My New Year’s legislation
By Rep. Richard Evans, MD
I would like to wish you and your family a wonderful holiday season and a very happy and healthy 2022. As we approach the end of what has been another challenging year, this is a suitable time to gaze upon the landscape and prepare for the upcoming new year. Despite the circumstances presented to us as legislators in 2021, we were still able to accomplish many positive milestones for the people of Maine. That said, and projecting forward, there remains much to be done to improve the lives of Maine citizens.
The second session of the 130th Maine Legislature begins soon after New Year’s Day. Well over 300 bill proposals were submitted for the new year, but approximately 154 of those bills were accepted by the Legislative Council to be placed on the calendar for 2022. These numbers do not include bills carried over from the first session, nor do they include the 49 bill submissions by various department and state agencies.
I am pleased to say that I have introduced three new bills for the next session. Two of these bills are my own, and I will also be sponsoring a third bill in collaboration with Maine’s Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows.
The first bill I’m sponsoring next year is “An Act to Encourage Job Growth in the Forestry Sector through Tax Incentives.” In our part of the state, the forest industry is a vibrant segment of our economy, but we must also ensure that we are responsible in its management. This bill will help small businesses engaged in forestry and wood processing to grow their businesses and hire more employees through refundable tax credits for the costs of appropriate hiring and training. The overall goal is to allow small businesses that may not qualify or wish to use the larger and more complicated programs to receive a tax credit for creating lasting jobs.
I am a firm believer that everyone has a right to access affordable, quality health care. To help reach that goal, I am sponsoring LD 1778, “An Act to Improve Health Care Affordability and Increase Options for Comprehensive Coverage for Individuals and Small Businesses in Maine.” This bill directs the newly-created Office of Affordable Health Care to analyze the barriers that prevent accessibility to affordable health care and coverage, and to develop proposals to alleviate them. It also requires this office to study the effects of policies aimed at improving health care affordability and coverage. This bill should help us get a better understanding of what is standing in the way of people getting affordable insurance, and what we can do to make that affordable coverage more readily available.
My third bill is LD 1762, “An Act to Amend the Law Regarding Expiration of Disability Plates and Placards and Fees for Recycler Licenses.” Following collaboration with Secretary of State Bellows, I am very pleased to sponsor this bill. The bill removes the requirement for a disability plate or placard issued to a person with a permanent disability to expire with the applicant’s driver’s license or the non-driver identification card issued by the State. It also provides that the disability plate or placard may be renewed for a period not to exceed six years. This change in current law will remove some of the red tape involved in keeping a disability placard for those with a permanent disability.
I look forward to a productive legislative session in the coming year. As always, if you have any questions about the Legislature or state government, please feel free to reach out to me. You can call me at 564-0715 or email me at Richard.Evans@legislature.maine.gov.
Evans is a physician and surgeon and represents the towns of Atkinson, Brownville, Dover-Foxcroft, Medford, Milo, Orneville Township and Lake View Plantation in Piscataquis County. He is in his first term in the Maine House of Representatives and serves on the Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee.