Lawmakers offer final appeals Legislative Council considers which measures to admit to 2002 session

AUGUSTA – On a New Hampshire highway in 1999, a sheet of ice flew off a tractor-trailer into the windshield of a smaller truck, causing the driver to swerve out of control.

The truck smashed head-on into a car driven by Jessica Smith, killing the Peterborough, N.H., woman just months before her 21st birthday.

In Maine, a senator who wants to prevent similar tragedies in his state received the go-ahead Tuesday from legislative leaders to submit a bill requiring truckers to remove snow and ice from their rigs.

“I think it meets the constitutional test that it is an emergency issue. It is a safety issue,” said Sen. Norman Ferguson Jr., R-Hanover.

“It’s an issue anyone who lives in this part of the country can identify with,” said Ferguson, showing a snapshot sent by a Rumford constituent whose windshield was smashed by ice from a truck.

Ferguson’s proposal was one of scores reviewed by Legislative Council, which heard brief appeals from lawmakers in its packed State House chambers in preparation for the 2002 session.

Two weeks ago, House and Senate leaders from both parties sorted through roughly 500 abbreviated bills submitted by lawmakers for the upcoming session, which will conclude the 120th Legislature’s work. Only about 15 percent of them were admitted.

The majority whose proposals were turned down had a chance Tuesday to persuade the council to change its mind and let their bills in.

The state Constitution limits bills during even-numbered years to those submitted by the governor, and budgetary and emergency matters.

Bills that were referred to committees earlier for further study may also be considered.

Rep. Deborah Simpson convinced leaders that a bill she is sponsoring meets the constitutional test to be considered.

It would bar the state from seeking the return of welfare overpayments that were made while that person was a minor.

Simpson, D-Auburn, said her bill stems from a case involving a constituent who was 2 to 6 years old when her mother received overpayments in the program then known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

The woman being asked to return about $4,000 is now in her early 20s.

“For a young adult to be bombarded by a debt her parents have accrued, it makes it difficult at a time she’s starting in her own life,” said Simpson.

Another proposal that survived Tuesday’s review would bar businesses from firing employees for being late for work or leaving early if they missed work while carrying out duties as volunteer firefighters.

Bills that again were rejected Tuesday dealt with issues ranging from corrections and mental health to prescription drugs and junkyard cleanup enforcement.

Leaders blocked the resurrection of an issue that generated national attention when it surfaced nearly a year ago.

The measure sought to impose deposits on cigarettes to prevent litter and generate more money for the state.

The latest version, also aimed at discouraging cigarette butt litter, would be milder in its approach, but the council still declined to admit it.

Also among the dozens of rejected proposals was one seeking $20 million to upgrade mental health services in state prisons and county jails and to increase state Department of Environmental Protection involvement in junkyard cleanup disputes.

The agenda for the session beginning Jan. 2 will be determined at least in part by the bills that had been admitted before Tuesday’s council session.

They include measures dealing with health care, higher education and economic development, according to House Speaker Michael Saxl, D-Portland.