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Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘An Act To Establish a Process for the Consideration and Implementation of Changes to Mandated Instruction or Training for Students’
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1.  5 MRSA §12004-I, sub-§18-G  is enacted to read:
 
18-G.     
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §4710-C  is enacted to read:
§ 4710-C. Establishment or substantial expansion of mandated instruction or training
A joint standing committee of the Legislature that considers proposed legislation to establish mandated instruction or training for students in elementary or secondary school not required under this Title or rules adopted pursuant to this Title or to substantially expand mandated instruction or training for students in elementary or secondary school shall evaluate the proposed legislation in accordance with this section.
 
1.  Request to commissioner.     Upon the referral to a joint standing committee of the Legislature of legislation that proposes new or substantially expanded mandated instruction or training, the joint standing committee shall hold a public hearing and briefly and informally review the proposal. Following this informal review, the committee shall:
 
A.  Request that the commissioner convene the review committee established in subsection 2 and report the review committee's findings and recommendations to the joint standing committee by a specific date established in consultation with the department; or
 
B.  Hold a work session to work and vote on the proposed legislation.
 
2.  Review Committee on Proposed Legislation.     The Review Committee on Proposed Legislation, referred to in this section as "the review committee," is established. The commissioner shall appoint members to the review committee including teachers, administrators and content specialists within the department and a representative of an association of statewide curriculum leaders to evaluate any proposals governed under subsection 1.
 
3.  Evaluation.     Upon a request by a joint standing committee of the Legislature under subsection 1, paragraph A, the review committee shall review the legislation that proposes to establish or substantially expand mandated instruction or training and shall identify whether the subject of the proposal is already addressed within existing courses of study aligned with the system of learning results as established in section 6209. If the subject of the proposal is not already addressed within existing courses of study, the review committee shall analyze the positive and negative effects of establishing or substantially expanding the mandated instruction or training contained in the proposal and shall specifically consider issues of availability of resources, costs to implement the proposal, staff expertise, the number of required courses of study that exist in accordance with the system of learning results and the available hours of instruction. The review committee shall invite the sponsor of the proposed legislation to participate in the evaluation.
 
4.  Findings and recommendations.     The commissioner shall submit and present a final report containing the review committee's findings and recommendations to the joint standing committee of the Legislature that requested the review pursuant to this section that includes any legislation required to implement the recommendations. The review committee may recommend that no legislative action be taken on a proposal.
 
5.  Rulemaking.    The commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this section. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.’
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
 
SUMMARY
This amendment does the following.
1. It establishes the Review Committee on Proposed Legislation as a board with minimal authority and provides that members are not entitled to compensation.
2. It requires the joint standing committee of the Legislature that considers proposed legislation that would establish or substantially expand mandated instruction or training for students in elementary or secondary school to hold a public hearing on the proposal and then either vote to request that the Commissioner of Education convene the Review Committee on Proposed Legislation to review the proposal and report to the joint standing committee by a specific date chosen in consultation with the Department of Education or hold a work session to work and vote on the proposed legislation.
3. It requires the Commissioner of Education to appoint the Review Committee on Proposed Legislation's members, including teachers, administrators and content specialists within the Department of Education and a representative of an association of statewide curriculum leaders, and requires the review committee to invite the sponsor of the proposed legislation to participate in its evaluation.
4. It adds that, as part of the evaluation, the Review Committee on Proposed Legislation must analyze the positive and negative effects of the proposed legislation and the costs to implement the proposal.
5. It requires the Commissioner of Education or the commissioner's designee to present the final report of the Review Committee on Proposed Legislation to the joint standing committee.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)