AUGUSTA (AP) – A bill that won final House and Senate approval would make it easier for Maine’s immigrants to get health insurance.

The bill would change Maine law to make it easier for immigrants to prove that they live in the state and plan to stay in Maine. To become eligible, immigrants would have to show two of six specified documents showing where they live.

Rep. Kevin Glynn said his bill eases stringent state requirements that were put in place more than a dozen years ago.

The South Portland Republican said the current rules have victimized legal immigrants who have been coming to Maine in recent years from Somalia, China and other countries. Somali elders told a legislative committee in January they had been denied health insurance.

The bill would take effect immediately after being signed by the governor.

Bill seeks to protect coastal fisheries from pesticide drift

AUGUSTA (AP) – Maine’s coastal fisheries would get more protection from pesticide drift under a compromise bill that has won a strong vote of support from a legislative committee.

The bill that was endorsed Wednesday by the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry would create a buffer zone along the coast in Cumberland, Sagadahoc and York counties. It also would bar most spraying by air and limit applications to hand-held spray guns.

Rep. Leila Percy, D-Phippsburg, said her bill is aimed at managing chemicals used to control the spread of browntail moth. Percy said lobster fishermen are concerned about the use of chemicals that impede the molting process of marine invertebrates and can kill lobsters.

Percy’s bill also calls for further study of the risks and benefits of pesticide applications near coastal waters. The bill faces House and Senate votes.

Bill inspired by Dechaine case amended

AUGUSTA (AP) – An amended bill to make it easier for criminals in Maine to seek new trials based on DNA evidence has won a strong vote of support from a legislative committee, bolstering its chances of passage by the House and Senate.

The Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday for the bill after adding a deadline to seek new trials based on the refined provisions. The amended version won support of prosecutors, state police, criminal defense lawyers and the original bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ross Paradis, D-Frenchville.

The original bill was proposed by supporters of convicted child murderer Dennis Dechaine, who believe DNA evidence that’s surfaced since his 1989 conviction could lead to a different court verdict.

The amended bill, which faces House and Senate votes, includes a September 2008 deadline for prisoners to request DNA tests. It also expands ways convicts can seek new trials.

The present law sets a high burden of proof for convicts, who must show that they were not the source of the DNA evidence and that it could only have come from the person who committed the crime.

Under the new legislation, petitioners would have to show that DNA tests, when combined with other evidence, would make it probable a different verdict would result from a new trial.

No decision has been made on whether Dechaine will seek a new trial, his attorney Michaela Murphy said. But Murphy said the bill “provides some hope for that possibility.”

Vote close on resolution to allow younger representatives

AUGUSTA (AP) – After a lengthy debate Thursday, the Maine House voted in favor of a constitutional amendment to lower from 21 to 18 the minimum age at which people can serve as state representatives.

But the 74-67 vote was far short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed in a later vote in order to send the resolution to voters.

The bill does not address requirements for senators, who must be at least 25 years old.

Supporters spoke passionately in favor of the lowered age, saying that Mainers who are old enough to vote and serve in the military should be allowed to serve in the House. They said 34 states allow 18-year-olds to serve in their House chambers, and in Maine 18-year-olds may hold county government posts.

But opponents argued that 18-year-olds lack the wisdom brought by life experiences that’s needed to weigh many of the issues representatives face.

“In 185 years, what harm has befallen the state for not having 18-year-olds vote” in the House, asked Rep. David Bowles of Sanford, the Republican floor leader.

The bill now goes to the Senate.