Tim Nangle: New laws strengthen support for Maine communities

By Senator Tim Nangle

On July 29, many of the laws passed during this year’s legislative session will officially take effect. While no single legislative session can solve every challenge facing our state, these new laws represent meaningful progress for Maine people, families and communities.

State Senator Tim Nangle

I was proud to sponsor four of the laws taking effect this month. Each law responds to a real need brought to my attention by people doing important work in our communities.

One of those laws, LD 2136, ensures survivors of human trafficking can continue accessing critical services while Maine waits for delayed federal funding. For more than a decade, Preble Street’s Anti-Trafficking Services program has helped survivors find safe housing, receive medical and mental health care, access legal assistance and begin rebuilding their lives. An unexplained federal delay forced the program to begin placing survivors on a waiting list. LD 2136 provides temporary state funding to help bridge that gap. People seeking safety after experiencing unimaginable trauma should not be told that help is unavailable because Washington failed to act.

Another new law will help Maine veterans find and maintain stable housing. LD 2135 establishes a fund to support nonprofit organizations that work directly with veterans facing barriers such as past rental debt or landlords’ concerns about financial risk. No person who served our country should be left without a safe place to call home. This law gives local providers another practical tool to prevent homelessness before it happens.

LD 1904 will help municipalities enforce shoreland zoning laws without placing enormous legal costs on local property taxpayers. This builds on a law I sponsored during the previous legislative session that gave towns stronger enforcement tools when property owners violate shoreland zoning requirements. Those stronger protections are important, but they only work if communities have the resources to enforce them. The new Municipal Shoreline Protection Legal Fund will help towns cover substantial legal expenses so they can hold violators accountable, protect our lakes and rivers and avoid passing the cost on to local taxpayers.

Finally, LD 1216 formally recognizes the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in Maine law. Anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts, mental health distress or substance-use-related concerns can call or text 988 at any time to connect with trained crisis counselors. Establishing 988 in statute helps make it a stable part of Maine’s crisis-response system and provides a foundation for strengthening those services in the future.

I am not the only one to see laws I sponsored come to fruition. I’m proud to have supported efforts by my colleagues to address several other challenges facing Maine people.

A new medical debt law will prohibit debt collectors from garnishing someone’s wages or by placing a lien on their primary residence because of unpaid medical bills. Illnesses and emergencies are difficult enough without putting a family’s paycheck or home at risk. This law builds on our earlier work to prevent medical debt from damaging consumer credit reports.

We also took steps to make it easier and less expensive to build more housing. Maine needs more homes, but lengthy planning and inspection processes can add time and cost to projects before construction even begins. Several new laws will help communities improve local planning, expand inspection capacity and move appropriate projects forward more efficiently while maintaining important health and safety standards.

These laws address very different issues, but they share a common goal: making government responsive to the real challenges Maine people and communities face. I am grateful to everyone who shared their experiences, testified before a committee or helped us improve these proposals along the way.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and questions. You can reach me at [email protected] or 207-287-1515.

State Senator Tim Nangle represents District 26 including Windham, Raymond, Casco, Frye Island, and part of Westbrook.

The opinions in this column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of The Windham Eagle newspaper ownership or its staff. <