbullying and makes a violation a Class E crime. It references the definition of cyberbullying in the education statutes that defines "cyberbullying" to mean bullying through the use of technology or any electronic communication device.

Here's a list of some bills we have been following that did not pass:

LD 68: An Act To Prohibit the Use of a Handheld Mobile Telephone while Operating a Motor Vehicle - This bill prohibits the use of a handheld mobile telephone while operating a motor vehicle and makes the offense a traffic infraction. This bill does not affect the current prohibition against text messaging while operating a motor vehicle. See this article for more info. 

LD 93: An Act To Require Public Secondary Schools To Offer a Course in Gun Safety and Handling - This bill requires public secondary schools to offer a firearm safety and handling course that is optional for students.See this article for more info.LD 185: An Act To Increase the Discount Rate on Alcoholic Beverages Sold by Agency Liquor Stores. This bill increases the minimum discount price and establishes a maximum discount price for spirits and fortified wine sold by agency liquor stores. 

LD 272: An Act To Reduce Youth Cancer Risk - This bill prohibits tanning facilities and operators from allowing individuals who have not attained 18 years of age to use tanning devices. This bill was passed to be engrossed on March 21st, but was vetoed in April.

LD 589: An Act To Strengthen the Law Regarding Texting and Driving - This bill makes texting and driving in which an accident occurs resulting in death or serious bodily injury a Class C crime.

LD 590: Resolve, To Include Questions about Texting on the State's Written Driver's License Examination - This bill requires the Secretary of State to include questions about text messaging while driving on the Class C written driver's license examination.

A few helpful links to support your efforts:

• To learn more about current legislative leadership and to find your legislators, visit: http://www.maine.gov/legis/  
• To learn about the status of a bill, out this page from the Maine State Legislature’s website: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_126th/billtexts/   

And don't forget that MYAN has a ton of suggested web links and downloadable tips & tools in our Resource Library to help you be a strong advocate. 

With this close of the calendar year, we are really excited to share an opportunity for your group to start the new one off with a bang! MYAN is debuting a new training model through which we are eager to develop some truly Super Power Partnerships with youth and adult groups seeking to create change aroud the state of Maine.

Be a Super Power Partner! Return to school in January ready to receive the tools for your group to:

• keep connected and motivated throughout the year with a rock solid group identity
• develop a specific and attainable plan of actionget connected to information, resources, and people to support you
• help with strengthening your group dynamics & improving your decision making process
• have a ton of fun doing doing your work, share your success, and reach out to the broader community!

If your group could benefit from these assets, we hope MYAN's new training model, Super Power Partnerships may help you find new avenues to success. MYAN will visit our Super Power Parnters in their communities and schools multiple times through the winter and spring of 2013. We'll work with you to develop trainings that will best fit your needs and goals, and we'll help you share your success with others so the power of your group reaches well beyond your own community.

Read all about Super Power Partners on the MYAN website, or go directly to the following survey to apply to be a part of this program! Please complete the survey by January 11th so we can get started ASAP in scheduling your group's first training - we do need a few day's notice to get our super hero costumes dry-cleaned :)

Have you noticed changes to the MYAN website?  In order to help MYAN website visitors to more easily find information and pages, we've made some changes to our Navigation Menu.  Here's an overview:

We have decreased the number of menu items on the menu.  Fear not - everything is still there!  If you hover over the main titles (i.e., Home, About MYAN, Join the Network, etc.), a submenu will appear.  To navigate through the website, you may either click on the main titles OR you may click on a submenu title. If you can't find something or you would like help navigating through the site, please get in touch with us. 

Coming soon . . . a new layout and design!  To celebrate our new MYAN logo, we have decided to update our website with a new, modern layout and design.  We hope to unveil our new look soon. Be on the lookout!