An Act To Establish a Process for the Consideration and Implementation of Changes to Mandated Instruction or Training for Students
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 0278
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: BRENNAN
Amends: 5 MRSA §12004-I, 20-A MRSA §4710-C

Legislative Document
No. 278
H.P. 194
House of Representatives, February 1, 2021
An Act To Establish a Process for the Consideration and 
Implementation of Changes to Mandated Instruction or Training 
for Students
Received by the Clerk of the House on January 28, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Education and Cultural Affairs pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to 
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative BRENNAN of Portland.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  5 MRSA §12004-I, sub-§18-G is enacted to read:
18-G.
Education 
Review Committee on 
Proposed Legislation 
Not Authorized 
20-A MRSA §4710-C 
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §4710-C is enacted to read:
§4710-C.  Establishment or substantial expansion of mandated instruction or training
A joint standing committee of the Legislature that considers proposed legislation to 
establish mandated instruction or training for students in elementary or secondary school 
not required under this Title or rules adopted pursuant to this Title or to substantially 
expand mandated instruction or training for students in elementary or secondary school 
shall evaluate the proposed legislation in accordance with this section.
1.  Request to commissioner.  Upon the referral to a joint standing committee of the 
Legislature of legislation that proposes new or substantially expanded mandated instruction 
or training, the joint standing committee shall hold a public hearing and briefly and 
informally review the proposal.  Following this informal review, the committee shall:
A.  Request that the commissioner convene the review committee established in 
subsection 2 and report the review committee's findings and recommendations to the 
joint standing committee by a specific date established in consultation with the 
department; or
B.  Hold a work session to work and vote on the proposed legislation.
2.  Review Committee on Proposed Legislation.  The Review Committee on 
Proposed Legislation, referred to in this section as "the review committee," is established.  
The commissioner shall appoint members to the review committee including teachers, 
administrators and content specialists within the department and a representative of an 
association of statewide curriculum leaders to evaluate any proposals governed under 
subsection 1.
3.  Evaluation.  Upon a request by a joint standing committee of the Legislature under 
subsection 1, paragraph A, the review committee shall review the legislation that proposes 
to establish or substantially expand mandated instruction or training and shall identify 
whether the subject of the proposal is already addressed within existing courses of study 
aligned with the system of learning results as established in section 6209.  If the subject of 
the proposal is not already addressed within existing courses of study, the review committee 
shall analyze the positive and negative effects of establishing or substantially expanding 
the mandated instruction or training contained in the proposal and shall specifically 
consider issues of availability of resources, costs to implement the proposal, staff expertise, 
the number of required courses of study that exist in accordance with the system of learning 
results and the available hours of instruction.  The review committee shall invite the 
sponsor of the proposed legislation to participate in the evaluation.
4.  Findings and recommendations.  The commissioner shall submit and present a 
final report containing the review committee's findings and recommendations to the joint 
standing committee of the Legislature that requested the review pursuant to this section 
that includes any legislation required to implement the recommendations.  The review 
committee may recommend that no legislative action be taken on a proposal.
5.  Rulemaking.  The commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this section.  Rules 
adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 
375, subchapter 2-A.
SUMMARY
This bill does the following.
1.  It establishes the Review Committee on Proposed Legislation as a board with 
minimal authority and provides that members are not entitled to compensation.
2.  It requires the joint standing committee of the Legislature that considers proposed 
legislation that would establish or substantially expand mandated instruction or training for 
students in elementary or secondary school to hold a public hearing on the proposal and 
then either vote to request that the Commissioner of Education convene the Review 
Committee on Proposed Legislation to review the proposal and report to the joint standing 
committee by a specific date chosen in consultation with the Department of Education or 
hold a work session to work and vote on the proposed legislation.
3.  It requires the Commissioner of Education to appoint the Review Committee on 
Proposed Legislation's members, including teachers, administrators and content specialists 
within the Department of Education and a representative of an association of statewide 
curriculum leaders, and requires the review committee to invite the sponsor of the proposed 
legislation to participate in its evaluation.
4.  It provides that, as part of the evaluation, the Review Committee on Proposed 
Legislation must analyze the positive and negative effects of the proposed legislation and 
the costs to implement the proposal.
5.  It requires the Commissioner of Education or the commissioner's designee to present 
the final report of the Review Committee on Proposed Legislation to the joint standing 
committee.