Friday, April 29, 2011
Testimony Presenting LD 1196
Good afternoon, Senator McCormick, Representative Strang-Burgess and distinguished colleagues of the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services, I am Matt Peterson and I represent District 92 which includes the Oxford County towns of Andover, Byron, Roxbury, and Rumford, as well as the Franklin County communities of Weld and plantations of Rangeley and Sandy River plus the unorganized territories of West Central Franklin and Madrid Township. I am here today as a co-sponsor to support L.D. 1196 An Act To Clarify Assistance for Persons with Acquired Brain Injury.
I want to commend my colleague and friend, Representative Goode for submitting this important piece of legislation and thank him for asking me to join him as a co-sponsor of this significant initiative.
As you have already heard, this proposal amends existing statutory language to more fully recognize both the issues and the appropriate responses to acquired brain injury, something which, unfortunately impacts many Maine citizens and their families. I know you will hear more in a few minutes from the advocates and those with greater expertise on this significant health issue, but let me just point out that it is very appropriate for us to make these changes as a means to recognize not only the severity of acquired brain injury and its impacts on our citizens and Maine families, but also suggest that the state has an ongoing role to play in identifying and providing resources to mitigate the impacts of this condition on our people.
One of the tragic consequences of our recent involvement in the asymmetrical conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq has been a sharp increase in the number of returning service personnel who are coming home with an acquired brain injury as a result of their service to our country. The growth in frequency of acquired brain injury among our service members has led to a greater recognition of the impact of this condition on many other citizens who must deal with the consequences of the condition in their everyday lives.
This expanded recognition is another important step in coming to grips with the impacts that acquired brain injury has on the lives of Maine citizens and families. Representative Good’s proposal moves us a step along the path of assisting our citizens in facing and dealing creatively with this condition by acknowledging both new approaches to assisting individuals impacted by acquired brain injury, as well as preserving their rights, especially in instances where those rights may have been suspended as a result of the appointment of a guardian by the courts.
I am sure we all want the best for these citizens, and LD 1196 is another important step toward meeting that goal. I will not take up more of the Committee’s time unless you have questions for me. I look forward to working with you during our work session on this LD.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Update From Augusta -- Getting Our Facts Straight
Earlier this week, there was a public hearing on legislation I introduced -- L.D. 1035 “Resolve, To Establish Baseline Information on Health Impacts from Grid-scale Wind Energy Development.” This proposed legislation embodies my intent to create a better framework and process that will help policy makers on the state and local levels access a set of commonly accepted facts about wind power health effects, based on a consideration of peer-reviewed studies rather than speculation and assertions which had not been rigorously reviewed.
We’ve all heard the old expression “You are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own set of facts.” In our Google culture, it seems there has been a real proliferation of pseudo-science. Self proclaimed experts appear on every corner of “Internet Avenue”, and it can be daunting sorting out the facts from the claims.
The foundation for most modern science and particularly the practice of medicine is intended to strike the balance between consumer safety and innovation. For example, without the acceptance of peer-reviewed studies as the basis for decision-making in medicine we would still be seeing patent medicines being sold with dubious results but out-sized claims. A factual foundation -- based on widely accepted, tested and peer-reviewed studies -- should also be the foundation for judging the health impacts of wind generation facilities.
It is precisely on this issue that the Rumford Board of Selectmen has been working for more than a year, with a contentious local debate and election that resulted in the rejection of a citizen committee drafted local ordinance. After that vote in November, Rumford went back to the process of drafting an ordinance -- and those discussions are continuing.
I believe all these deliberations could be better served by having access to a state-identified and recommended database of information and a set of conclusions based on peer-reviewed scientific studies. Our local officials do a great job sorting through the many challenges they face, particularly in these difficult economic times. However, like my colleagues in the citizen legislature -- they are not generally scientists, so need to be able to make decisions based on a factual foundation that has been examined and vetted by people who are qualified to make such a judgment.
That is my goal with this legislation. I think that people of Maine are better served if they can make decisions based on facts -- especially if those facts have been examined and vetted by experts that we support with our tax dollars and who are charged with the responsibility of serving our citizens. That is why an interagency task force, as envisioned in this proposed legislation, seems like the right approach.
Like all of my legislative colleagues, my goal remains to represent the District to the best of my ability. The only way I know to do that is to be sure that the elected officials and voters in our District have access to the best possible information so they can make informed decisions about the future of the River Valley. I have great confidence in the thoughtfulness of my neighbors and I believe they are very capable of making intelligent and informed choices if they have access to the facts. The goal of this initiative is to empower people to make thoughtful and informed choice.
As of this writing, I don’t know what the outcome of the Legislative initiative will be. Some folks thought the proposal went too far, others didn’t think it went far enough. That is the political and legislative process and it is not different from the discussion about wind power we have been having for the last several years here in the River Valley. At the end of the day -- making decisions based on some facts, particularly commonly held facts, seems better than flipping a coin, especially if we have to live with the impacts of a bad decision for many years.
In other news, I’m pleased to report that last week members of the Agriculture, Forestry and Conservation Committee gave their support to legislation I sponsored and wrote about in a previous column. LD 109, “Resolve To Establish the Commission to Study the Promotion and Expansion of the Maine Maple Sugar Industry” received a unanimous ought to pass committee report and now moves to the House and Senate chambers for a vote by the full bodies.
I’m always interested in hearing from you with feedback, thoughts, ideas or concerns. Please contact me by e-mail at petersonhouse08@gmail.com, or call me at (207) 776-8051.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Update From Augusta
One of the things that is most gratifying as a legislator is being able to work with constituents to identify and solve problems. I was pleased when an Andover resident and member of the SAD 44 school committee came to me with a concern about a bill that was passed in the last legislature that directed school districts to use student social security numbers to track performance through school and beyond in the workplace, creating what is called a “longitudinal study.” The bill passed without much debate and I voted for the initiative.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Why were we elected anyway?
The days are getting longer and the tempers seem to be getting shorter -- a clear sign that it must be April in Augusta. Those who are urging more respect and civility seem to be winning the day – and I applaud their efforts. We need to keep alive that spirit and the willingness to compromise over the next few weeks as we enter difficult budget negotiations against the backdrop of our state’s fiscal problems. Working together, we can find solutions. We did in the last session, and I believe we can in this session as well.
While there are certainly people in both parties who are “hyper-partisan,” I find that most members of the Legislature are there to serve the people back home and do the very best they can. I will continue to work as hard as I can to collaborate with my colleagues whenever possible. We have a long way to go on budget matters to find solutions that can win broad support. The present proposals are far off the mark -- and that seems to go for both sides of the aisle. My Republican colleagues are as concerned about some initiatives as the Democrats.
In November, Maine voters sent a clear message -- they were ready for a change. Republican candidates sent a clear message, too -- we will bring change to Augusta. Republicans won the majorities because voters believed they could do a better job, it’s as simple as that. People believed that
Republicans who got elected would manage things more effectively. On the campaign trail, I often heard people say in talking about candidates, "Let a businessperson do it," as though business has the answers when it comes to good management.
Better management and new ideas is exactly what I want to see, too. I am convinced we can do a better job and manage our resources more carefully to provide high quality services with less waste and less duplication. It is one of the reasons I was such an enthusiastic supporter of Governor LePage’s nominee for Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services, Mary Mayhew. I believe that Commissioner Mayhew brings new management skills and insight to the position. She is focused and energized and is capable of excelling in the job. I want to help her do just that -- manage the giant state human services bureaucracy more thoughtfully and more cost-effectively on behalf of taxpayers. In a future column, I hope to talk about some specifics and work I am undertaking in my dialogue with Commissioner Mayhew.
Beyond that, I keep waiting for those “new ideas,” and unfortunately I haven’t seen too many yet. As I said above, I know we can do a better job with our expenditures in health and human services. To that end, I have proposed some direction in a systems change bill that will be debated later in the session -- but I am still waiting to see those better approaches from the administration. Unfortunately, this budget is balancing the state's finances on the backs of working families, poor people, old people, people with disabilities, and public service men and women; teachers, firefighters, and police. Those are not particularly new ideas; they have been around for a very long time. The other way this budget balances is on the backs of Maine’s municipalities and the local property taxpayers. There’s nothing new or innovative there either.
Where are the new management initiatives? Where is the reorganization or consolidation to create efficiency? Where are the new ideas? How will we create new jobs? How will we better educate our children? How will we care for our aging parents? That’s what I want to work on and vote to support.
The legislative session is a work in progress and the budget is at its core. It’s always hard to see the end of the process from this vantage point, but I am sure it will finally arrive.
In the meantime, the next few weeks we will be having more lively debates. Changes in state policy around promoting and regulating wind power projects have been proposed in a number of bills. In the River Valley, we know first-hand how passionate those discussions can become. I expect the same for the hearings in Augusta.
Other details and proposals for welfare reform, regulatory relief and a host of other issues will be hotly debated. In the end, I am confident we can chart a course that will serve the very best interests of Maine people. At least we have the Whoopee Pie / Blueberry Pie vote behind us -- so we’ve proven we can compromise. Let’s hope those lessons carry over to other key policy choices.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Former President of the American Medical Association Says Maine Should Be 'Ashamed' for Sanctioning MMA
Ariel Helwani, one of the hardest working and most respected journalists in MMA, was good enough to interview me and blog about Dr. McAfee's position. Read what Ariel had to say about Dr. McAfee's editorial here.