AUGUSTA - Rep. Teresa S. Pierce, D-Falmouth, introduced a measure Wednesday that would safeguard Maine's elections against ballot and voting equipment interference.

AUGUSTA - Rep. Tiffany Roberts, D-South Berwick, presented LD 1793, An Act To Support Statewide Economic Recovery through Strategic Investments, before the Committee On Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business on Tuesday.

AUGUSTA - Rep. Tiffany Roberts, D-South Berwick, presented LD 1800, An Act To Amend the Laws Governing the Small Enterprise Growth Program, before the Committee on Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business on Tuesday.

AUGUSTA - House Majority Leader Michelle Dunphy, D-Old Town, introduced LD 1780, An Act To Allow Unorganized Territory School Staff to Receive Annualized Pay, before the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs on Tuesday.

AUGUSTA - Rep. Lois Galgay Reckitt, D-South Portland, introduced legislation Tuesday to amend the Maine Constitution to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on the sex of an individual. The proposal, LD 344, is part of a 50-year effort Galgay Reckitt has been involved in to get states to ratify the federal Equal Rights Amendment.

AUGUSTA - Rep. Richard Evans, D-Dover Foxcroft, introduced legislation Tuesday to improve health care affordability and increase options for comprehensive coverage for individuals and small businesses in Maine. If passed into law, LD 1778 would require the Office of Affordable Health Care, an independent, nonpartisan agency, to analyze barriers to affordable health care and develop proposals on potential methods to improve affordability and coverage.

AUGUSTA - Rep. Mike Sylvester, D-Portland, House chair of the Legislature's Labor and Housing Committee, issued the following statement in response to several Portland Pie Co. employee's decision to walk out of work Sunday in protest against the company's handling of COVID-19 cases in the restaurant.

AUGUSTA - The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld Maine's first-in-nation law yesterday to require pro rata cable bills. First sponsored in 2020 by Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, the Pro Rata Law requires a cable system operator to grant a subscriber a pro rata credit or rebate if that subscriber requests service disconnection three or more working days before the end of a monthly billing period.

AUGUSTA - The Legislature's Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee will take up a bipartisan bill in January sponsored by Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, to protect public safety facilities from public utilities suddenly terminating or disconnecting service without advance notice and approval.

AUGUSTA - Today, Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, and House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, released a memo outlining the plan for the Maine Legislature to convene in January. The full Legislature will convene in-person at the State House Wednesday, Jan. 5 and Jan. 26 to conduct legislative business.

Presiding Officers plan to release a further session schedule in late January and will continue to evaluate the operations of the legislature on a regular basis.