At the start every new legislature, Maine’s Office of the Revisor of Statutes publishes a list of preliminary working titles for all the bills that will be considered in the upcoming legislative session.
The Revisor’s Office released the list of working titles for the 129th Legislature on Tuesday, giving us a glimpse into what we can expect lawmakers to be debating in Augusta over the next five months while the legislature is in session.
In total, the legislature will consider 2,042 bills this session. The majority of these bills will not have enough momentum to pass, or will be hampered by the costs of enactment, but nonetheless will appear before the legislature for consideration.
We’ve combed through all 2,042 working titles to bring you the most destructive and humorous ideas that will be debated in 2019. To be clear, we do not yet know the official language of these bills, as they have not been printed by the Revisor’s Office – we only know the working titles of each piece of legislation.
Here are our favorites — the most alarming and absurd proposals — among the working titles released Tuesday:
LR 671 – An Act To Rebrand Maine’s License Plate Slogan from “Vacationland” to “Staycationland”
LR 2221 – An Act To Establish Salaries for Elected State Officials and To Create a Compensation Commission
LR 691 – An Act To Make Post-conviction Possession of Animals a Criminal Offense
LR 434 – An Act To Allow Municipalities To Impose a Seasonal or Year-round Local Option Sales Tax
LR 117 – An Act To Base Legislative and Gubernatorial Pay on Minimum Wage
LR 262 – An Act To Require the Use of Reusable Food Ware at Eating Establishments
LR 507 – An Act To Help Municipalities to Prepare for Sea Level Rise
LR 917 – An Act To Reduce Childhood Exposure to Harmful Ultraviolet Radiation
LR 360 – An Act To Decriminalize Engaging in Prostitution
LR 232 – An Act To Promote Universal Health Care, including Dental, Vision and Hearing Care
LR 1911 – An Act To Provide Free College Tuition to Maine Residents
LR 1045 – An Act To Create a Water Extraction Fee
LR 539 – Resolution, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Implement Ranked-choice Voting
LR 1236 – An Act To Respect the Will of Maine Voters by Implement a 3 Percent Income Tax Surcharge
LR 569 – An Act To Require a Minimum Salary of $50,000 for Public School Teachers
LR 570 – An Act To Increase the Minimum Wage for Large Employers
LR 1056 – An Act To License Certain Mechanical Trades
LR 1057 – An Act To License Heavy Equipment Operators
LR 1848 – An Act Regarding the Regulation of Rabbit Production for Local Consumption
LR 1857 – An Act To Treat Animals Trapped in Buildings Humanely
LR 2040 – An Act To Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Address Changes in Sea Level
LR 728 – An Act To Prohibit the Use of Polystyrene Foam Food or Beverage Containers
LR 1341 – An Act To Establish Maine’s Participation in the Paris Climate Agreement’s Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards
LR 209 – An Act To Provide an Affordable and Accessible Health Care System for all Residents of Maine
LR 951 – An Act To Adopt the Interstate Compact To Elect the President of the United States by National Popular Vote
LR 2199 – An Act To Reduce Toxic Plastic Pollution by Eliminating Single-use Plastic Bags
LR 1016 – An Act To Prohibit Charter Schools from Expending Funds for Advertising
LR 934 – An Act To Prohibit Self-driving Commercial Vehicles
LR 1160 – An Act To Institute a Ranked-choice Voting System for Presidential Primaries in Maine
LR 475 – An Act To Establish Universal Prekindergarten Programs
LR 800 – An Act To Protect Horse-drawn Carriages
LR 1034 – An Act To Establish a Green New Deal for Maine
LR 2001 – An Act To Require the Removal of Horse Manure on Public Roads
LR 493 – An Act To Prevent and Reduce Tobacco Use by Adequately Funding Tobacco Control and Raising the Price of Tobacco Products
LR 143 – An Act To Prohibit the Sale and Distribution of Flavored Tobacco Products
LR 532 – An Act To Ban Child Marriage
LR 1661 – An Act To Authorize Registration of Pedal-powered Tour Vehicles
LR 1331 – An Act To Require Horse-drawn Carriages and Wagons To Be Equipped with Reflectors
LR 256 – An Act To Create a Single-Payer Health Care System in Maine
LR 2216 – An Act To Create a Universal Basic Income
LR 744 – An Act To Allow Barbers to use Straight Edge Razors
The full list of working titles can be found here on the Maine Legislature’s website. To access the full list, click “Preliminary List of Working Titles of Precloture Legislative Bills Sorted By Sponsor” published on Jan. 8, 2019.