AUGUSTA, Maine — In an hours-long public hearing session at the state house Monday, lawmakers heard testimony about a bill that would tackle issues in Maine's emergency response system that were exposed during the Lewiston mass shooting, that left 18 dead and 13 injured.
The bill, LD 2237, An Act to Strengthen Public Safety, Health, and Well-being by Expanding Services and Coordinating Violence Prevention Resources, hits on six keynotes according to its sponsor, House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross.
The bill comes at a cost, but Talbot Ross said a significant investment must come to remedy a significant problem.
Money would go to funding mental health crisis centers, and clinics, establishing an Office of Violence Prevention, reducing wait times for medication management, requiring the Department of Public Safety to host gun shop projects by distributing suicide prevention resources, and requiring the Department of Public Safety to restructure how it communicates with the community and deaf/hard of hearing community when emergencies arise.
"October 25 showed us our systems failed, that we did not have accurate information and we did not have info about the active shooter," Thomas Minch, an advocate for Disability Rights Maine said. "There were a number of actions that needed to happen in our community.
Minch testified in support of the bill, especially the final part about establishing new protocols for distributing critical information to the deaf community in the event of an emergency like the Lewiston mass shooting, which claimed the lives of four members of Maine's Deaf community.
"It is personal for me, I am trying to fight for communication access and support our hard of hearing community at the same time...this bill really focuses on the mental health support... and in those kinds of situations the deaf and hard of hearing community needs additional support."
The bill was met with bipartisan support. No one signed up to testify against the bill.
The bill will have a work session in the coming weeks where lawmakers can consider how it will be funded or if it needs to be reworked.
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