From Peace and Social Concerns Committee
UPDATE: February 12, 2026:
The date for the public hearings on the two big “sovereignty bills” has been announced. The
date is: Thursday, February 19, 2026, 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. in the Judiciary Committee
meeting room, State House, Room 438.
10:00 a.m.: LD 395: “An Act to Restore Access to Federal Laws Beneficial to the
Wabanaki Nations”
1:00 p.m.: LD 785: An Act to Enact the Remaining Recommendations of the Task Force
on Changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act”
See the Wabanaki Alliance website for a summary of the bills and talking points:
LD 395: https://www.wabanakialliance.com/ld-395-talking-points/
LD 785: https://www.wabanakialliance.com/ld-785-talking-points/
These bills will be very similar to ones that have come up in previous sessions, so you can dust
off and update those previous testimonies!
To support these bills contact your legislators. You can find them by going to
www.maine.gov and type voter lookup into the search bar. Select Government: eDemocracy:
Voter Information Lookup and enter the name of your town
Important Wabanaki Legislation, January 23, 2026
The Wabanaki Alliance will be having a Lobby Day, likely in February, in conjunction with the
hearings on the two most important bills coming before the legislature this session. We ask you
to contact your legislators in support of these bills.
P&SC will provide more information as we learn the dates and committees that will hold
the hearings.
To support these bills contact your legislators. You can find them by going to
www.maine.gov and type voter lookup into the search bar. Select Government: eDemocracy:
Voter Information Lookup and enter the name of your town.
LD 785 (previously LD 1626 in past legislature), which will incorporate all of the proposed
amendments to the 1980 Settlement Act that haven’t already been passed (which is the majority
of them recommended by a 2019 bipartisan task force); and,
LD 395 (previously LD 2004), which seeks to give the Wabanaki Nations access to all of the
beneficial laws that have been passed for the other 571 federally-recognized Indigenous
Nations, but which have been denied to the Wabanaki since 1980)
