AUGUSTA – Deciding that the University of Maine System already got the message about involving the public in major policy decisions, the Legislature’s Education Committee rejected a bill Thursday that would have required public input by law.

Lawmakers on the committee voted unanimously against the legislation which had been carried over from last session and proposed by Sen. Scott Cowger, D-Hallowell. The committee decided instead to send a letter to UMS administrators encouraging public participation.

UMS Chancellor Joseph Westphal told the committee it made “eminent sense” to involve the public in major policy discussions and that it would be “standard practice” during his tenure.

“I am going to be personally committed to ensuring that the spirit of the legislation is continued in the university system,” said Westphal.

Cowger filed the bill in response to community uproar over a strategic plan unveiled by the university system last year that recommended consolidating campuses in order to reduce areas of duplication and save money.

Of particular concern to Cowger’s central Maine constituents was a proposal to merge the University of Maine at Augusta with the University of Southern Maine. Cowger’s bill would have compelled the university system to “seek input from affected parties” prior to making policy decisions that involve a campus, college, municipality or community college.

Residents of Down East and northern Maine also objected to the strategic plan for its proposed merger of the universities at Presque Isle, Fort Kent and Machias into a University of Northern Maine and placing all three campuses under a single administration.

“It’s more than dead on arrival,” Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, said of the plan when it was unveiled. “It’s buried.”

The university put its merger plans on hold after the outcry. The fallout from the strategic plan also prompted Gov. John Baldacci to appoint a task force to review the document and how it was created. Westphal predicted the findings of the task force would be implemented into the strategic plan by the board of trustees next year.

“People felt they hadn’t been heard,” admitted Westphal. “When you’re trying to effect change, that happens sometimes in a fast-moving process.”

Although committee members expressed concern Thursday about the university system’s failure to include the public and educational community in its strategic planning sessions, many said it would be unrealistic to establish a law demanding that the system do so. Members said it would be hard to apply the law across the board and difficult to enforce.

“I think it is a good policy for the university to have,” said Sen. Karl W. Turner, R-Cumberland. “I don’t think we need to proscribe it in state law. To put it into law, I think, is an overreach.”

Sen. Elizabeth M. Schneider, D-Orono, said the public response to the university’s plan revealed once again that Maine was a “very participatory state” with a public more than willing to raise its voice when it feels its positions are not being taken into consideration. She said the public spoke out and its government responded accordingly.

“People didn’t allow something to happen without their input even though there was no law to provide that,” said Schneider. “The fact that this law was not there did not stop the public from having that discussion. … People are very active in Maine and we’ve seen that. That’s what’s important, that people don’t sit idly around and let people take care of them.”