LEWISTON – Cockspurs? In. Workplace lactation? In. Paying for your own rescue? Out. Nuisance beavers? Still chewing.

It’s about halfway through the legislative session and committees are making their marks on the more than 1,700 bill proposals before them.

Legislative leaders have said they are pleased with the progress made so far.

“The committees are doing a really good job of working bills,” House Speaker Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, said in a recent interview.

Bills calling for bans on merit pay for teachers and drivers’ cell phone use have both been spiked. Another proposal, calling for a ban on animal fighting paraphernalia, including dog bite sticks and cockspurs, has been voted down in the House with a vote pending in the Senate.

Also nixed were measures that would have allowed town officials to shoot “nuisance beavers,” municipalities to provide digital subscriber line service and higher beano basket stakes. Other killed bills include one calling for the creation of a collision database for young drivers and another that would have withheld MaineCare payments from hospitals that advertise.

A proposal, by Rep. Tom Saviello, U-Wilton, which called for the creation of a wilderness AAA card that adventurers could purchase to avoid getting stuck with any rescue costs incurred by the state, in the event such services were needed, was also struck down.

Plenty of other proposals are still awaiting consideration by the full Legislature in their original or amended form.

A pair of bills sponsored by Sen. Deb Simpson, D-Auburn, that would increase child support collections have each been amended and granted preliminary approval by the Judiciary Committee, but have not yet been officially sent to the floor.

The same goes for a bill authored by Rep. Nancy Smith, D-Monmouth, that would make it easier for customers to purchase beer growlers from brewers, and a proposal by Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, that would help fund veteran transportation services. The Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee has voted on each, but not officially passed them on for consideration by their colleagues.

Some bills that have passed through their respective committees are sure to spark floor debate.

One such proposal, sponsored by Rep. Melissa Walsh Innes, D-Yarmouth, calls on employers to put “reasonable efforts” into providing new mothers with a clean room so they can express milk in privacy while at work.

Also likely to get lawmakers talking is a measure that would ban smoking in, on or within 20 feet of public places in state parks, including beaches. Officially sponsored by Sen. John Nutting, D-Leeds, the measure is similar to legislation from Rep. Gary Knight, R-Livermore Falls, whose bill was killed in committee in favor of Nutting’s. The smoking ban has received preliminary votes in the House and Senate but awaits further action.

Another controversial proposal by Knight, which would have put a 90-day residency requirement on individuals seeking municipal general assistance, was unanimously opposed by members of the Health and Human Services Committee, though a similar proposal is still pending before them.

A bill calling for Franco-American studies by Maine students, sponsored by Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, is also still lingering before the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. Similar legislation drafted by Rep. Brian Bolduc, D-Auburn, was voted down.

Despite the work completed so far, plenty of proposals remain before legislators, including measures to reform taxes, allow gay marriage, shape the state’s energy policy and enact a biennial budget.