AUGUSTA, Maine — During the 2016 legislative session, the Maine Legislature will consider bills restricting videotaping at polling places and increasing penalties for educators who solicit sex from students.
But a bill to restrict guns on municipal property failed to pass muster with legislative leaders.
The proposed bills on poll videotaping and student-educator relations were among five advanced to the January session on Thursday by the Legislative Council, a 10-person panel evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans that must consider bills “emergencies” to allow the full Legislature to consider them in sessions in even-numbered years.
Thursday’s series of votes finalized the Legislature’s initial agenda for the upcoming session, but other controversial bills were left in limbo and could be advanced later.
One of the highest-profile bills advanced was a proposal from Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, that would allow voting wardens to remove people videotaping at polling places. It stemmed from an Election Day episode in Portland, where a group recorded people signing ballot initiative petitions.
A bill from Sen. Scott Cyrway, R-Benton, also was approved. It would increase penalties against teachers who solicit sex from students who are over age 18, and it was motivated by the case of a former Waterville High School principal who was charged with oppression in November.
The panel voted not to advance another proposal from Sen. Linda Baker, R-Topsham, which would have allowed cities and towns to ban guns on municipal property.
The Legislative Council has already allowed more than 90 new bills into next year’s session, including some that deal with Maine’s drug crisis, conservation bonds and government contract reform, but it also will have to consider more than 150 other bills that were carried over from the last session.
But the panel has yet to act on about 40 other bills that have been proposed for next year, including two new bills proposed on Thursday by Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, aimed at faster processing of food stamp benefits and prohibiting the use of welfare benefits to buy lottery tickets.