Statewide Advocacy
At the state level, HEAL engages the Maine Legislature, state departments, and statewide advocacy issues that affect our communities and others living at the margins of society.
Two major legislative accomplishments—increased access in rural Maine to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-Exposure (PEP) and decriminalization of syringes and other safer use supplies—will have dramatic and significant positive impact to our clients and participants.
Other State Highlights
LD 475 | Resolve, Ch. 23
Resolve, To Create the Frequent Users System Engagement Collaborative
Sponsor: Rep. Victoria Morales, South Portland
This resolve establishes the Frequent Users System Engagement Collaborative to develop a plan to provide stable housing and community services to 200 persons who are unhoused or at risk of being unhoused who are the most frequent consumers of high-cost services, such as psychiatric hospitals, emergency shelters, emergency rooms, police, jails, and prisons.
LD 1675 | Ch. 396
An Act To Amend Certain Provisions of Maine's Drug Laws
Sponsor: Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross, Assistant House Majority Leader, Portland
This law removes from the definitions of "traffick" and "furnish" previous weights and amounts of certain drugs that a person possesses and increases amount thresholds in response to Maine’s notoriously punitive trafficking laws. This change better reflects how people use drugs and does not assume a person is trafficking a small amount of a substance when it may be for personal use. This law removes references to cocaine base in provisions governing permissible inference of drug trafficking, aggravated drug trafficking and aggravated drug furnishing.
LD 1333 | Ch. 161
An Act Concerning the Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program and the Dispensing of Naloxone Hydrochloride by Emergency Medical Services Providers
Sponsor: Rep. Sam Zager, Portland (Governor’s Bill)
This law authorizes emergency medical services persons, ambulance services, and nontransporting emergency medical services to administer intranasal naloxone hydrochloride if they have received medical training in accordance with protocols adopted by the Medical Direction and Practices Board. It corrects an omission in certain naloxone laws and went into effect immediately as an emergency bill.
LD 2 | Ch. 21
An Act To Require the Inclusion of Racial Impact Statements in the Legislative Process
Sponsor: Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross, Portland
This law requires, upon the request of a committee of the Legislature, the commissioner of a department, or director of an agency to provide to that legislative committee data, analysis, and other information necessary to prepare a racial impact statement, which is an assessment of the potential impact that legislation could have on historically disadvantaged racial populations. This bill also requires the Legislative Council to conduct a study to determine the best method to establish and implement a system of using racial impact statements for legislation.