GROWING MAINE FROM WITHIN: The Small Business Initiative

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Speaker of the House John Richardson

Maine House Democrats Business Update
Monday, February 7, 2005

House Speaker and legislators to unveil Small Business legislative package on Thursday

House Speaker John Richardson and fellow legislators will unveil a Small Business Legislative Package Thursday at 1 p.m. in the State House's Welcome Center. Members of the public, and small business owners and entrepreneurs in particular, are encouraged to attend the event.

The legislative package is a product of the Small Business Initiative that began in February 2004 when 16 legislators gathered under Richardson's direction to examine the best ways to create opportunities in Maine for small businesses and entrepreneurs. What resulted was a Small Business Bill of Rights and a DRAFT Action Plan. Members of this "Working Group" held seven forums around the state to hear from small business owners and managers comment on the plan and make additional recommendations.

The legislative package that resulted includes 14 bills aimed at creating a culture of entrepreneurship in the state, mobilizing state resources on behalf of small businesses, and streamlining the regulatory process. A full listing of the bills is shown below.

As we said during the forums, we hope that many of you will participate in the legislative process in the coming weeks by attending public hearings, giving testimony or sending it by mail, and following the progress of this legislation and speaking with your local legislators.

In addition, we invite anyone interested in learning more about this legislation and in showing support for the small business initiative, to attend the press conference on Thursday.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact the House Speaker's Office at 287-1300 or by email: david.connertymarin@legislature.maine.gov.

You have a right and an obligation to make your voice heard in Augusta. We will send updates as often as we can to let you know which bills are going to public hearing so you can testify or submit testimony. You can also follow legislation by going to the legislative website and looking up various bills.

Here's some important information for you:

Testifying or submitting written testimony
Click here to learn more about testifying on a bill or submitting written testimony.

Checking on the status of a bill.
Please note that not all of the bills in the Small Business Legislative Package have been drafted yet. If the bill is labeled by an LR number then it is still just a bill title and there is no bill text for you to look up and no hearing dates. If you see an LD (legislative document) number, then it has been drafted and you can look up the text of the bill, amendments, votes, and hearing dates.

Click here to check the status of a bill.

Watch the Speaker's website in coming days for direct links to the status of all the bills in the Small Business Legislative Package.

Contacting your legislator
Be sure to contact your legislator about small business legislation and let them know your opinion and suggestions. You can find your legislators in several ways.

To find your local Democratic legislator, go to www.mainehousedems.org/contactus. To find all state representatives, go to http://janus.state.me.us/house/townlist.htm.

Here is the list of bills included in the Small Business Initiative legislative package. Be sure to check the website (www.mainehousespeaker.org/business) regularly for updates on the status of these bills.

Growing Maine from Within
Legislative Agenda

Create an environment that fosters small business growth in Maine

• LR 106, An Act to Develop a Statewide Entrepreneurship Curriculum from Kindergarten through College, Speaker John Richardson

Summary: Develop a statewide curriculum to encourage lifelong entrepreneurship and to provide Maine people with the tools needed to be successful.
Status: Drafting

• LR 142, An Act to Modernize Maine’s Court System and Insure Equal Access to Justice, Speaker John Richardson

Summary: Promote equal access to justice by creating a consumer and commercial court.
Status: Drafting

• LR 1544, An Act to Create Entrepreneurship Internships for Maine High School and College Students, Rep. Jeremy Fischer

Summary: Reinstate the MERITS scholarship program. The MERITS scholarship program has a proven track record of helping Maine educators and businesses.
Status: Drafting

• LD 399, An Act to Recruit and Retain College Graduates through Loan Repayment, Rep. Jeremy Fischer

Summary: Creates the Future for Youth in Maine Loan Repayment Program to recruit and retain college graduates to start new technology-based businesses and to work in occupations and industries facing labor shortages in the State.
Status: Referred to the Business, Research and Economic Development Committee

• LR 1687, An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue in the Amount of $50,000,000 for Maine Resident College Graduates Employed in Maine, Rep. Glenn Cummings

Summary: Authorizes a $50,000,000 bond issue to support education loan repayment for Maine residents.
Status: Drafting

• LR 1874, An Act to Encourage the Implementation of High-Speed Internet Access in Rural and Isolated Areas, Rep. Hannah Pingree

Summary: Seeks to provide Maine businesses and people with access to affordable broadband internet access.
Status: Drafting

Mobilize state resources on behalf of small business

• LR 105, An Act to Increase Small Business Access to Maine State Contracts, Rep. Nancy Smith

Summary: Directs state agencies to do more outreach to small business community, and offer procurement assistance through the Market Development Center.
Status: Drafting

• LR 1254, An Act to Authorize a Bond Issue to Provide Funds to Support Economic Development, Rep. John Piotti

Summary: Authorizes a bond issue in the amount of $6,000,000 to support the growth of small businesses:
$5 million bond to fund the Small Enterprise Growth Fund.
Provide $1 million for seed capital grants.
Status: Drafting

• LR 1546, An Act to Establish “3-1-1” as a Statewide Business Assistance Line, Rep. Thom Watson

Summary: Establish “3-1-1” as a statewide business information and referral service.
Status: Drafting

• LD 192, An Act to Establish the Pine Tree Recreation Zone, Rep. Stanley Moody

Summary: Encourages Maine’s natural resource based recreation industries by providing them with the same sort of considerations provided to other industries that operate in Pine Tree Enterprise Zones.
Status: Referred to the Business, Research and Economic Development Committee

Contain costs, reduce paperwork, and streamline the regulatory process

• LR 107, An Act to Contain Costs, Reduce Paperwork, and Streamline the Regulatory Process for Maine’s Small Businesses, Sen. Lynn Bromley

Summary: Creates the position of the Small Business Ombudsman in the Governor’s Office to advocate for the concerns of Maine’s small businesses. Also reinvigorates the Maine Regulatory Fairness Board charging it to recommend regulatory and statutory changes to enhance the State’s business climate.
Status: Drafting

• LD 169, An Act to Amend the Law Regarding Resale Certificates, Rep. Stanley Moody

Summary: Repeals changes made to the resale certificate law by the last Legislature, returning resale certificates to retailers with annual gross sales of $10,000 or more
Status: Referred to the Taxation Committee

• LD 136, An Act to Allow an Appeal for Cancellation of Commercial Insurance, Sen. Scott Cowger

Summary: Grants commercial insurance consumers the same rights of cancellation appeal that residential insurance consumers enjoy.
Status: Referred to the Insurance and Financial Services Committee

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