Forwarded Action Alert re Public Hearing on numerous bills on 4/23

Forwarded Action alert from Maine Parent Federation

Action Alert Important Public Hearings
Restraint & Seclusion, De-escalation Training, Behavioral Health Supports, and Lifespan Waiver
Wednesday, April 23rd 

There are a number of public hearings which will be occurring tomorrow Wednesday, April 23rd at 1:00 PM in both the Educational and Cultural Affairs and Health and Human Services Committees.
 
LD 1248 - "An Act Regarding Physical Escort and Restraint and Seclusion of Students in Schools".
 
The bill would make it easier to physically restrain students, which disproportionally impacts students with disabilities, in two ways:

• It would redefine "physical escort" (which, under Maine law, is voluntary and therefore not restraint) so that it wouldn't have to be voluntary. In order words, if a student were physically and involuntarily moved to a safe location, it would no longer be considered a restraint.
• It would allow restraint if there was any risk of injury (even nonserious injury, even if psychological injury).

Unfortunately, the public hearing is happening during school vacation week. This makes it easy for school personnel to testify but it makes it difficult for families and students to testify, especially in person. There are multiply ways to participate and testify, see below for instructions.
 
Additional bills in the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee you may be interested in testifying on are:

• LD 1097 - An Act to Provide De-escalation and Behavior Intervention Training for School Personnel
• LD 1398 - An Act Regarding Behavioral Health Support for Students in Public Schools

 
There will also be a bill regarding the Lifespan Waiver being heard in the Health and Human Services Committe.

• LD 1606 - An Act to Require Data Collection and Major Substantive Rulemaking for the Lifespan Waiver Providing Home and Community-based Services for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder or Other Related Conditions

 
All four of these bills are scheduled for public hearing Wednesday, April 23rd starting at 1:00 PM. You can testify on as many bills as you like, but if you testify online (written and/or zoom) then you have to fill out the form for each bill separately.
 
To testify:

• Go to this testify link
• Choose "Public Hearing"
• In the drop-down menu choose the appropriate committee "Education and Cultural Affairs" for LD's 1248, 1097, and 1398 and Health and Human Services for 1606.
• Choose "Apr 23 2025 1:00 PM" from the "Choose date" pull-down menu
• Choose the bill which you are submitting testimony for.

 
You can upload written testimony or type it into the text box. If you want to testify via zoom then be sure to check the "I would like to testify electronically over Zoom" checkbox, in which case the legislature will email you a link to use to testify.
 
After you've filled everything out, check "I'm not a robot" and click "Submit/Register"
 
If you would like to testify in-person all hearings are held in Augusta at the Cross Building, 111 Sewell Street Augusta. Education and Cultural Affairs is room 208 and Health and Human Services is across the hall in room 209. Please be sure to bring 20 copies of your testimony.
 
Please feel free to disseminate this information to anybody and everybody you think would be interested.
 
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Carrie Woodcock, [email protected].
 
Kind Regards,
Carrie Woodcock - Maine Parent Federation