From the Hawaii Reporter:

“There are grave health consequences to a leaving a child in a car unattended for a long period of time” said Representative Lynn Finnegan. “A 2003 CDC study found that during July 2000 to June 2001 an estimated 9,160 non-fatal injuries and 78 fatal injuries occurred in children 14 and younger as a result of being left unattended in or around motor vehicles not in traffic. At least other twelve states have found this problem serious enough to adopt similar language and it is time that Hawaii joins them. I thank Governor Lingle for signing this important bill.” Today the governor will sign Senate Bill 2245, an important bill for the safety of our children. The bill will make it violation of the statewide traffic to leave a child under the age of unattended in a motor vehicle for 5 minutes or longer. The legislation will additionally insure the safety of children by requiring the driver’s exam to specifically test the applicant’s knowledge of the traffic code regarding leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle.

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For the NCSL National conference. From the Kennebec Journal:

The Legislature is sending only two people to this year’s annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures in New Orleans, an event that sometimes attracts more than 10 times as many Maine politicians and legislative aides.

One state representative and one staffer will be making the trip next month.

The lone legislator is Democratic Rep. Boyd Marley of Portland, who is stepping down this year because of term limits. That has raised questions about why he is traveling at state expense.

The National Conference of State Legislatures is arguably the most prominent association of state lawmakers in the country, making its annual meeting a prestigious political event that mixes seminars on many issues with social gatherings and speeches by prominent American politicians, writers and thinkers.

The conference will be held July 22-26.

In recent years, Maine has sent as many as 32 people to the annual meeting at taxpayer expense, including 20 lawmakers and staffers who racked up a $30,000 tab in Nashville in 2006 and 28 people whose 2007 trip to Boston cost Maine taxpayers about $35,000.

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