Legislators have submitted close to 570 bill titles for possible review when they come back to Augusta in January – a record for this decade and one driven by nearly 70 proposals dealing with school consolidation.

The number compares to 496 submitted in 2005, 362 in 2003 and 489 in 2001.

Not all will be approved for legislative review, however. The Legislative Council, made up of legislative leaders from both parties, will meet on Oct. 25 to vote on which ones to allow through. Under the state constitution, bills considered in the second, shorter session of the two-year legislative term are supposed to be of an emergency nature, related to the budget or a result of a study committee that met during the off-season. In past years, the number approved by the Legislative Council is less than half or even one-third of those submitted.

This session the school consolidation law, approved earlier this year, is drawing a lot of proposed amendments, ranging from total repeal to a longer timeline for implementation. A number of bills talk about allowing cities and towns that are coming together into a new regional school unit to draw up their own cost-sharing agreements -a concept Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said she supports.

Locally, the following bill titles have been submitted:

Rep. Susan Austin of Gray: An Act To Designate August 24th as Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day

Rep. Christopher Barstow of Gorham: An Act To Clarify the Laws Governing the Extension of Health Care Coverage to Dependents

Sen. Philip Bartlett of Gorham: An Act To Preserve Internet Security; An Act To Promote Home Energy Conservation;

An Act To Provide Property Tax Relief; An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Storm Water Management;

An Act To Promote Fuel-efficient Cars and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions; An Act To Clarify Maine’s “Do Not Call” Law

Rep. Paulette Beaudoin of Biddeford: An Act To Amend the Laws Regarding Public Restroom Facilities; An Act To Appropriate Funds To Equip State Trooper Cars with Cages

Rep. Larry Bliss of South Portland: An Act To Make the Lupine the Official Flower of Maine; Resolution, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Restrict Revaluations of Real Property; An Act To Establish Consistent Consumer Protections for Cable and Video Programming Customers; An Act To Create the Municipal Real Estate Transfer Tax; An Act To Amend the Laws Concerning the Maine Communications System Policy Board

Rep. Andrea Boland of Sanford: An Act To Prohibit the Required Implanting of a Microchip in a Person; An Act To Extend the Tax Credit for College Loan Repayment to Students Attending Out-of-state Colleges; An Act To Inform Patients of Their Right To Decline To Be Vaccinated

Sen. Lynn Bromley of South Portland: An Act To Allow Direct-to-consumer Wine Sales; An Act To Strengthen the Maine Small Business and Entrepreneurship Commission; An Act Regarding the Board of Examiners in Physical Therapy; An Act To Provide Reasonable Notice to Consumers When Utility Services Are Interrupted for Repairs and Restored

Rep. Mark Bryant of Windham: An Act To Require Disclosure Statements Regarding Proration of Property Taxes When Real Estate Is Sold; An Act To Amend the Shoreland Zoning Laws To Allow Carports;An Act To Create a New Position in the Bureau of Warden Service; An Act To Require Education in Boating Safety; Resolve, To Require the Department of Health and Human Services To Amend MaineCare Rules and Stay Review for Ongoing Eligibility for Nursing Facility Services To Permit an Exception Process for Late Submissions; Resolve, To Require the Department of Health and Human Services To Provide Appropriate Cost-of-living Adjustments for Certain Medical and Remedial Private Nonmedical Institutions; An Act To Protect Maine Workers during Labor Disputes

Rep. James Campbell of Newfield: An Act To Preserve Access to Assisted Living Services for Maine’s Elderly and Disabled Citizens

Rep. Alan Casavant of Biddeford: An Act To Allow Disability Variances To Be Granted for Reasons Other than Ingress or Egress; Resolve, To Create a Work Group Concerning Education Curricula and Social Networking Websites

Rep. Richard Cebra of Naples: An Act To Extend All Deadlines Concerning the Consolidation of School Administrative Units by One Year; An Act To Waive All Penalties in the Plan for the Consolidation of School Administrative Units; An Act To Allow a Holder of a Concealed Weapons Permit To Carry a Weapon Anywhere in the State; An Act To Require Municipal Reporting of Urban-Rural Initiative Program Funds Spending; An Act To Require Municipal Reporting Regarding Expenditures of Excise Tax Revenue for Road Projects; An Act To Cap Property Taxes

Sen. Jonathan Courtney of Springvale: An Act To Provide Ongoing Funding for the Historic Preservation Tax Credit; An Act To Increase the Penalty for Operating under the Influence

Sen. Bill Diamond of Windham: An Act To Ensure Access to Necessary Health Care Services in Maine

Rep. Cynthia Dill of Cape Elizabeth: An Act To Prohibit Discrimination Based on Familial Status and Responsibilities; An Act To Create a Judicial Cascade Account; An Act To Minimize Power Outages in Future Development; An Act To Improve the Services of Charitable Organizations by Providing a Sales Tax Exemption; An Act To Improve the Safety of Passengers in Wheelchairs on Public Transportation

Rep. Timothy Driscoll of Westbrook: An Act To Allow Online Registration of Watercraft

Rep. Jane Eberle of South Portland: Resolve, Authorizing the President of the Maine Community College System To Sell Two Parcels of Real Property in South Portland

Rep. David Farrington of Gorham: An Act To Clarify Budget Validation Referendum Procedures in Charter Municipalities; An Act To Exclude Collectively Bargained and Job Promotion Increases from the Earnable Compensation Limitation for Retirement Purposes; An Act To Clarify the Application of the Budget Validation Process for School Administrative Units Spending at or Less than the Essential Programs and Services Model.

Sen. David Hastings of Fryeburg: An Act To Amend the Informed Growth Act; An Act To Repeal the Informed Growth Act; An Act To Amend the Freedom of Access Laws To Provide Attorney’s Fees in Certain Successful Appeals; An Act To Clarify the Sales Tax on Prepared Meals; An Act To Clarify the Population Density Parameter under the Laws Governing School Administrative Unit Consolidation; An Act To Authorize Acreage in the Town of Baldwin To Be Designated as a Pine Tree Development Zone; An Act To Establish the Transition Adjustment for Fiscal Year 2008-09; An Act To Limit the Liability of Water Utilities Operating outside Their Service Charter in Response to Emergency Situations

Sen. Barry Hobbins of Saco: An Act To Correct the Uniform Limited Partnership Act of 2007; An Act To Authorize a Budget Process for Municipal School Units Governed by Municipal Charters; An Act To Allow School Districts in Regional School Units To Develop Individual Cost-sharing Agreements; An Act Regarding the Administration of Medication to Children with Allergies and Asthma

Rep. George Hogan of Old Orchard Beach: An Act To Require the Recording of all Public Entities When in Executive Session; An Act To Allow School Districts Forming a Regional School Unit To Develop Individual Cost-sharing Agreements That Provide Equity in Local Funding

Rep. Lawrence Jacobsen of Waterboro: Resolve, To Ensure the Future Supply of Domestic and Industrial Electric Power Generated within the State; Resolve, To Make Lake Arrowhead in the Town of Waterboro and the Town of Limerick the Primary Location for Developing and Testing Methods of Eradicating Milfoil and Other Invasive Aquatic Species; An Act To Include School Bus Drivers in the Maine Public Employees Retirement System; Resolve, Directing the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources To Determine whether Ethanol Production in this State Would Benefit Maine Agriculture

Rep. Bryan Kaenrath of South Portland: An Act To Increase the Time Period for Motor Vehicle Inspections to 2 Years; An Act To Create the Crime of Producing Graffiti.

Rep. John McDonough of Scarborough: An Act To Compute Automobile and Boat Excise Tax Based on the Actual Purchase Price

Rep. Gary Moore of Standish: An Act To Exempt Commercial Logging Equipment from the State Sales Tax

Sen. Richard Nass of Acton: An Act To Require That Persons Who Perform Engineering Work in Commercial Buildings Be Licensed; An Act To Establish Limited Liability for Landowners for Owners of Noncommercial Airstrip; An Act Relating to Access on Private Roads; An Act To Amend the School Funding Formula To Facilitate School District Consolidation

Rep. Peggy Pendleton of Scarborough: Resolve, To Determine Methods of Securing a Trained Laboratory Workforce for Maine; An Act To Reduce Municipal Property Taxes; An Act To Protect Nurses from Mandatory Overtime and Other Requirements; An Act To Provide Child Care for Students in Maine’s Community Colleges and the University of Maine System; An Act To Create the Position of Braille Transcriber and Assistant

Rep. Ann Peoples of Westbrook: An Act To Require Ignition Interlock Systems for Drivers Convicted of Operating Under the Influence

Rep. Don Pilon of Saco: An Act To Create a Tax Deferral Program for Maine Residents 65 Years of Age or Older; An Act To Alter the Method of Calculating the Excise Tax on Automobiles; An Act To Ban Large Power Boats from Inland Waters; An Act To Tie the Travel Reimbursement Rate for Legislators to the Federal Reimbursement Rate

Rep. John Robinson of Raymond: An Act To Ensure Safe Sound Levels on Motorcycles; An Act To Ensure Digital Telephone Access in Rural Areas; An Act To Promote Sustainable Prosperity by Streamlining and Modernizing State Governmen.

Sen. Nancy Sullivan of Biddeford: An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Bottle Redemption and Establish the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources as the Agent in the State for Purposes of Bottle Redemption; An Act To Establish a Statewide Bank System for Returnable Bottles; An Act To Prevent Domestic Violence and Protect Our Citizens; An Act To Amend the Insurance Scoring and Rerating Laws

Rep. Richard Sykes of Harrison: An Act To Impose a Horsepower Restriction for Boat Motors on Long Lake and Brandy Pond; An Act To Enact a Safe Boating Education Act; An Act To Enact Guidelines for Operating a Boat; An Act Concerning Seasonal Wardens and Boating Safety; An Act To Restrict the Operation of Certain Motorboats to Persons 16 Years of Age or Older; An Act To Prohibit the Retail Sale or Distribution of Novelty Lighters ; An Act To Create the Position of Summer Warden within the Warden Service; An Act To Mandate Boating Safety Education

Rep. John Tuttle of Sanford: An Act To Allow the Maine Athletic Commission To Regulate Mixed-martial Art Competitions in the State; An Act To Create a Wild Boar Game Ranch in Piscataquis County; An Act To Create a Lobster Stock Rebuilding Program; An Act To Amend the Family Medical Leave Laws To Include Siblings; An Act To Create a Catastrophic Illness Fund To Help Firefighters, Police Officers, Emergency Medical Technicians, Paramedics and Their Families; An Act To Require the Maine Economic Research Institute To Report Financial Matters to the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices; An Act To Amend the Law Regarding First Responders for Emergency Services; An Act Regarding the Use of MaineCare Insurance during Catastrophic Illness; Resolve, To Name the Springvale Veterans Cemetery the Roger Landry Veterans Cemetery; Resolve, Directing the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife To Research the Feasibility of a Special Bass Fishing Trail; An Act To Require Helmets for Motorcyclists; An Act To Improve the Working Conditions, Health and Personal Safety of Dispatchers at the Maine State Police Barracks in Gray, Maine; Resolve, Directing Maine Emergency Medical Services To Study Methods To Protect Emergency Medical Services Personnel during the Transportation of Persons with Mental Illness