This bill requires anyone operating a recreational watercraft in Maine to ensure all passengers under 13 wear Coast Guard-approved life jackets while on board, whether the vessel is moving or not. It directly affects boat operators, parents, and guardians of children under 13 during recreational water activities. Exceptions apply to youth camp-owned canoes and log rafts under specific conditions. Violations start as civil violations, but repeated offenses within five years may escalate to a Class E crime. The law aims to improve water safety for young passengers without altering existing recreational boating rules.
LD 702 designates January 6th each year as "A Day to Remember" in Maine, requiring the Governor to issue an annual proclamation encouraging reflection on democracy and civic values following the January 6, 2021 Capitol events. It directs the State Archivist, with the Maine Historical Society, to collect and preserve firsthand accounts from Maine residents, the state's congressional delegation, and relevant law enforcement or historians who witnessed or responded to those events. The bill mandates creating educational materials from these accounts for schools and libraries, with all interviews and materials made publicly accessible through an online archive and physical exhibits starting in 2026. The measure focuses on documenting history and promoting civic education, not on political commentary.
This bill creates a special 2-month enrollment window (October 1-November 30, 2025) for currently employed county or municipal law enforcement officers and municipal firefighters who previously declined the Retired Officers/Firefighters Health Insurance Program. It allows these active employees to join the program during this period. The bill also requires the state to provide electronic briefings about the program every two months to newly hired eligible officers and firefighters. These briefings aim to inform new hires about their enrollment options. The policy directly affects current, active law enforcement and firefighting staff in Maine municipalities and counties who previously opted out of the coverage.
LD 710 expands access to naloxone and similar opioid overdose-reversing medications in Maine. It removes training requirements for community overdose prevention programs and recovery residences that distribute these medications, and allows municipalities to place naloxone in public locations like wall-mounted boxes or vending machines in places such as libraries or parks. The bill also provides immunity from legal liability for anyone who administers these medications in good faith during an opioid overdose emergency. These changes apply to both naloxone hydrochloride and other approved opioid overdose-reversing medications.
LD 538 amends Maine's prescription drug labeling law to allow prescribers of mifepristone, misoprostol, and their generic alternatives to request that prescription labels display their healthcare facility's name instead of their personal name. This change would be optional and directly affect prescribers of these medications, as well as the labeling process for pharmacies handling these drugs. The bill does not require the change but provides an alternative for prescribers seeking to limit personal identification on labels. It applies only to the specified drugs and maintains existing requirements for other label information.
LD 157 creates a new "Fish and Wildlife Management Education Fund" by dedicating $1 from every hunting and trapping license fee to fund public education about wildlife management. It updates application fees for hunting permits (e.g., $15 for residents' one-chance applications, $55 for non-residents' 10-chance options) and modifies trapper education requirements, including tribal exemptions. The bill also updates restrictions on lead fishing tackle, prohibiting lead sinkers immediately and bare lead jigs starting September 1, 2017, with painted lead jigs banned by September 1, 2026. These changes directly affect hunters, trappers, and the public receiving educational materials funded by the new account.
LD 159 requires individual vehicle owners in Maine to provide their next of kin's legal name and address when applying for or renewing vehicle registration. This information must be included on both the registration application and the final certificate of registration. The bill directly affects all Maine residents who register vehicles as individuals, not businesses or entities. It changes the required application content under Maine law (29-A MRSA §401) to mandate this next of kin detail. The policy change is purely administrative, adding a new data field to vehicle registration forms.
This bill requires Maine's Secretary of State to set, by January 31st each year, the start date for absentee ballot voting in state and federal elections. The start date must be at least 30 days before the election, and absentee ballots must be accepted until 8 p.m. on election day. All cities and towns in Maine must follow these standardized dates when issuing and accepting absentee ballots. The bill does not apply to military or overseas voters, who have separate absentee voting procedures under existing law.
This bill establishes new fees for accessing specific public records held by Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW). It allows DFW to charge $5 per copy for applications, licenses, permits, and recreational vehicle crash reports, and 3 cents per name/record (with a $10 minimum) for spreadsheets or lists of these records. These fees apply to both electronic and paper copies and are subject to Maine's sales tax. The bill also requires DFW to let license applicants mark their email addresses as confidential during the application process, though this confidentiality does not apply to department staff, law enforcement, or court proceedings. It modifies existing public records and tax laws to implement these fee structures.
This bill expands oversight of deaths and serious injuries involving adults under public guardianship in Maine. It requires the Aging and Disability Mortality Review Panel to examine all such cases - regardless of whether the adult was enrolled in home- or community-based services - instead of only reviewing incidents tied to those programs. The panel’s membership is updated to include forensic pathology experts, public advocates with lived experience, and specialized health care providers. The changes aim to ensure comprehensive reviews of all fatalities and serious injuries affecting this vulnerable population. The bill does not create new services but clarifies and broadens existing review mechanisms.
This bill creates a certification program for non-veterinarian individuals to administer rabies vaccines to cats and dogs. It requires the state to develop a training program covering proper vaccine storage, administration, certificate issuance, and owner education. The law now allows rabies vaccinations to be performed by certified vaccinators, in addition to licensed veterinarians or those under their supervision. It also mandates that vaccination certificates be reported to state and local authorities and requires at least one low-cost rabies clinic per county annually.
This bill updates Maine's legal definition of "coastal wetlands" in the Natural Resources Protection Act to include all tidal and subtidal lands, areas with salt-tolerant vegetation in coastal habitats, and low-lying lands affected by tides as defined by U.S. tide tables. It also explicitly states that coastal wetlands may encompass portions of coastal sand dunes. This change directly affects land use regulations for coastal development, environmental protections, and construction projects by clarifying which areas fall under the Act's requirements. The amendment provides a more precise standard for identifying coastal wetlands, aligning the definition with current scientific and management practices.
