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An Act To Assist School Administrative Units in Providing Health Insurance to Their Employees
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §1001, sub-§14, ¶D  is enacted to read:
 
D.  In order to facilitate the competitive bidding process in procuring health insurance for a school administrative unit’s employees under this subsection, the administrator for an individual school plan or for a group plan for a multiple-school group shall seek and obtain competitive bids through a request for proposal process from qualified insurers at least once every 5 years commencing July 1, 2012. The administrator for any such group plan shall make the request for proposal responses available to requesting school administrative units, excluding any portions of the request for proposal responses considered to be confidential proprietary information by the submitting insurers. If any such individual school plan or group plan is subsequently self-insured, in whole or in part, the school board shall compare the overall cost of such a self-insured plan, including projected claims, all administrative expenses and reinsurance expenses, to the cost of insured products at least once every 5 years commencing July 1, 2012.
Sec. 2. Voluntary employee benefits trust; low-cost plan. The voluntary employee benefits trust established pursuant to the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 United States Code, Sections 1001 to 1461 (1988) by a statewide education association shall review and consider creating a new benefits option with a lower premium rate for the plan year starting July 1, 2012 or a subsequent plan year.
Sec. 3. Voluntary employee benefits trust; board of trustees appointment. The voluntary employee benefits trust established pursuant to the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 United States Code, Sections 1001 to 1461 (1988) by a statewide education association shall include a representative appointed by the Maine School Boards Association to serve as a member of the trust's board of trustees no later than January 1, 2012.
 
Effective 90 days following adjournment of the 125th Legislature, First Regular Session, unless otherwise indicated.