1.  Advisory group.  An advisory group is established to advise the department on state income tax changes including the format of check-off boxes on income tax forms pursuant to Title 36, section 5294, effectiveness of the easy enrollment program under section 5412, feasibility of automatic enrollment in health care plans, improvements to outreach materials, issues related to necessary information required for establishing eligibility while maintaining confidentiality and proposed changes to improve the program. The commissioner and the superintendent or the commissioner's or superintendent's designees are cochairs and shall convene the advisory group. The chairs shall jointly appoint members to the advisory group, and members must include the stakeholders described in section 5404, subsection 2, paragraph B and representatives of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of Revenue Services and professional tax preparers. The advisory group shall meet at least 3 times a year and as often as necessary to carry out its advisory duties.  

2.  Data collection.  The department shall provide an annual report on the easy enrollment program under section 5412 to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health insurance matters and the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over MaineCare matters. The report must include the number of persons who marked the check-off boxes on tax returns as described in section 5412, subsection 1, the number provisionally assessed as eligible by the marketplace for benefits under the MaineCare program or a qualified health plan in the marketplace, the number who enrolled in the MaineCare program, the number who enrolled in qualified health plans in the marketplace, how many enrolled in a qualified health plan in the marketplace who were eligible for financial assistance and demographic data on enrollment. The report must be submitted by November 15th of each year beginning in 2024 and contain data based on the previous calendar year's tax return data.