Understand Your Government

Federal Government

Maine Constitution
Maine State Government Structure
The three branches of state government and the major departments and structure of each branch.
Citizen’s Guide to the Maine Courts
Learn about Maine's judicial system, how the courts are organized, and the steps in the trial process.
Agency Directory
An index to all state government agencies.
Find Your Elected Officials
Lookup your Maine and US legislators based on your town or zip code.

Maine Statutes
A complete listing of all Maine laws.
Search Statutes
Search Maine's laws by keyword
Search Legislative Bills
Search Bills currently in the legislature.
Check Status of Legislative Bills
Find out the current status of a Bill as it moves through the legislature.
How a Bill Becomes a Law
Learn the steps by which a Bill moves through the legislative process and may eventually become a Maine law. From the Maine Law and Legislative Reference Library.
The Path to Maine Lawmaking (for students)
A kid-friendly site from Maine's Secretary of State, with a video, animated cartoon, lesson plans and other information about lawmaking in Maine.
Glossary of Legislative Terms
A useful glossary of terms used in the Maine legislative process.
Maine State Agency Rules
The federal government and many states have adopted administrative procedure acts. The intent is to improve public access to state government agency decision-making and to increase awareness of agency rules. Rule-Making Procedures
Municipal Ordinances Online
Many local ordinances are posted on the Maine Municipal Association web site. For additional municipal information, try the Maine.gov Local Government portal.
For more information, see Maine Laws & Legal Resources

Maine Bureau of Budget
Information about the current state budget, including appropriations by department and policy area.
Governor Baldacci's Budget Balancing Tool
This interactive, educational tool was created to allow the public to provide input to the Governor in developing the 2003-2005 state budget. Though the budget has been completed and the numbers are based on past budget projections, this tool is still effective for experimenting with the difficult balancing act of making budget decisions.