Maine Legislative and Policy Committee Wrap Up from 129th Legislature

The MAP Legislative and Policy Committee (LPC) members are: Maureen O’Meara, Damon Yakovleff, Michael Foster, Justin Barker, Lee Jay Feldman, and Jared Woolston.  Special thanks to Maureen O’Meara and Lee Jay Feldman for their institutional knowledge and guidance throughout the first regular session of the 129th Legislature.  

Thanks also to Maine Municipal Association (MMA), GrowSmart Maine, and Bicycle Coalition of Maine (BCM) legislative staff and volunteers for routine technical support and collaboration. 

The MAP LPC presented draft policy objectives at MAP’s January General Membership meeting.  Those policy objectives were subsequently amended based on feedback from the MAP members and approved by the MAP Board.  The approved policy objectives are posted on the Maine Section of NNECAPA’s Policy and Legislation webpage. 

The LPC discussed all relevant legislative requests (LRs) and legislative documents (LDs) in our standing Friday morning conference calls from January until the end of the 1st regular session of the 129th Legislature: June 20, 2019.  All LPC testimony was first approved by the MAP Board prior to issuance for public hearings. 

The LPC provided testimony on the following LDs: 

LD 1141 "RESOLVE, DIRECTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO CONSTRUCT THE MERRYMEETING TRAIL FROM TOPSHAM TO GARDINER" (CARRIED OVER) 

LD 1367 “AN ACT TO PRESERVE AND PROTECT THE STATE’S RAIL CORRIDORS” (DEAD)

LD 1391 "AN ACT TO ENSURE CONSISTENCY OF LANGUAGE IN MUNICIPAL DOCUMENTS WITH THE LANGUAGE IN COMPREHENSIVE PLANS”(DEAD) 

LD 970 "AN ACT TO ENCOURAGE POLICIES REGARDING ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS UNDER LOCAL COMPREHENSIVE PLANS AND ZONING REQUIREMENTS" (SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR, Title 30-A) 

 (SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR, Title 30-A) 

LD 209 “AN ACT TO PROHIBIT MUNICIPALITIES FROM PROHIBITING SHORT TERM RENTALS” (DEAD)