How to Navigate the Maine
Legislative Website
Viewing bill text, summary, committee status, & public testimony
Go to https://www.legislature.maine.gov
If you know the LD number of the bill you are interested in...
Type the LD number in the white box and hit “enter”.
Now, click on “Bill Text and Other Docs”
To read the text of the bill, click on “Printed Document PDF”. You can read the bill here. If it is a long bill, you can go right to the summary at the end.
Use the back arrow to go back to the summary page of the LD. Now, click on “Status in Committee”. This tells you what hearings have been scheduled and describes any action taken by the committee on the bill. If the bill has had a public hearing, or a public hearing has been scheduled, click on “public testimony” and you will be able to read the testimonies that have been submitted.
Viewing hearing schedules by committee
If you know the Legislative Committee you are interested in...
Go to the Maine State Legislature home page
On the ribbon at the top of the page, click on “Committees”. A drop-down box will appear. Now click on “Legislative Committees”
Now you are on the committee information page. Click on the “Choose Committee” down arrow. A drop box will appear with all the Committees listed. Scroll down to the Committee you are interested in, and, once its highlighted, click on it. You will see a list of hearing scheduled and if you want to know more about a particular bill, just click on the LD numbers.
Further down, you will see the list of committee members – click on a name and it will give you the district they represent and their contact information.
Submitting testimony on a bill
If you wish to submit written testimony on a bill or testify live on a bill...
Go to the Maine legislative website homepage - https://legislature.maine.gov/. At the bottom right-hand corner (in a gray box) you will see “Testimony Submission”. Click on that.
Then click on “public hearing”.
Then choose the Committee that is holding the public session on the bill. You will have to know the date and time of the hearing.
Once you enter the day and time of the hearing, a list will appear of all bills scheduled for that date and time. Click on the one you want, and then follow the prompts.
Watching live hearings and subscribing to updates from a committee
If you want to watch the live hearing and hear and see everyone speak...
Go to the homepage (https://legislature.maine.gov/), then the Committee. Click on “live stream”.
If you would like to receive notices of hearings and work sessions for the committee, click on “subscribe”. You will be added to the email list for that committee.