AUGUSTA - Rep. Charlotte Warren, D-Hallowell, introduced LD 1497, An Act To Establish the Maine Youth Impact Commission, before the Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business Committee on Tuesday.
LD 1497 establishes an independent, 15-member commission of Mainers between the ages of 15 and 31 who will promote, coordinate and implement programs designed to improve opportunities for young people across Maine. The appointed commission members will compile research and submit a report to the governor and the Legislature detailing policy recommendations.
"The question of how we get young people to stay in Maine or to relocate and settle in Maine is a problem we've been talking about for a long time," said Warren. "It's time we talk to our young people in search of a solution to the problem. This proposal, created by Maine youth, will empower us to do so."
"The most critical parts of Maine's future are the persons that will be inheriting what we leave them," said Rep. Tavis Hasenfus, D-Readfield, one of the bills cosponsors. "I think back to the problems that Maine faced thirty years ago when I was child, and I look at my children and wonder what we'll leave unresolved and handed to their generation. Lasting change is only possible if we bring the voices of the future into the conversations of today."
"As a Mainer in my mid-twenties and one of the youngest members in the Maine Legislature, creating opportunities to retain younger Mainers in the state is important to me," said Rep. Morgan Rielly, D-Westbrook, another cosponsor of the bill. "A Maine Youth Impact Commission will give younger Mainers a voice in the decision-making process on policies that affect them. In the long run, this could keep more young people in Maine."
The committee will hold a work session on the bill in the coming weeks.
Warren, House chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety, is serving her fourth term in the Maine House of Representatives and represents Hallowell, Manchester and West Gardiner.
Contact:
Jackie Merrill [Warren, Hasenfus, Rielly], c. 812-1111