The Democratic majority on the Joint Rules Committee voted Monday to preserve the controversial practice of “concept drafts,” brushing aside Republican leaders’ efforts to boost transparency in Maine’s legislative process.
In a party-line vote, the committee rejected a Republican proposal to ban the placeholder bills, which critics say allow lawmakers to sidestep scrutiny and introduce sweeping changes to state law with minimal public input.
Republican leaders Sen. Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook) and Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) have argued that concept drafts erode public trust and shield lawmakers from accountability.
Concept drafts, often little more than vague titles such as “An Act Related to Water,” serve as placeholders that lawmakers can later amend with substantive language.
The substance of the bill can be tagged onto the placeholder legislation just prior to a public hearing, which provides almost no time for voters, activists, and lobbyists to read the bill and offer testimony.
According to critics like committee member Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford), this process enables legislators to introduce major policy changes with little notice, making it nearly impossible for citizen activists or even professional lobbyists to respond effectively.
“The public has no idea what the contents of a concept draft may be until the sponsor presents the final text, often on the same day as the public hearing,” Bennett has said. “It undermines the very purpose of public hearings.”
The use of concept drafts has grown in recent years, with over 200 introduced in the last session alone. Supporters of reform, including Bennett, have linked the practice to legislative deadlines, which require bills to be filed shortly after elections, often before lawmakers have fully developed their proposals. The lawmakers will hastily introduce the concept drafts in order to keep a window open for later bringing forward a bill that has yet to be written.
Republican lawmakers have long pushed to end the use of concept drafts or at least require their full text to be made public well in advance of hearings. Some proposals have called for doubling the number of hearings on such bills or providing a minimum of two weeks for public review before any legislative action.
The “Joint Committee on Rules” sets the rules under which the legislative session will function throughout the next two years.
The current chairs of the committee are Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland) and Rep. Matt Moonen (D-Portland).
Although the committee voted six to four along partisan lines against a proposal that would have abolished concept drafts, Democrats did acquiesce to a compromise agreement that would afford at least a two-day period for reviewing the entire text of a bill prior to the bill’s public hearing.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="33856 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=33856">5 Comments
Concept bills are the democrats method of passing bills they don’t want the people to have a say on
We need to VOTE THESE DAMN DEMOCRATS out of office as fast as we are able .
They are DESTROYING our state .
Make Maine Great Again .
Take NO prisoners .
The Democrats are so dumb, they still do not get it
The LAST thing Augusta democrats want is “ transparency “ .
Call the votes at midnight in the middle of a blizzard because they can sneak it by .
The people of Maine need to wake the F up and understand how they are ruining our state .
Republicans need to get control in order to avoid a colossal financial crash .
Janet Mills says : Double their taxes ….what are they going to do but shut up and pay .
Make Maine Great Again .
Vote Republican .
Democrat could care less about “public trust”, like last year when they waited till the dead of night, after counting heads to see how many republicans were left in the building, then passing bills, never trust a democrat!