With the holiday season now behind us, the 131^st Legislature is officially underway. Cloture, the last day for legislators to submit bill titles, was December 30. The full list of 2,123 legislative requests (LRs) was recently released, revealing the first real preview of the session ahead.

The Office of the Revisor is now in the process of drafting language for each of these bill titles (LDs) and the Legislature has begun referencing these bills, as they become available, to their respective committees for public hearings and work sessions.

While this part of the session always feels slow, work will be flowing at a rapid pace before we know it, which is why the Council has relaunched our Friday morning policy calls. These calls, which are reserved for members, provide a valuable opportunity for member input and discussion that ultimately informs the positions we will take this session. If you're a member and would like to participate in these weekly calls, please email Sue at [email protected] to be added to our list.

For those who are unable to participate in these calls, but would like to be informed of what is happening in Augusta, we will be sending weekly emails with a preview the weeks ahead. We also urge you to visit the Legislative Action section on our new website for the most up-to-date information. Here you will find important links to the Legislature, a full list of our positions with links to our testimony, our regulatory calendar and more. This session, we also plan to share our action alerts and testimonies on our Facebook page, so if you haven't done so already, please head on over there to like and follow us.

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Best,

Pat Strauch

Maine Forest Products Council

Bills scheduled for a public hearing

Public hearings are livestreamed and archived here on the Legislature's Website. Testimony will be accepted in-person, via Zoom or in writing. Committee meeting guidance for public/interested parties can be found here.

To sign up to testify via Zoom or submit written testimony, click here.

LD 24 - "An Act To Prohibit Open Burning Under A Red Flag Warning And Regulate Recreational Campfires"

Public Hearing on Monday January 30, 2023 @ 9:00 AM in Cross Building, Room 214

MFPC Position: Support with amendment

Sponsored by Senator Glenn Curry, LD 24 would protect Maine's forests by prohibiting open burning, including recreational campfires, whether open burning is permitted or not, during periods in which a red flag warning is in effect. The bill also limits the size of recreational campfires, including those that do not require a permit.

The Council would like to see this bill amended to provide for agricultural and forestry exemptions.

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LD 108 - "An Act To Establish A Logger Relations Advocate Within The Maine Forest Service"

Public Hearing on Monday January 30, 2023 @ 9:00 AM in Cross Building, Room 214

MFPC Position: Neither for nor against

Sponsored by Representative Scott Landry, LD 108 would require the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of Forestry to establish a logger relations advocate to serve as a liaison to the public.

The Council believes that the MFS does a great job supporting all sectors of the forest products industry.

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LD 122 - "An Act To Authorize The Efficiency Maine Trust To Establish A Program To Support The Uptake Of Medium-duty And Heavy-duty Zero-emission Vehicles By Maine Businesses And To Establish A Medium-duty And Heavy-duty Zero-emission Vehicle-to-grid Pilot Project"

Public Hearing on Thursday February 2, 2023 @ 1:00 PM in Cross Building, Room 211

MFPC Position: Support

Sponsored by Senator Henry Ingwersen, LD 122 would authorize the Efficiency Maine Trust to establish a program using federal or other funding sources to support the uptake of medium-duty and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles and associated charging or fueling infrastructure. It also authorizes EMT to establish a vehicle-to-grid pilot project to evaluate the benefits of using these vehicles for purposes such as school buses and freight trucks as energy storage resources capable of delivering electricity to the grid when vehicles are not being used for their primary purpose.

While the Council recognizes that we are a long way off from electric logging trucks, we view this as a step in the right direction.

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LD 180 - "An Act To Allow A Person To File A Paper Copy Of A Timber Harvest Notification Form"

Public Hearing on Wednesday February 8, 2023 @ 9:00 AM in Cross Building, Room 214

MFPC Position: TBD

Sponsored by Senator Russell Black, LD 180 would allow harvest notification forms to be submitted to the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of Forestry in either an electronic or paper format.

About MFPC

Since 1961, the Maine Forest Products Council has been the voice of Maine's forest economy. MFPC's members are landowners, loggers, truckers, paper mills, tree farmers, foresters, lumber processors and the owners of more than 8 million acres of commercial forestland, but they are also bankers, lawyers and insurance executives. The Council represents members at the Maine Legislature throughout the state, in Washington D.C. and the U.S.

Patrick Strauch, Executive Director

Krysta West, Deputy Director

Pat Sirois, SFI Coordinator

Sue McCarthy, Office Manager

207-622-9288

www.maineforest.org

535 Civic Center Drive, Augusta, Maine 04330

Thanks to MFPC's sponsors!

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