We recently concluded this year’s legislative session, where we passed laws intended to make life better for families and working people. In Maine, we did the hard work of governing, passing policies I believe will help ensure our state is a place where families can live and work, where young people can put down roots and where we take care of our aging neighbors.

While there is always more work to be done, I am proud of what we accomplished this session and the legislation we passed over the last two years that aims to bolster our economy and protect the rights of everyday people.

As someone who has primarily worked in restaurants, the rights of workers are front of mind for me. We passed several initiatives this session that I believe will help workers, from establishing that people who show up to work for shift work receive minimum pay, to legislation that requires the Department of Labor to report to the Legislature on the impact of our current workplace sexual harassment policies and include recommendations for strengthening prevention efforts.

Additionally, we established the Maine-Aomori Sister-state Advisory Council (MASSAC) in state law. MASSAC has been nurturing long-lasting relationships between the Aomori Prefecture in Japan and the State of Maine since the ‘90s. These partnerships have been shown to foster economic development in aquaculture and support exchange programs in education, the arts and archeology. Now, we can continue to build and foster our relationship with Aomori as our communities face the shared effects of climate change.

Another bill, LD 2106, which is now law, is intended to uphold due process in Maine and protect residents from unchecked immigration enforcement. This legislation should help provide clarity for employees at public schools, state health facilities and state libraries on what to do if, and when, they encounter Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It requires immigration officers to obtain a warrant signed by a judge in order to conduct enforcement at places where everyone should feel safe.

The protections laid out in this bill are not new – they were part of federal immigration policy for years that largely prohibited immigration enforcement at sensitive locations. I saw “Operation Catch of the Day” and other reckless federal immigration enforcement in Maine create lasting terror in our communities. To me, this bill is about recognizing the humanity in one another and protecting the rights and safety of all Maine residents.

With help from advocates, the Legislature also passed LD 957 this session to integrate the history and contributions of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) people into our statewide system of learning results. In 2020, during the pandemic, we saw a sharp rise in hate crimes committed against the AANHPI community here in Maine. As we work to improve public safety and prevent future violence, educators can utilize many cost-effective and free resources covering AANHPI history and key events in the U.S., like the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. AANHPI history is American history.

Finally, for survivors of sexual assault, we passed LD 412, which improves access to justice for survivors by prohibiting the sale of self-administered sexual assault forensic evidence collection kits that distance survivors from critical services at medical facilities, like free evidence collection, advocacy services, legal assistance and time-sensitive prophylactic measures.

I believe, this session, that we passed bills to help address the concerns that Gorham residents have shared with me.
I can best represent our community by hearing directly from you about the issues you care about. You can contact me by email at Ellie.Sato@legislature.maine.gov or by phone at 207-287-1430. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need assistance navigating state services or even just to introduce yourself.