Maine Council on Aging
131st Maine Legislative Priorities & Actions
The Maine Council on Aging is a broad, multi-disciplinary network of businesses, organizations and older Mainers that advances policy initiatives to ensure we can all live healthy, engaged, and secure lives as we age in our homes and community settings. Our broad and on-going priorities include:
- Promoting age-equity and the equitable delivery services
- Strengthening Maine’s direct care workforce across all settings
- Increasing housing and home repair options
- Growing transportation options and funding
- Expanding access to supports and services
- Promoting integrated and coordinated care, with special focus on people living with dementia and their care partners
- Increasing the food and financial stability of older Mainers
- Supporting local, statewide, and regional initiatives that support healthy aging
2023 Advocacy Priorities
- Equity & Aging
We have embarked on a bold initiative to end ageism in Maine by 2032! We will do this by operationalizing the Plan for Equity in Aging in Maine and expanding our Power in Aging Project. Specifically, we’ll engage decisions-makers at every level to apply an age-equity lens to decision making processes. We will engage new and different kinds of leaders in the Leadership Exchange on Ageism (LEA) and create a train-the-trainer program to allow LEA to be replicated. We will lead and join efforts to build equitable systems of care and service delivery to ensure older BIPOC and LGBTQ people can access
supports and services in ways that meet their needs. - Core Supports & Services
We will promote the Elder Economic Security Index as the appropriate index to use for eligibility for programs aimed at helping lower income older people gain access to supports and services. We will use data to advocate for increased investments in core supports and services. - Direct Care Workforce
We will continue lead efforts to ensure older Mainers can gain access to quality direct care at home and in residential care. A focus will be on establishing the numbers of workers needed, understanding the market forces at play in driving workers to these jobs, and building quality into the jobs. - Integrated & Coordinated Services
We will engage in statewide efforts to build an integrated system of formal and informal supports and care that prioritizes low cost/high value interventions and that builds across all systems. - Affordable Housing Options
While we will continue to work to expand affordable housing options for older Mainers. We will work to increase federal funding for home modifications connected to weatherization funding. - Growing Transportation Options
We will participate in statewide efforts to increase public transit options in Maine. We will sit at many transportation tables and lead efforts through our Transportation Equity for Older Mainers initiative. - Care Partners
We will be an active partner in the Healthy Brain Initiative, in updating and implementing Maine’s State
Plan for Alzheimer’s & Related Dementias, and in Maine’s new Respite pilot program.
Testimony - 131st - 2nd Session
Testimony - 131st - 1st Session
LD 1976 – An Act to Update the Growth Management Program Laws
131st Legislature – 1st Session Report
LD 2 – An Act to Address Maine’s Housing Crisis
LD 99 – An Act to Clarify the Allowable Temperature Range in Certain Long-term Care Facilities
LD 208 – An Act Concerning Home Care Services
LD 564 – An Act to Improve Access to Civil Legal Services
LD 709 – An Act to Support Home Share Programming for Seniors
LD 1339 – Resolve, to Establish the Task Force to Study Forming the Maine Commission on Disabilities
LD 1544 – An Act to Improve Economic Security for Maine Children by Establishing the Maine Dependent Tax Credit
LD 1573 Recommendations of the Commission to Study Long-Term Care Workforce Issues
If not now, when will we invest in Maine’s Essential Support Workforce?
We urge you to fully fund LD 1573 An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Commission To Study Long-term Care Workforce Issues in the FY22/23 Biennial Budget
It’s time to value and invest in the tens of thousands of Maine workers who provide vital daily supports and services to older people, people with physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities, and people with behavioral health challenges, to ensure they thrive in their homes and community settings.
Learn more here:
Portland Press Herald Ad LD 1573
Testimony - 130th - 2nd Session
Read our testimony submitted in support or opposition to pending bills for the 2nd Session of the 130th Legislature:
LD 898 – An Act to Create the Essential Support Workforce Advisory Committee
LD 1887 – An Act to Establish the Securities Restitution Assistance Fund for
the Victims of Securities Violations
Testimonies - 130th - 1st Session
Read our testimony submitted in support or opposition to pending bills for the 130th Legislature:
MCOA Introduction to the 130th Joint Standing Committee on Health & Human Services
LD 72 – An Act to Improve Dental Health for Maine Children and Adults With Low Incomes
LD 86 – An Act To Make Sales to Area Agencies on Aging Tax-exempt
LD 166 – An Act To Allow Participants in the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary Program To Qualify for MaineCare Transportation Services
LD 221 – 2021-2023 Biennial Budget
LD 296 – An Act to Create the Family Caregiver Grant Pilot Program
LD 423 – An Act to Improve Access to Bariatric Care in Nursing Homes
LD 441 – An Act to Expand Adult Dental Health Insurance Coverage
LD 499 – An Act To Eliminate the Waiting Lists for Older and Disabled
Residents Who Are Eligible To Receive Home-based Care
LD 557 – An Act To Require Photographic Identification for the Purpose of Voting
LD 609 – Resolve, To Establish a Commission To Increase
Housing Opportunities in Maine by Studying Zoning and Land Use Restrictions
LD 686 – An Act to Increase Prescription Drug Pricing Transparency
LD 878 – Resolve to Increase MaineCare Reimbursement Rates for
Services Provided by Direct Care Workers
LD 886 – Resolve, To Encourage Employment in the Direct Care Workforce
LD 898 – An Act to Provide Incentives to Unemployed to Become Part of the Caregiver Workforce
LD 949 – Resolve, To Restore the MaineCare Nursing Facility COVID-19 Temporary Rate Increase
LD 958 – Resolve Directing the Department of Health and Human Services
to Conduct a Review of Rules Governing In-home Personal Care Assistance Services
LD 996 – An Act to Improve Dental Health Access for Maine Children and Adults with Low Incomes
LD 1117 – An Act to Prevent Excessive Prices for Prescription Drugs
LD 1136 – An Act to Promote Fairness in Income Tax Rates by Making Them More Progressive
LD 1148 – Resolve, To Increase Broadband Access in Private Nonmedical
Institutions (PNMIs)
LD 1197 – Resolve, To Require Continued MaineCare Reimbursement to
Nursing Facilities for Bed Hold Days during Hospitalizations and Therapeutic Leaves of Absence
LD 1386 – Resolve, To Improve Access to Bariatric Care
LD 1443 – An Act Regarding Higher Income Tax Levels
LD 1524 – An Act to Amend the Maine Exclusion Amount in the Estate Tax
LD 1547 – An Act To Promote Intergovernmental Coordination Regarding Age-friendly State Initiatives
LD 1573 – An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Commission
To Study Long-term Care Workforce Issues
LD 1622 – An Act To Promote Individual Retirement Savings through a Public-Private Partnership
LD 1624 – Resolve to Create a Stakeholder Group to Identify the Needs of
Long-term Care Family Caregivers
LD 1733 – An Act To Provide Allocation for the Distribution of State Fiscal Recovery Funds