Amend the bill by inserting after section 1 the following:

Amend the bill in section 4 in §929-D in subsection 1 in the 5th line (page 1, line 16 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: " resources" the following: ' , educational, science and technology'

Amend the bill in section 4 in §929-D in subsection 1 in paragraph A in subparagraph (2) in division (c) in the last line (page 1, line 32 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: " advantages" the following: ' , including, but not limited to, the impact of tax policy, energy costs and regulation on competitiveness'

Amend the bill in section 4 in §929-D in subsection 1 in paragraph A in subparagraph (2) in division (e) in the first line (page 1, line 35 in L.D.) by striking out the following: " quantity and quality" and inserting the following: ' quantity, quality and demographic composition'

Amend the bill in section 4 in §929-D in subsection 1 in paragraph A in subparagraph (2) in division (h) in the first line (page 2, line 2 in L.D.) by striking out the following: " Maximizing" and inserting the following: ' Optimizing'

Amend the bill in section 4 in §929-D in subsection 1 in paragraph B in subparagraph (1) in the last line (page 2, line 9 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: " support" the following: ' economic opportunity and'

Amend the bill in section 4 in §929-D in subsection 1 in paragraph B in subparagraph (3) in the first line (page 2, line 12 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: " Strategies" the following: ' and actions'

Amend the bill by inserting after section 5 the following:

Amend the bill by inserting after section 6 the following:

Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.

SUMMARY

This amendment makes the following changes to the bill.

1. It specifies that membership of the Maine Economic Growth Council must include members with expertise in both large and small business.

2. It adds educational and science and technology factors to the list of factors that must be addressed by the long-range strategic economic improvement plan.

3. It adds a requirement that the Maine Economic Growth Council must consider the impact of tax policy, energy costs and regulation on competitiveness, the demographic composition of the State's workforce and the optimization of the return on investment in the State when developing the plan.

4. It adds a requirement that the plan include goals and objectives that support economic opportunity for all people in the State and that the plan include actions to accomplish plan benchmarks based upon the best practices in this State, other states and other countries.

5. It authorizes the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over economic development matters to submit to the Legislature any bill it considers necessary to improve the required elements of the strategic plan or the process through which it is developed, maintained or communicated.

6. It directs the Maine Economic Growth Council to develop by January 15, 2018 proposed review criteria suitable for use by the joint standing committees of the Legislature when the committees are considering legislative proposals that may affect the plan developed by the council. The Joint Standing Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development may report out a bill to the Second Regular Session of the 128th Legislature based on the report.