Maine lawmakers look ready to limit use of vague placeholder bills

Maine lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed support Thursday for changing rules around “concept drafts,” an increasing class of bills that have frustrated residents and political observers alike for initially having only vague titles and no other language.

While concrete changes are not yet finalized, both Republicans and Democrats signaled agreement during a meeting of the Legislature’s Rules Committee for requiring the text of proposals to be published online at least one week before the bill receives a public hearing.

Lawmakers appearing before the committee , which met Thursday for the first time since 2018, also discussed tweaking or removing cloture deadlines that generally require members to submit bills before new legislative sessions begin.

The bipartisan talks come after legislators anecdotally said the past session had more concept drafts than ever. Maine Public previously reported that more than a quarter of bills introduced in 2023 were placeholders, which was five times more than the totals in the past five sessions.

Scrutiny of concept drafts intensified in March after Rep. Anne Perry, D-Calais, released the text of a hotly contested “shield bill” less than a week before its public hearing. The proposal, which Democratic Gov. Janet Mills later signed into law, protects medical providers treating transgender and abortion patients from out-of-state, conservative-led litigation or prosecution.

Perry acknowledged at Thursday’s meeting her concept draft was controversial but said she mistakenly thought the bill text became public the minute it was finalized. She noted that amendments are often emailed by committee clerks to a list of “interested parties” — typically lawmakers, advocates and the press — and then published once reported out of a committee.

Perry is proposing only allowing concept drafts to receive hearings once specific text is available, unless committee chairs determine the initial draft contains sufficient details.

Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, has long advocated for doing away with all concept drafts, arguing they are “holding back public accountability, but also public participation in our work.” He acknowledged placeholders related to the state budget are often necessary or not controversial.

Members ranging from Rep. Jack Ducharme, R-Madison, to Rep. Cheryl Golek, D-Harpswell, also expressed support for concept draft limits. Speaking on behalf of a group of eight members, Rep. Marc Malon, D-Biddeford, proposed requiring the language of these bills to be introduced a week before a public hearing.

Other ideas from the group include limiting the number of bills each lawmaker could introduce each session and boosting the number of legislative staff tasked with reviewing, analyzing and summarizing the at-times dizzying amount of amendments and proposals before committees.

That additional support for nonpartisan staff was echoed by Rep. Jan Dodge, D-Belfast, who also proposed banning votes on bills between 10:30 p.m. and 7:30 a.m., alluding to late-night sessions and meetings that ended with heated and controversial outcomes.

Dodge said that time limit would be especially relevant to the Legislature’s budget committee, which became the source of controversy after Democratic members moved during an early-morning meeting in April to advance transportation and pension-related changes that the panel later reversed after backlash from Mills, Republicans and interest groups.

The Rules Committee must sign off at a later date on any proposals discussed Thursday. At least two-thirds of lawmakers in the new Legislature seated in December would need to also OK them.