Our Policy Priorities.
For the 131st Legislature, 2nd Regular Session (2024).
We advance policy efforts that ensure freedom from violence and discrimination, access to reproductive and overall health care, economic justice, and systems and representation which ensure equity and justice for all Mainers.
Our 2024 priority bills are developed based on our biennial Road Map for Gender Justice, priority bills that were carried over from the prior session, and our committment to advance bills that create structural improvements for gender equity in Maine.
This list includes bills that have assigned numbers or pbulic bill language. We are watching the list of bill titles, and will update this list when those titles become bills with LD numbers and language.
Economic Justice
We will have the wages, education, and safety net systems to live with dignity.
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This bill allows employees to request a flexible work schedule (flexible hours and/or location) for up to six months at a time. This is important because women are most likely to voice the need for flexible work arrangements, however, men are more likely than women to be actually granted flexible accommodations. Policy protections against retaliation for requesting flexible work arrangements are especially beneficial to people (predominantly women) working in industries that have not been known for allowing flexible work schedules.
Flexible work arrangements accommodate care needs that often fall to women and limit their ability to fully participate in the workplace, save for retirement, find time to give back to our communities, and do what they need to for their families. This unpaid care labor means women are more likely to work part- time or to leave the workforce altogether, limiting their ability to access health insurance or save for retirement, and reducing Social Security benefits in later life. Flexible work schedules can allow some women to stay in the workforce when they would otherwise be unable to continue working.
While this bill benefits women and other caregivers, it lis important to note that it does not address the structural barriers that are the underlying cause of the problem.
MWL Position: Support
Status: This bill was reported out of committee with a divided report in 2023. This bill passed in the house in June, 2023 and was carried over in the Senate. The Senate will vote on this bill before this session ends.
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This bill requires an employer with more than 10 employees to ensure that any posting of an employment opening includes the position pay range, and employers must maintain a record of positions and their pay scales. This bill will increase pay equity and transparency, and which will give historically-underpaid women and BIPOC people the ability to hold employers accountable to equal pay for all.
Last spring, Governor Mills declared March 14 Equal Pay Day. The first line of the press release reads: According to the United States Census Bureau, the difference between median earnings for men and women in Maine who worked full-time, year-round in 2021 was $9,991. The release goes on to share that nationally, that gap is as much as $28,797 for American Indian and Alaska Native women.
Creating systems of salary transparency is one of the least burdensome and most impactful ways we can turn this tide. With virtually no impact on the part of the employer, salary transparency laws have been shown to move the needle on the pay gap. Research shows reduced gender pay gaps and increased wages for women after states and/or employers have enacted pay transparency policies. It also helps businesses attract talent. A recent study shows that college seniors and recent college grads are 85% are less likely to apply for a job if the company does not disclose the salary range in the job posting.
We would like to share that we support the proposed amendment to make this universal (rather than exempting some employers). Small businesses are often already doing this, in large part because they see the results it has on recruitment, and it helps save time in the hiring process.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: March 21, 2023 Testimony
Status: This bill was reported out of committee with a divided report in 2023. This bill passed in the house in June, 2023 and was carried over in the Senate. The Senate will vote on this bill before the session ends.
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This bill adds the care of grandparents and great grandparents to eligibility requirements to receive unpaid family medical leave. Additionally, this bill clarifies that families can be related by blood or legal relationships. This bill aims to amend Maine’s Family Medical Leave, which will govern leave in Maine until Paid Family and Medical Leave is implemented in 2026.
When families need care, it is most often provided by women in our culture. The added burden disrupts their work life, and because most companies don’t have policies to accommodate this. Expanding Family Medical Leave creates an avenue for caregivers to care for family while preserving their ability to return to the workforce.
MWL Position: Support
Status: This bill was reported out of committee in 2023 as OTP-AM. This bill passed in the house in June, 2023 and was carried over in the Senate. The Senate will vote on this bill before the session ends.
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This bill would increase the amount of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant amounts. Maine currently issues the lowest TANF grant amounts in New England. These benefits must be raised to provide more financial security to Maine women and families.
Approximately 60 to 87 percent of family caregivers are women and caregiving has real economic implications on the lives of women who support their family in this way. Studies show that female caregivers have greater interference and limitations in their work and social life due to caregiving and that the disproportionate burden leads to greater health problems, less positive outlook on life, and greater need for external supports.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: February 1, 2024 Testimony
Status: This bill was voted OTP, but has not yet been reported out of committee.
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This bill requires DHHS to reimburse child care providers for subsidies based on enrollment, rather than attendance. This bill also creates a program to provide one-time emergency financial assistance to child care providers with short-term facility or operational costs.
There has been a systemic, generational lack of investment in care infrastructure in Maine and nationally. Women are the backbone of all unpaid caregiving in Maine and are also the majority of all paid caregivers, including childcare providers - which are some of the most undervalued roles in our economy. The ‘workforce behind the workforce’ is almost entirely underpaid women, and when childcare systems fall through, it is almost entirely women who pick up the pieces by stepping out of the workforce. This often means forgoing years of contributions to social security or retirement savings. The effects are even more powerful when we consider race and racism and the effects on Black, brown, and Indigenous women.
Without statewide investment, women must pay the costs, through part-time work, lower-paying jobs, and loss of retirement savings - all proven side effects of lack of our caregiving structures. Maine must continue to make improvements on behalf of the childcare workforce beginning with more comprehensive subsidies and emergency financial assistance.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: February 20, 2024 Testimony
Status: This bill was voted OTP, but has not yet been reported out of committee.
Civil Rights and Freedom From Discrimination
We will experience equity and respect in all our identities.
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This resolution proposes to amend the Constitution of Maine to ensure protection from discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, ability, age, and nation of origin.
Maine has deeply held beliefs and values regarding equality and protection from discrimination. Although the Human Rights Act is a national model, we still have not achieved the equality we dream of. Women in Maine:
• Are more likely to live in poverty ,
• Still make between .66 and .88 cents for every $1.00 a what man makes ,
• Are more likely to experience sexual harassment and violence ;
• Are more likely to be discriminated against in the workplace ; and
• Are less likely to be represented in Government (Women make up only 28% of the U.S. Congress, and 32 % of state legislatures. Maine is at the forefront, but still with less than parity at 44% in our state legislature .
This amendment to our constitution could address:
• Protections where the Maine Human Rights Act is silent,
• Pay equity,
• Clarification that all Mainers who are harmed by discrimination are equally protected and valued under the law,
• Avenues for redress and accountability that are currently lacking.
Systemic challenges need systemic solutions, embedding in state government. When we prevent discrimination we encourage the full participation of everyone in our state. Nowhere in the Maine Constitution does this kind of protection currently exist; an expanded ERA ensures protections for all people in Maine in our most foundational document.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: April 24, 2023 Testimony
Status: This bill passed the House and Senate, but failed to receive the two-thirds support required for a Constitutional Amendment to move forward. This bill is now technically carried over from the previous session and will not have another hearing.
Systems and Representation
We can access the levers of democracy and are represented in democratic institutions.
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This bill would add Maine to the national popular vote compact, which would go into effect when a majority of states sign on to support the president who wins the popular vote. Currently, the compact has been adopted by 16 states and D.C., which together have 205 of the necessary 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. Maine’s adoption would bring the compact to 209 votes.
If enacted, this compact would effectively bypass the electoral college. Historically, five presidents have been elected to office even though they lost the national popular vote. The last example of this was Donald Trump’s election in 2016. A national popular vote would eliminate the problems caused by “winner take all” state electoral votes and solve the disproportionate attention placed on “swing” states.
MWL Position: Support
Status: This bill was reported out of committee with a divided report. This bill failed to pass in the Senate. It will now be scheduled for a vote in the House.
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This bill would establish that the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Penobscot Nation, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, and the Mi'kamq Nation have the same rights to self-determination as other federally recognized tribes within the United States. This bill is intended to act as a vehicle to bring forward the recommendations of the state and tribal task force.
MWL Position: Support
Status: This bill was amended and received a divided report but has not yet been reported out of committee. Once the bill is reported out it will head to the House for a vote.
Health and Reproductive Justice
We will have access to health care, including abortion, that supports our physical and mental wellbeing, dignity, and autonomy.
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This bill requires that all public bathrooms have diaper changing stations and requires DHHS to make rules for this new law.
In 2014 Congress passed the Bathroom Accessible In Every Situation Act (BABIES Act)Bathroom Accessible In Every Situation Act (BABIES Act), which requires baby changing stations in federal buildings. Beyond this, diaper changing station regulations vary from state to state and even county to county. If a location does decide to install a diaper changing station, then it must meet the standards set forth by the ADA.
Parents and caregivers need to have access to diaper changing stations when out in public. This includes changing stations that are located in areas accessible by all genders, so that all parents have equal opportunity to care for their children. The Congressional Dads Caucasus recently commented on the lack of changing stations on Capitol Hill. Every parent and caregiver deserves a safe and clean place to take care of their children’s needs.
MWL Position: Support
Status: This bill was reported out of committee with a divided report. It passed in the House last session. This bill was carried over in the Senate and is pending a place in the budget.
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Medical care bans across the country represent one of the most extreme and coordinated political attacks on women and transgender people in years. These bills block access to medically necessary care that meets long-developed standards of care.
Abortion access and reproductive health care serves public health, the well-being of families, and is the cornerstone of gender equity. Since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision eliminated federal abortion protections, 14 states have passed near total bans and it is expected that at least half of all states are at risk for bans. These bans remove the ability for people to make decisions regarding their own medical care. Basic rights, including reproductive autonomy, should not be subject to the uncertainty of political decisions, in Maine or elsewhere.
Medical care bans are also targeting transgender people, especially youth, by blocking access to gender affirming care for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. These bans not only display a fundamental lack of understanding of transgender people, but they also ban access to medically-necessary care and punish those who seek it by often criminalizing doctors or even parents or helpers of transgender youth seeking to provide best-practice medicine for those in their care. Access to gender-affirming care is an essential component of creating a more gender just society. Gender affirming care has consistently been shown to improve health and mental health outcomes for trans and nonbinary people. By protecting accepted standards of care, we can take a critical step in reducing transgender health disparities.
In response to discriminatory medical bans, some states are passing “shield” laws to protect people seeking care, their families and/or their health care providers from facing civil or criminal lawsuits from other states. Maine must follow suit and protect providers of reproductive and gender-affirming health care that are critical to ensuring that all Mainers have access to accepted standards of medical care. LD 227 codifies critical protections to ensure that providers feel safe continuing to provide care in our state.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: March 5, 2024, Testimony
Status: This bill received a divided report in committee but has not yet been reported out. After it is reported out of committee it will go to the House for a vote.
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This bill includes proposed funding for additions to Maine’s current sexual health education program. This program is currently executed by Maine Family Planning. These additions include:
Filling the funding gap in providing education programs
Increasing Maine Family Planning Prevention Education staff by 3 FTE
Developing and disseminating sexual health curricula and resources.
Expanding professional development opportunities for educators and school staff
Expanding access to sexual health education to marginalized groups and engaging parents and youth of underserved populations.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: January 9, 2024, Testimony
Status: This bill was reported out of committee with a divided report. It was passed by the House and was placed on the special appropriations table in the Senate. This bill is now pending a place in the budget to be enacted.
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Sponsor: Perry
Medical care bans across the country represent one of the most extreme and coordinated political attacks on women and transgender people in years. These bills block access to medically necessary care that meets long-developed standards of care.
Abortion access and reproductive health care serves public health, the well-being of families, and is the cornerstone of gender equity. Since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision eliminated federal abortion protections, 14 states have passed near total bans and it is expected that at least half of all states are at risk for bans. These bans remove the ability for people to make decisions regarding their own medical care. Basic rights, including reproductive autonomy, should not be subject to the uncertainty of political decisions, in Maine or elsewhere.
Medical care bans are also targeting transgender people, especially youth, by blocking access to gender affirming care for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. These bans not only display a fundamental lack of understanding of transgender people, but they also ban access to medically-necessary care and punish those who seek it by often criminalizing doctors or even parents or helpers of transgender youth seeking to provide best-practice medicine for those in their care. Access to gender-affirming care is an essential component of creating a more gender just society. Gender affirming care has consistently been shown to improve health and mental health outcomes for trans and nonbinary people. By protecting accepted standards of care, we can take a critical step in reducing transgender health disparities.
In response to discriminatory medical bans, some states are passing “shield laws” to protect people seeking care, their families and/or their health care providers from facing civil or criminal lawsuits from other states. Maine must follow suit and protect providers of reproductive and gender-affirming health care that are critical to ensuring that all Mainers have access to accepted standards of medical care. LD 227 codifies critical protections to ensure that providers feel safe continuing to provide care in our state.
MWL Position: Support
Status: This bill will have a public hearing in March
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This bill requires all schools 6-12 grade to have period products in all bathrooms. One in four students who get periods have struggled to afford period products. Not being able to afford period products can affect student attendance and academic success. LD 348 would make sure that students who need tampons and pads can get them, and improve all students’ opportunity to attend school.
Here are the facts:
• More than 22 million people in the United States can’t afford or access the necessary menstrual products needed to manage a period.
• Recent studies show that 2 in 5 people who menstruate experience period poverty.
• The cost of menstrual products averages $13.25 a month, amounting to over $6,000 per lifetime.
• Period products are not covered by any government assistance programs, such as SNAP.
• 23% of students in the U.S. have struggled to afford menstrual products, 51% have worn menstrual products for longer than recommended, and 38% often or sometimes cannot do their best school work due to lack of access to such supplies (Thinx and PERIOD)
This issue disproportionately affects people who also experience sexism - women, girls, trans- and nonbinary people. LD 348 is an affordable, common-sense way to ensure that we are making schools safer and more accessible for all students - joining 16 other states.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: May 9, 2023 Testimony
Status: This bill was reported out of committee with a divided report and passed in the House last session. This bill was carried over in the Senate and is pending a place in the budget.
Access our Menstrual Equity Toolkit here!
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This resolution seeks to amend the Constitution of Maine by declaring that every person has a right to reproductive autonomy.
Abortion access and reproductive health care serves public health and the well being of many individuals, children and families. It is the cornerstone of gender equity, a fundamentally important aspect of bodily autonomy, and core to human dignity. Without the ability to safely and security control our reproductive lives, all other freedoms are vulnerable.
Since the Dobbs decision eliminated the abortion protections provided by Roe v. Wade, abortion access has been left up to each state. While Maine legislators passed some of the most progressive abortion legislation in the country during the last session, a constitutional amendment makes it harder for future state abortion restrictions to pass.
To amend the constitution of Maine, this resolution must be passed by two-thirds of each chamber and then approved by the majority of Maine voters in an election.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: January 22, 2024, Testimony
Status: This bill was reported out of committee with a divided report. It will now go to the Senate for a vote. Since this is a constitutional amendment it requires a two-thirds vote prior to being placed on the ballot.
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This bill ensures ongoing appropriations for family planning services in Maine. Maine’s family planning clinics are essential to Maine’s public health infrastructure and their continued health and stability ensures the continued health of Maine and Maine’s women, especially those from our most vulnerable communities for the following reasons.
Family planning saves lives. Providing contraception to 90% of those in need, globally, would save the lives of 67,000 people who can give birth and 440,000 infants annually. This can only be achieved when unwanted, high-risk pregnancies and unsafe abortions are prevented.
Family planning supports the overall economy and economic security. Delaying a birth can reduce the gap in pay between working mothers and their childless peers and planned pregnancies can reduce women’s chances of needing public assistance. Researchers have estimated that for every $1 invested in family planning programs, federal and state governments save $7.09 in part because of unintended pregnancies that were prevented from publicly supported contraception.
Birth control supports gender, racial, and geographic equity. More than half of people taking birth control are on it for health reasons in addition to birth control, such as treating or responding to cysts or endometriosis; women of color are particularly susceptible to ovarian cysts and are disproportionately affected by restrictions to birth control. Additionally, rural Mainers may turn to family planning clinics for the majority of their essential health care needs.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: April 9, 2023 Testimony
Status: This bill was reported out of committee with a divided report and passed in the House last session. This bill was carried over in the Senate and is pending a place in the budget.
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This bill repeals the laws that make possession of a schedule W, X, Y, or Z drug or drug paraphernalia a crime. It also establishes a fund to be used to support services related to substance use.
Trauma and drug misuse are twin public health crises in Maine, and our current response is creating an additional crisis of over-incarceration, which disproportionately impacts women and girls from marginalized communities. Addressing these harms through punitive, incarceration-based responses perpetuates a cycle of violence that is harming our families and communities. It is time to acknowledge that there are better, safer, more holistic ways to address these challenges, and to redirect our energy and resources to meeting those challenges to meet the real needs of Mainers. This bill seeks to do just that.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: January 17, 2024
Status: This bill was carried over from the previous session and a public hearing was held in January. The committee has yet to vote on this bill.
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This bill requires all insurance policies to provide coverage for prescription contraceptives and to provide coverage for nonprescription oral hormonal contraceptives that are approved by the FDA. The bill would also require insurance companies to create a system to to cover nonprescription oral hormonal contraceptives to be covered at the point of sale, or to create a reimbursement system.
Family planning also supports the overall economy and economic security. Delaying birth can reduce the gap in pay between working mothers and their childless peers, and planned pregnancies can reduce women’s chances of needing public assistance.
Most importantly, access to contraceptives serves public health and the well being of many individuals, children, and families. Birth control supports gender, racial, and geographic equity and is a fundamentally important aspect of bodily autonomy.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: February 20, 2024, Testimony
Status: This bill received a divided report from the committee but has not yet been reported out. After it is reported out from committee it will head to the House for a vote.
Freedom from Violence
We will live with safety, respect, and consent.
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This bill would have increased funding for sexual assault services, and require that the starting compensation for sexual assault advocates is at least $45,000/year, up from the current average of $32,000. Sexual assault service providers help survivors navigate systems and heal from sexual violence. A stable workforce with adequate compensation is required to ensure that those services remain available.
Though anyone can experience sexual violence, most sexual violence either occurs against women, or in gendered circumstances such as the high rates of sexual violence that trans people and queer or incarcerated men experience.
Sexual assault advocates are doing highly skilled, critical work, sometimes overnights, on holidays, at prisons, and over multiple weekends in a row - all while getting paid as low as $33,000 per year. That’s about $15/hour, which is less than a living wage for an adult living alone in Maine and less for an adult with a child. Sexual assault advocates are saving lives and we should build a system that honors that fact.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: March, 27, 2023 Testimony
Status: This bill passed the House and Senate in the last session, but did not receive the funding it needed to move forward. This bill was carried over from the previous session and will not have another hearing.
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The Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) currently funds all core victim services in Maine, including legal services, victim advocates, DV services, victim services for immigrants and refugees, and more. These federal funds will be reduced by almost $6 million next year if Maine does not pass LD 2084.
Without legislation, reduced VOCA funding will lead to devastating cuts to services that victims rely on. Though anyone can experience sexual violence, most sexual violence either occurs against women or in gendered circumstances. When issues specifically intersect with women’s lives, they are more likely to be overlooked and under-addressed. Victim services are saving lives and we must pass legislation to continue their funding.
A fact sheet from our friends at MECASA and MCEDV is here.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: January 23, 2024, Testimony
Status: This bill was reported out of committee as Ought to Pass as Amended. The bill was passed by the House and was sent to the Senate where it was placed on the special appropriations table to receive funding.
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Research suggests that there are warning signs observable to others before most acts of violence. When a person is considering harming themselves or others, family members and law enforcement often recognize clear warning signs. Extreme risk laws empower these individuals to intervene so that someone in crisis can temporarily be prevented from accessing firearms. There is growing research demonstrating the ability for these gun safety laws to prevent many types of firearm violence, including suicides and other instances of gun violence.
Maine’s lack of gun safety infrastructure is a gendered issue, and these bills have a positive and powerful effect on gender equity, especially on those women who are most historically excluded and marginalized.
MWL Position: Support
Link to Testimony: March 4, 2024 Testimony (LD 2237)
Status: These bills had public hearings in March and are now having work sessions in committee. We will continue to provide updates as these bills are reported out from committee and head to the House and Senate.
Access our Firearms, Violence, and Gender in Maine Policy Brief here!