State lawmakers have taken a step toward reining in the use of vague, placeholder bills in this year's legislative session.
Critics contend the surge in so-called "concept draft" bills has become a problem for stakeholders trying to engage in what is supposed to be a transparent, legislative process.
"I think that this is a proposal that is moving in the right direction," said Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, who was one of nine members of the Legislature's Rules Committee to endorse new requirements for concept drafts. "It's been a long time of us not addressing this and I think that now we are attempting to do something."
Business groups, advocacy organizations and journalists have raised concerns in recent years about the growing trend of lawmakers introducing bills that are little more than a title. These concept draft bills are supposed to serve as placeholders as the sponsors work with legislative staffers to come up with specific statutory language.
But sometimes that language isn't released until the day of the public hearing, which doesn't give interested parties much time to review the proposal. While some concept drafts deal with relatively mundane issues, other recent examples have sought to make major changes to policies on energy, public education, housing regulations and the criminal code.
House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, a Democrat from Biddeford, is proposing that the fully fleshed-out version of concept draft bills be available to the public at least 48 hours before a hearing. And if it’s not, the committee could vote to kill the bill.
"The fact that we are putting some constraints around concept drafts I think will give people some pause about whether or not this is something that they want to pursue," Fecteau said during a Rules Committee meeting on Monday. "I think that we ought require that people have their bills fully drafted for a public hearing."
During a nonbinding straw poll, the committee voted 9-1 to endorse Fecteau's proposal. It is slated to receive a second vote on Thursday and could be taken up by the full Legislature next week.
Republican Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford, a longtime lawmaker and former Maine Senate president, has been among the most vocal critics of concept drafts. On Monday, he once again proposed an outright ban on the placeholder bills, with limited exceptions for the massive budget bill and a few other circumstances.
"I think this is a much simpler solution," Bennett said.
Bennett's proposal failed to win an endorsement of the majority of committee members, however, in a 4-6 vote.
The Rules Committee also debated whether to prohibit committees from voting on bills between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. This was in response to criticisms that some committees — most notably the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, which crafts the state budget bills — have occasionally held votes in the middle of the night when few members of the public are in attendance or watching.
The committee did not vote on the issue, however, and might take it up during its next Thursday meeting.
