A panel of Maine lawmakers on Monday endorsed new limits on vague “concept drafts” as a way to improve legislative transparency.
The Legislature’s Rules Committee had discussed limiting or banning concept drafts for months after members of the public, interest groups and legislators from both parties complained about the increasing use of the placeholder bills that initially come with vague titles and no specific language.
The Rules Committee voted 9-1 Monday to endorse a plan from House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, that would require concept draft amendments with “sufficient detail” to be made available and posted online at least two business days before a public hearing.
The committee’s vote was nonbinding. It will decide on final changes Thursday. The full Legislature is schedule to vote on them Jan. 14.
Republicans led by Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford continued to argue for ending the use of concept drafts in most cases. Democratic legislative leaders opposed that but signaled openness to other changes, including deadlines or limits on them that could be adopted at a later date.
A majority of members in the Democratic-controlled Legislature must approve the changes the Rules Committee is backing in order for them to take effect, but that approval requirement rises to a two-thirds threshold after Jan. 17.
The rule tweaks are part of one of the most significant set of changes to the Legislature’s operations in decades and come after Fecteau and Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, already signed off on ideas meant to improve the legislative process.
Those included only holding floor votes on Tuesdays for the first few weeks of this year and pushing the cloture date that typically requires members to submit bills in December to Jan. 10 — this Friday — to give legislators more time to flesh out ideas.
After focusing on concept drafts, the Rules Committee continued to meet Monday to discuss additional potential tweaks to legislative operations, though it was not yet clear if those other ideas that include banning votes late at night or early in the morning would advance or arise at Thursday’s meeting.
BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.
