District: Part of Lewiston

Legislative service: Third term

Committee: Education

Bill record: 13 bills, seven signed, one carried over, five dead

Voting record

Budget: For

Tax reform: For

Bear trapping ban: For

Washington County slots at a tribal horse track: For

Stiffer seat belt law: For

Increase term limits from 4 two-year terms to 6: For

If someone dishes out good money to see a popular rock group from the 1950s, they should be guaranteed that it is the real thing, Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, a former member of the rock group Sha Na Na, told the Business, Research and Economic Development Committee this session.

Elaine Makas agreed, and sponsored the “Truth in Music Act,” which passed this session. The act makes it a crime to impersonate a musical act under the impression of being the real thing.

Some people called it frivolous, but “to me it was important – important for John and Mary Smith who are paying out good money to see a group thinking it was the real thing,” Makas said. “It makes you feel like you’ve been cheated.”

In addition, Makas championed bills that created new hurdles for companies trying to bury out-of-state construction debris in Maine’s municipal landfills and established followup tests for newborns diagnosed with hearing problems.

Makas is on the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, which debated the school district consolidation issue. Makas said it was important to make sure Lewiston’s interests were protected during the debate, and thus spoke out against a mandated 5 percent savings in the transportation, facilities and special education departments. This was later changed to simply saving 5 percent in non-instructional costs.

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