I write this letter in response to Marina Villeneuve’s Dec. 31 article in the Press Herald regarding the filing of “skeleton bills” by Maine legislators. I understand several of the criticisms voiced in the article regarding the vagueness of so-called concept bills.

However, as a first-time legislator just learning the details of the bill-filing process since my election on Nov. 8, and facing a cloture date (last day to file bills) of Dec. 30, I felt I had two options – neither of which greatly appealed to me.

One was to not file any bills that were not fully drafted, and run the risk of never having the opportunity to file them again. Bills in the second year of the two-year legislative session are only allowed to be considered under very limited circumstances, and, of course, one never knows in advance the outcome of a second-term election.

The second option was to file bills that contained my basic ideas, the concepts, and work to flesh them out over the next several weeks.

Rep. John Martin was quoted in the article as saying that “newly elected legislators may just not have the time for drafting a complete bill on a complex issue by the Dec. 30 deadline.”

That was the situation I faced. Would I have liked another month to conduct research and draft specific detailed bill language? Absolutely!

But I didn’t have that month and I thought it made sense to put my ideas forward, so they at least could be discussed.

If I were simply going to keep my ideas in my head and discuss them with myself, I could be doing that from the warmth and comfort of my home in front of my woodstove.

But that is not why I ran for the Legislature and I don’t think it is what those who elected me would expect.

John A. Spear

State representative, District 92

South Thomaston

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