An Act To Improve Transparency in Maine Government
Sec. 1. 1 MRSA §402, sub-§2, ¶F, as amended by PL 2009, c. 334, §2, is further amended to read:
Sec. 2. 1 MRSA §402, sub-§2, ¶G, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 334, §3, is amended to read:
(1) Promotes, organizes or regulates statewide interscholastic activities in public schools or in both public and private schools; and
(2) Receives its funding from the public and private school members, either through membership dues or fees collected from those schools based on the number of participants of those schools in interscholastic activities.
This paragraph applies to only those meetings pertaining to interscholastic sports and does not apply to any meeting or any portion of any meeting the subject of which is limited to personnel issues, allegations of interscholastic athletic rule violations by member schools, administrators, coaches or student athletes or the eligibility of an individual student athlete or coach . ; and
Sec. 3. 1 MRSA §402, sub-§2, ¶H is enacted to read:
Sec. 4. 1 MRSA §402, sub-§5 is enacted to read:
Sec. 5. 1 MRSA §1012, sub-§1, as repealed and replaced by PL 1989, c. 561, §4, is amended to read:
Sec. 6. 1 MRSA §1014, sub-§1, ¶A, as amended by PL 2007, c. 642, §7, is further amended to read:
Sec. 7. 1 MRSA §1014, sub-§1, ¶E, as amended by PL 2007, c. 642, §7, is further amended to read:
Sec. 8. 1 MRSA §1014, sub-§1, ¶F, as amended by PL 2007, c. 642, §7, is further amended to read:
Sec. 9. 1 MRSA §1014, sub-§1, ¶G is enacted to read:
Sec. 10. 3 MRSA §328 is enacted to read:
§ 328. Former Legislators
A person who served as a Legislator may not lobby until one year after that person's term as a Legislator ends.
Sec. 11. 3 MRSA §329 is enacted to read:
§ 329. Former lobbyists
A person who has been registered as a lobbyist under section 313 may not serve as an official in the executive branch until one year after that person's registration as a lobbyist expires.
SUMMARY
Under current law and rules of the Legislature, a Legislator is prohibited from voting on legislation on the grounds of conflict of interest only if the Legislator or certain family members or business associates would derive a unique and distinct benefit from the legislation. This bill provides that a Legislator faces a conflict of interest in voting if the Legislator or an immediate family member or close economic associate of the Legislator would be benefited or harmed by the legislation to a degree that is significantly greater than similarly situated persons or entities, or the Legislator, a member of the Legislator's immediate family or a close economic associate is a member of a small group of persons or entities that would derive a significant benefit or harm from the proposed legislation.
The bill also prohibits a person who served as a Legislator from lobbying until one year after that person's term as a Legislator ends and prohibits a person who has been registered as a lobbyist from serving as an official in the executive branch until one year after that person's registration as a lobbyist expires.
The bill subjects the transition team of a Governor-elect to the laws governing freedom of access.