An Act To Implement Recommendations on Reinventing Government
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 1437
Committee: State and Local Government
Sponsors: WOODBURY, VOLK, HILL, HOBBINS, KATZ, LANGLEY, RECTOR, CAIN, HAYES, PRESCOTT

Legislative Document 
No. 1437 
S.P. 444 
In Senate, April 7, 2011 
An Act To Implement Recommendations on Reinventing 
Government 
Reference to the Committee on State and Local Government suggested and ordered printed. 
JOSEPH G. CARLETON, JR. 
Secretary of the Senate 
Presented by Senator WOODBURY of Cumberland. 
Cosponsored by Representative VOLK of Scarborough and 
Senators: HILL of York, HOBBINS of York, KATZ of Kennebec, LANGLEY of Hancock, 
RECTOR of Knox, Representatives: CAIN of Orono, HAYES of Buckfield, PRESCOTT of 
Topsham. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
CONCEPT DRAFT 
SUMMARY 
This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208. 
This bill proposes to establish a process by which more profound changes in 
governance and public policy in Maine can be advanced and implemented.  It is intended 
to accomplish the more fundamental system reforms that elude the traditional legislative 
process. 
This bill proposes a review of work produced over the past 5 years and more by 
numerous study groups that have convened to assess Maine’s policy environment, 
government systems and public sector costs, with the objective of creating a more 
prosperous Maine economy.  The reports that have emerged from these efforts have been 
widely praised and overlap substantially in their recommendations, yet the pathways from 
concept to implementation have been often elusive and ineffective.  In the mainstream 
legislative process, it is too easy for the aggregated influence of more narrowly defined 
interests to impede the advancement of broader societal aims. 
Among the more comprehensive studies and reports produced in recent years are the 
Brookings Institution report, Charting Maine’s Future; Time for Change, the Final Report 
of the Joint Select Committee on Future Maine Prosperity; Measures of Growth in Focus 
2011 by the Maine Economic Growth Council; the 2-part series on Making Maine Work 
by the Maine Development Foundation and Maine State Chamber of Commerce; and 
Reinventing Maine Government by Envision Maine.  Other organizations and policy 
experts that have advanced concepts for large-scale policy reform are associated with the 
Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine, the Muskie School of 
Public Service at the University of Southern Maine, the Maine Heritage Policy Center, 
the Maine Center for Economic Policy, the Alliance for Maine’s Future, Grow Smart 
Maine, the Maine Public Spending Research Group and others. 
This bill is not intended as a replication of these past analytic efforts, though it 
includes a careful review and evaluation of past work.  Instead, the emphasis of the bill is 
on translating past work into specific implementable changes in governance and policy 
and laying out a process that accomplishes those changes. 
The bill proposes the appointment of a high-profile Commission on Reinventing 
Maine Government.  The commission would be composed of established statesmen and 
stateswomen who have earned broad respect for their leadership, vision and commitment 
to Maine, who reflect a range of views and experience and who are sufficiently removed 
from government to have no direct interest in any particular set of changes.  Each 
appointment to the commission should contribute to the group’s credibility among Maine 
citizens and knowledge of how large organizations or governments function. 
While the commission will review the many reports produced by past study groups to 
identify the substantive areas where legislative language might be crafted, the mission 
and product of the commission is not a new report, or even a compilation of previous 
reports.  The goal of the commission will be to produce practical and specific legislation 
that would accomplish large-scale reform in governance and government structure and 
policy.  Those recommendations may encompass the organizational structures of 
government, the diverse programs and responsibilities of government, the revenue 
sources and spending composition of government and other related areas of public policy. 
The legislation recommended by the commission would be treated by the Legislature 
in the same manner as a citizen-initiated referendum.  Thus the Legislature could either 
pass the recommended legislation, as presented, or send the legislation directly to 
referendum.  Because of the magnitude of change envisioned by the bill, the referendum 
approach is encouraged as a way to solidify and deepen the public credibility and 
acceptance of the reforms.