Statutes, the MCJUSTIS policy board and staff used drafting standards that were adopted in Public Law 2001, chapter 383 and sought input from state department and agency representatives, including assistance from the Attorney General's office. Comments and drafting suggestions from these departments were incorporated into this bill.

In addition to the MCJUSTIS formatting changes, Public Law 2001, chapter 383 identified several drafting changes that were substantive in nature and necessary to accomplish the MCJUSTIS policy board's directive. These changes also apply in this bill. Specifically, the category of substantive changes that are necessary relates to how to handle facts about a crime that are not technically elements of the crime but are currently used for determining the class of crime for sentencing purposes. The statute currently does not require that such "enhancers" be proved beyond a reasonable doubt by the prosecution. The Law Court has required, however, that the prosecution must prove such facts beyond a reasonable doubt if the facts are to be used to make the underlying crime a higher class than it would otherwise be or would require a specific punishment. This bill incorporates each enhancer into the elements of the crime that it enhances. This results in the statutory requirement that the enhancer be proved beyond a reasonable doubt in order to secure a conviction for that crime at that class. The enhancers that this bill includes are for prior convictions. When a person has a prior conviction for committing the same or another crime, that prior conviction may sometimes be used to enhance the penalty, but the State must plead and prove to a jury that the prior conviction did occur, instead of the court making that determination in order to enhance a crime at the point of sentencing.

The bill adopts the standard language used in Public Law 2001, chapter 383 for referring to prior convictions when prior convictions are used to affect one class of a newly committed crime. Provisions in the bill that include these prior convictions cite the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A, section 9-A, which provides general rules for using prior convictions to enhance a new crime. These general rules are consistent with most existing provisions concerning the use of prior convictions.

The bill rewrites as an element of a crime any fact regarding the crime that is used to establish the class for the crime or the appropriate sentence. This is a substantive change,