Background on Legislative Dates and Processes
The legislature convenes pursuant to the state constitution as follows:
The Legislature shall convene on the first Wednesday of December following the general election in what shall be designated the First Regular Session of the Legislature; and shall further convene o the first Wednesday after the first Tuesday of Janaury in the subsequent even-numbered year in what shall be designated the Second Regluar Session of the Legislature.
(This means that the First Regular Session starts in December for the purpose of swearing in the members, electing members of leadership, and electing the constitutional officers. That’s usually done in a day or two. Then, they go home and come back in early January to start working on legislation. The Second Regular Session starts on the Wednesday after the first Tuesday of January, which in 2022 was January 5th. The deadline for entering bills is not set in the consitution but by the leadership. It has varied over the years. It tends to be near the end of December or in January.)
For department and agency cloture, the filing deadlines set out in the Joint Rules have been more consistent over the years. When the convening of the 1st Regular Session coincides with the beginning of a Governor’s first term, the deadline for departments and agencies to file bill drafts has been “30 days after the Governor is administered the oath of office,”
MAEA should be ready with any legislative ideas well before cloture or deadline dates in order to find a sponsor and to come up with a good description of the legislation if not a complete draft. That should be started in September or at the latest in October.
The state’s fiscal year starts July 1st, and the biennial budget starts July 1st of the odd-numbered year. A biennial budget is passed by the legislature in a First Regular Session, and there are almost always supplemental budget bills making changes to the biennial budget in that session and even into the Second Regular Session.
Maine Adult Education Association is a professional, non-profit organization that advocates for adult education locally, statewide and nationally and supports members in order to meet the educational, training and personal needs of Maine’s adults.
Maine Adult Education Programs are committed to meeting the educational, training and personal needs of Maine’s adults by offering excellently designed, cost-effective, academic, training and enrichment classes across the state of Maine.