MMA Legislative Committee Chairs Jay Mullen, M.D. and Lindsey Tweed, M.D. welcome you to participate in the weekly conference calls of the MMA Legislative Committee.

The last MMA Legislative Committee weekly conference call for the First Regular Session of the 129th Maine Legislature will take place Tuesday, April 2nd, at 8:00 p.m.

Legislative Committee members and specialty society legislative liaisons are strongly encouraged to participate. Any physician, practice manager, or other staff member who is interested in the MMA's legislative advocacy also is welcome to participate. It is not necessary to RSVP for the calls.

Please use the following conference call number and passcode. These will remain the same for every weekly call during the session.

Conference call number: 1-603-766-5646

Participant ID - 699139#

The purpose of the weekly conference calls is to discuss the MMA's position on bills printed the previous week, to hear the views of specialty societies on the new bills or their concerns about any current health policy issues, and to discuss the highlights of legislative action of the week. The calls rarely last longer than an hour.

The following are bills of interest to the physician community printed last week. (For those not familiar with the term, a "concept draft" is a bill that contains only a title and a brief description of what it is intended to do. It does not contain the actual bill text.) We will discuss the priority bills marked with an asterisk (*) first. This will be important when the list grows in the next few weeks.

Following are the bills of the week: 

April 2, 2019

LD 1417,  An Act To Expand Access to Head Start To Assist Opioid-affected and Other At-risk Families. $22.5M to broaden eligibility to children up to 5 whose family income is up to 185% of FPL or affected by SUD.

LD 1418,  An Act To Address Maine's Shortage of Behavioral Health Services for Minors. Requires DHHS to maintain website listing of available mental health facilities, programs, resource list; to collect monthly data on extended ED stays for minors; to study same; to study adding child BH needs advocate to DHHS.

*LD 1429,  An Act To Fund Opioid Use Disorder Prevention and Treatment. Tax on opioid manufacturers ($0.02 per MME distributed), to be used for prevention, treatment.

*LD 1433,  An Act To Protect the Environment and Public Health by Further Reducing Toxic Chemicals in Packaging. Bans food packaging with certain coatings or ingredients, with exemption for smaller manufacturers (>$1B annual sales). Allows DEP to add to the list of banned chemicals if “no safer alternative” is available.

*LD 1434,  An Act To Allow Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists To Bill for Their Services. Requires insurers, HMOs, hospitals and medical service organizations to pay for CRNA services upon referral by PCP or self-referral.

LD 1437,  RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine Concerning Alternative Signatures Made by Persons with Disabilities. Would allow legislature to authorize.

LD 1441,  An Act To Align the Laws Governing Dental Therapy with Standards Established by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation. Changes title, requires master’s degree, ACLS certification, supervision agreement with dentist.

LD 1444,  An Act To Make the Distance to Schools for Marijuana Establishments Consistent with the Liquor Laws. As stated, reduces distance from 1000 feet to 300 feet.

LD 1445,  An Act To Provide Debt-free Educational Opportunities for Maine Residents. Grants covering tuition, room & board, books, supplies, & fees. Not need based.

*LD 1450,  Resolve, To Mitigate the Increasing Waiting List for Services under the MaineCare Section 21 Waiver Program. 2-year pilot to provide housing to adults with ID or autism, modeled on Kittery’s program.

LD 1453,  An Act To Improve Dental Health for Maine Children and Adults with Low Incomes. Adds to MaineCare comprehensive dental services with incentive payment program for dentists, with benchmarks for measuring success.

*LD 1460,  An Act To Support Collection and Proper Disposal of Unwanted Drugs. Requires manufacturers to establish & submit to DHHS for approval a drug take-back program, with some limitations.

*LD 1461,  An Act To Support Early Intervention and Treatment of Mental Health Disorders. Funding mechanism for treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic or mood disorders, including both individual and family treatment.

LD 1466,  An Act To Allow Community-based Organizations To Participate in Diversion Projects for Persons with Substance Use Disorder. Makes community based nonprofits eligible for grants under the Substance Use Disorder Assistance Program.

LD 1470,  An Act To Allow the Prohibition of Weapons at Public Proceedings and Voting Places. As stated. Exception for on-duty law enforcement officers.