Legislative Update

The bill dealing with Discontinued and Abandoned Roads, LD 1177 “An Act to Implement the Recommendations from the Discontinued and Abandoned Roads Stakeholder Group” has now been scheduled for a public hearing on Wednesday April 10th at 1:00 before the State and Local Government Committee, Room 214 of the Cross Office Building.  This is an issue that many Maine Woodland Owners members have expressed in.

It appears that there will be no changes to the Tree Growth Tax Law as all the bills dealing with that program appear headed for defeat.  There has been one of the Sunday hunting bills considered so far, LD 800, which seems to have little support.  There is at least one more Sunday hunting bill to come, LD 798, but it appears very likely that all Sunday hunting bills will fail. We have had a positive first Committee vote on our bill, LD 714.  This would give the Maine Forest Service enhanced rulemaking authority to remove or order the removal of trees that are found to harbor a serious quarantined pest like Asian Long-horned Beetle and highly susceptible trees in the proximity.  More votes will take place.  The proposal to merge the departments of Agriculture and Conservation is still in flux.  At this point the outcome is hard to predict.  Action on our bill to require written permission from the landowner when someone is commercially harvesting mushroom or fiddleheads (LD 421)  is being held until there is a hearing on a much more wide ranging bill (LD 749). 

As a reminder, to check the status of any bill, enter the LD number on this page: http://www.mainelegislature.org/LawMakerWeb/search.asp