Jon Hinck
Encyclopedia
Jon Hinck is an American environmentalist, lawyer and politician. Since 2006 he has served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives
, representing House District 118, part of Portland, Maine
. The non-partisan research group Maine Conservation Voters gives Hinck a score of "100%" on their Environmental Scorecard. Hinck's law practice concentrates on mass tort litigation representing plaintiffs in pension plan, investor, consumer and environmental cases. On November 12, 2011, Hinck announced his candidacy for the United States Senate
seat now held by Olympia Snowe
.
, and spent most of his childhood in Liberty Corner
and Bernardsville, New Jersey
. He was an honor student, an Eagle Scout
and a varsity
athlete. After graduating from Bernards High School
in 1972, he worked his way through the University of Pennsylvania
as a taxicab driver, projectionist and theater usher. He graduated with a dual major in English and History. While an undergraduate he co-founded a professional jazz club called the New Foxhole Café in West Philadelphia
.
In 1976, Hinck spent six months teaching English language at the Iran-America Society
in Isfahan, Iran
. He traveled in the Middle East from Turkey through Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India.
In 1977, Hinck moved to Seattle, Washington, where he worked in the local movie business, managing a landmark movie theater and buying and booking films. He subsequently became involved with the Greenpeace movement, co-founded the national organization known as Greenpeace USA, and served as National Campaign Director.
In 1990, Hinck earned a law degree from the UC Berkeley School of Law
. Hinck was associate editor of the California Law Review
where he also published The Republic of Palau and the United States: Self-Determination Becomes the Price of Free Association.
, then based in Vancouver, B.C. The next year, Hinck was hired as the Media and Campaign Director for Greenpeace Seattle. In late 1979, he represented that office at a meeting of the U.S.-based branches of Greenpeace and joined in the creation of the new national affiliate, Greenpeace USA.
In the years that followed, Hinck was instrumental in building Greenpeace USA into one of the nation's largest and most influential environmental groups. He led Greenpeace campaigns on a range of issues related to preserving clean air and water, protecting the marine environment, and encouraging development of clean energy.
From 1979 to 1981 Hinck played a leading role in efforts by Greenpeace Seattle and Greenpeace Vancouver to prevent oil pollution on the Northwest Coast. The Greenpeace campaign achieved a ban on oil supertankers
in Puget Sound and an end to plans to construct the Northern Tier Pipeline.
Hinck led Greenpeace in some of its earliest work on controlling toxic pollution. In 1982, Hinck and Greenpeace exposed the dangerous practices of the Western Processing Company, a waste handling firm. The company, located in Kent, Washington
, had surreptitiously buried thousands of barrels of dangerous toxic compounds on company grounds. Greenpeace pressure eventually led to federal EPA enforcement proceedings. The site was placed on the federal Superfund
list and was eventually completely cleaned up with money from WPC and its clients, including Boeing.
In 1983 Hinck assumed Greenpeace USA's key leadership position of Campaign Director. In that capacity, Hinck worked with Greenpeace Canada to confront a Russian whaling operation on the Siberian coast in the North Pacific. On July 18, 1983, Greenpeace’s flag ship Rainbow Warrior sailed into Soviet waters off Siberia just as the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission
was underway in Cambridge
, England. The Greenpeace ship landed at a remote whaling station, where seven Greenpeace activists went ashore and were arrested. The Rainbow Warrior started out to sea in order to deliver to the outside world documentation of the whaling operation and the arrest of Greenpeace workers. Pursued by a warship, a merchant vessel and a helicopter, the Rainbow Warrior escaped across the Bering Strait to US waters near Nome, Alaska
. The Greenpeace activists were held captive for five days while Hinck negotiated their release with Soviet authorities. The transfer was made at sea on the International Date Line
from a Soviet warship to the Rainbow Warrior before a worldwide media audience.
Hinck collaborated on the worldwide effort to prevent dumping nuclear waste at sea. The work of Hinck’s team at Greenpeace USA, along with that of collaborators, resulted in the U.S. government’s dropping plans to recommence nuclear waste disposal at sea. Greenpeace subsequently achieved a total ban on nuclear dumping through the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter
, an international treaty now commonly referred to as the London Convention.
Hinck also initiated efforts to curtail the incineration of highly toxic waste at sea. The efforts of Hinck and Greenpeace colleagues in North America and Europe resulted in a ban passed in the London Convention that effectively ended the practice. During this period, Hinck testified before Congressional committees and consulted on marine pollution issues with the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere.
In 1985 Hinck led Greenpeace campaigns for the control of pollution and protection of clean water throughout North America.
Hinck contributed to environmentalist successes against notorious toxic polluters, including the ASARCO
Tacoma smelter in Washington state, For example, Chemical Waste Management (now WMX Technologies), later admitted that charges made against it for mishandling waste and other practices had "proved well-founded" and had resulted in important improvements.
Hinck initiated efforts related to toxic waste and toxic product exports from the Western industrialized countries to lesser developed countries. This campaign culminated in the adoption of a treaty known as the Basel Convention
, which regulates transboundary shipping of hazardous waste; 160 nations are now signatories to this treaty.
In 1986 and 1987, Hinck and Greenpeace colleague Kelly Rigg initiated the first Greenpeace campaign to tackle environmental harm arising from the lending practices of the World Bank and other multilateral development banks.
In 1996, after attending law school and practicing law in California, Palau and Maine, Hinck returned to Greenpeace. He was hired by Greenpeace International Executive Director Thilo Bode to serve as International Campaign Director. In that capacity, working out of the Amsterdam headquarters, Hinck served as delegate to the 1997 convention in Kyoto, Japan, which generated the Kyoto Protocol
.
law, which for the first time required manufacturers to take responsibility for environmentally sound recycling of computers and TVs.
While at NRCM, Hinck helped to make Maine a leader in reducing mercury pollution.
class actions such as In re VeriFone Sec. Lit., Civ. No. C-90-2705-VRW (N.D. Cal.) He then practiced with Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, a leading class action law firm. Hinck worked on consumer and environmental class actions and served as plaintiffs' class counsel in the massive maritime environmental tort case In re Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.
In 1993, both Hinck and his wife Juliet Browne took positions as Assistant Attorneys General in Palau
, a United Nations trusteeship in the Western Pacific. Hinck successfully litigated a series of cases that in 1994 enabled the Republic of Palau to become a sovereign nation. Hinck also successfully prosecuted criminal cases including one where he gained the conviction of legislator for trafficking in dangerous narcotics. In 1995 he was designate Acting Attorney General for the new nation.
In 1998, working with Lewis Saul & Associates, which has offices in Washington DC and Portland, Maine, Hinck filed the first statewide case in the country against oil companies over groundwater contamination in Maine caused by the gasoline additive MTBE
. Subsequently, Hinck helped to organize cases nationwide for recovery from MTBE pollution.
in 2006, and is now serving his third term. He represents District 118, which covers part of Portland.
Hinck has served as House Chair of the legislature’s Utilities & Energy Committee and is the now the House Minority Lead of the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology. He also served on the Joint Select Committee on Maine’s Energy Future and the Commission to Study Maine’s Energy Infrastructure. He is vice-chair of the Energy & Environment Committee of the Council of State Governments /Eastern Regional Council an organization dedicated to assisting in collaboration among legislators of Eastern states and provinces. Hinck is a member of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators and the national Coalition of Legislators for Energy Action Now.
In 2006 Hinck authored L.D. 837, An Act to Prevent Infant Exposure to Harmful Hormone-disrupting Substances, which would have set new guidelines for chemicals in children’s products, including a ban on Bisphenol A
, popularly known as BPA. The bill was defeated, but some of its provisions were subsequently adopted through rulemaking
.
During Hinck’s two sessions as co-chair of Maine Legislature’s Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology, the Committee worked on and unanimously passed out legislation on such subjects as: 1) rural broadband infrastructure, known in Maine as the "three ring binder"; 2) the smart grid; 3) ocean energy development; 4) energy corridors; and 5) Property Assessed Clean Energy ("PACE") legislation to provide innovative financing for efficiency, weatherization and residential use of renewable power. These bills were passed by the full legislature and signed into law by Governor Baldacci.
In 2010, Hinck successfully sponsored LD 1535, An Act To Create a Smart Grid Policy in the State, which was signed into law in 2010. The law promotes development of an electrical transmission system to manage and reduce energy use.
Hinck introduced a bill to encourage best practices and greater responsibility in the dispensing and prescribing of addictive painkillers like OxyContin; that bill has now been enacted as Resolve, To Reduce Opioid Overprescription, Overuse and Abuse.
Maine House of Representatives
The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 members representing an equal amount of districts across the state. Each voting member of the House represents around 8,450 citizens of the state...
, representing House District 118, part of Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
. The non-partisan research group Maine Conservation Voters gives Hinck a score of "100%" on their Environmental Scorecard. Hinck's law practice concentrates on mass tort litigation representing plaintiffs in pension plan, investor, consumer and environmental cases. On November 12, 2011, Hinck announced his candidacy for the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
seat now held by Olympia Snowe
Olympia Snowe
Olympia Jean Snowe , née Bouchles, is the senior United States Senator from Maine and a member of the Republican Party. Snowe has become widely known for her ability to influence the outcome of close votes, including whether to end filibusters. She and her fellow Senator from Maine, Susan Collins,...
.
Early life and education
Hinck was born in Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, and spent most of his childhood in Liberty Corner
Liberty Corner, New Jersey
Liberty Corner is an unincorporated community in Bernards Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. Liberty Corner is about 3.75 miles south of Bernardsville. Liberty Corner has a post office with ZIP code 07938.-Geography:...
and Bernardsville, New Jersey
Bernardsville, New Jersey
Bernardsville is a borough and affluent suburb in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. Bernardsville has the 10th-highest per capita income in the state. Nationwide, Bernardsville ranks 75th among the 100 highest-income places in the United States...
. He was an honor student, an Eagle Scout
Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)
Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
and a varsity
Varsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
athlete. After graduating from Bernards High School
Bernards High School
Bernards High School is a comprehensive four-year regional public high school in Somerset County, New Jersey. The school is part of the Somerset Hills Regional School District, a regional K–12 school district that consists of the participating municipalities of Bernardsville, Far Hills and...
in 1972, he worked his way through the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
as a taxicab driver, projectionist and theater usher. He graduated with a dual major in English and History. While an undergraduate he co-founded a professional jazz club called the New Foxhole Café in West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though there is no official definition of its boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Line Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the southwest, and...
.
In 1976, Hinck spent six months teaching English language at the Iran-America Society
Iran-America Society
The Iran-America Society was founded in the 1950s in Tehran, Iran to promote understanding between the people of Iran and the people of the United States of America. The founding Chairman of the Board was Ralph E. Becket. David Nalle was one of its early directors. Its office in Washington, DC...
in Isfahan, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. He traveled in the Middle East from Turkey through Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India.
In 1977, Hinck moved to Seattle, Washington, where he worked in the local movie business, managing a landmark movie theater and buying and booking films. He subsequently became involved with the Greenpeace movement, co-founded the national organization known as Greenpeace USA, and served as National Campaign Director.
In 1990, Hinck earned a law degree from the UC Berkeley School of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, commonly referred to as Berkeley Law and Boalt Hall, is one of 14 schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley Law is consistently regarded as an elite and prestigious law school...
. Hinck was associate editor of the California Law Review
California Law Review
The California Law Review is the flagship law journal of UC Berkeley School of Law . Founded in 1912, the Review was the first student law journal published west of Illinois....
where he also published The Republic of Palau and the United States: Self-Determination Becomes the Price of Free Association.
Greenpeace
In November 1978, Hinck took a job in Seattle working for a monthly newspaper published by the environmental organization GreenpeaceGreenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
, then based in Vancouver, B.C. The next year, Hinck was hired as the Media and Campaign Director for Greenpeace Seattle. In late 1979, he represented that office at a meeting of the U.S.-based branches of Greenpeace and joined in the creation of the new national affiliate, Greenpeace USA.
In the years that followed, Hinck was instrumental in building Greenpeace USA into one of the nation's largest and most influential environmental groups. He led Greenpeace campaigns on a range of issues related to preserving clean air and water, protecting the marine environment, and encouraging development of clean energy.
From 1979 to 1981 Hinck played a leading role in efforts by Greenpeace Seattle and Greenpeace Vancouver to prevent oil pollution on the Northwest Coast. The Greenpeace campaign achieved a ban on oil supertankers
Oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries...
in Puget Sound and an end to plans to construct the Northern Tier Pipeline.
Hinck led Greenpeace in some of its earliest work on controlling toxic pollution. In 1982, Hinck and Greenpeace exposed the dangerous practices of the Western Processing Company, a waste handling firm. The company, located in Kent, Washington
Kent, Washington
Kent is a city located in King County, Washington, United States, and is the third largest city in King County and the sixth largest in the state. An outlying suburb of Seattle, Kent is also the corporate home for companies such as REI and Oberto Sausage...
, had surreptitiously buried thousands of barrels of dangerous toxic compounds on company grounds. Greenpeace pressure eventually led to federal EPA enforcement proceedings. The site was placed on the federal Superfund
Superfund
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
list and was eventually completely cleaned up with money from WPC and its clients, including Boeing.
In 1983 Hinck assumed Greenpeace USA's key leadership position of Campaign Director. In that capacity, Hinck worked with Greenpeace Canada to confront a Russian whaling operation on the Siberian coast in the North Pacific. On July 18, 1983, Greenpeace’s flag ship Rainbow Warrior sailed into Soviet waters off Siberia just as the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission
International Whaling Commission
The International Whaling Commission is an international body set up by the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling , which was signed in Washington, D.C...
was underway in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England. The Greenpeace ship landed at a remote whaling station, where seven Greenpeace activists went ashore and were arrested. The Rainbow Warrior started out to sea in order to deliver to the outside world documentation of the whaling operation and the arrest of Greenpeace workers. Pursued by a warship, a merchant vessel and a helicopter, the Rainbow Warrior escaped across the Bering Strait to US waters near Nome, Alaska
Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...
. The Greenpeace activists were held captive for five days while Hinck negotiated their release with Soviet authorities. The transfer was made at sea on the International Date Line
International Date Line
The International Date Line is a generally north-south imaginary line on the surface of the Earth, passing through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that designates the place where each calendar day begins...
from a Soviet warship to the Rainbow Warrior before a worldwide media audience.
Hinck collaborated on the worldwide effort to prevent dumping nuclear waste at sea. The work of Hinck’s team at Greenpeace USA, along with that of collaborators, resulted in the U.S. government’s dropping plans to recommence nuclear waste disposal at sea. Greenpeace subsequently achieved a total ban on nuclear dumping through the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter
Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter
The Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972, commonly called the "London Convention" or "LC '72555" and also barbie abbreviated as Marine Dumping, is an agreement to control pollution of the sea by dumping and to encourage regional agreements...
, an international treaty now commonly referred to as the London Convention.
Hinck also initiated efforts to curtail the incineration of highly toxic waste at sea. The efforts of Hinck and Greenpeace colleagues in North America and Europe resulted in a ban passed in the London Convention that effectively ended the practice. During this period, Hinck testified before Congressional committees and consulted on marine pollution issues with the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere.
In 1985 Hinck led Greenpeace campaigns for the control of pollution and protection of clean water throughout North America.
Hinck contributed to environmentalist successes against notorious toxic polluters, including the ASARCO
ASARCO
ASARCO LLC is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona that mines and processes primarily copper. The company, a subsidiary of Grupo México, is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
Tacoma smelter in Washington state, For example, Chemical Waste Management (now WMX Technologies), later admitted that charges made against it for mishandling waste and other practices had "proved well-founded" and had resulted in important improvements.
Hinck initiated efforts related to toxic waste and toxic product exports from the Western industrialized countries to lesser developed countries. This campaign culminated in the adoption of a treaty known as the Basel Convention
Basel Convention
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known simply as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of...
, which regulates transboundary shipping of hazardous waste; 160 nations are now signatories to this treaty.
In 1986 and 1987, Hinck and Greenpeace colleague Kelly Rigg initiated the first Greenpeace campaign to tackle environmental harm arising from the lending practices of the World Bank and other multilateral development banks.
In 1996, after attending law school and practicing law in California, Palau and Maine, Hinck returned to Greenpeace. He was hired by Greenpeace International Executive Director Thilo Bode to serve as International Campaign Director. In that capacity, working out of the Amsterdam headquarters, Hinck served as delegate to the 1997 convention in Kyoto, Japan, which generated the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
.
Natural Resources Council of Maine
From 2003 to 2006, Hinck worked as Staff Attorney for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Maine's leading environmental advocacy group. Hinck worked on developing clean renewable energy and alternatives to toxic pollution. In 2004, Hinck and NRCM achieved a substantial victory with the signing into law of Maine’s landmark electronic wasteElectronic waste
Electronic waste, e-waste, e-scrap, or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. There is a lack of consensus as to whether the term should apply to resale, reuse, and refurbishing industries, or only to product that cannot be used for its...
law, which for the first time required manufacturers to take responsibility for environmentally sound recycling of computers and TVs.
While at NRCM, Hinck helped to make Maine a leader in reducing mercury pollution.
Legal practice
After law school, Hinck initially practiced law with Morrison & Foerster, then California’s largest law firm. At MoFo, Hinck represented defendants in securities fraudSecurities fraud
Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a practice that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in losses, in violation of the securities laws....
class actions such as In re VeriFone Sec. Lit., Civ. No. C-90-2705-VRW (N.D. Cal.) He then practiced with Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, a leading class action law firm. Hinck worked on consumer and environmental class actions and served as plaintiffs' class counsel in the massive maritime environmental tort case In re Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.
In 1993, both Hinck and his wife Juliet Browne took positions as Assistant Attorneys General in Palau
Palau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
, a United Nations trusteeship in the Western Pacific. Hinck successfully litigated a series of cases that in 1994 enabled the Republic of Palau to become a sovereign nation. Hinck also successfully prosecuted criminal cases including one where he gained the conviction of legislator for trafficking in dangerous narcotics. In 1995 he was designate Acting Attorney General for the new nation.
In 1998, working with Lewis Saul & Associates, which has offices in Washington DC and Portland, Maine, Hinck filed the first statewide case in the country against oil companies over groundwater contamination in Maine caused by the gasoline additive MTBE
Methyl tert-butyl ether
Methyl tert-butyl ether, also known as methyl tertiary butyl ether and MTBE, is an organic compound with molecular formula 3COCH3. MTBE is a volatile, flammable, and colorless liquid that is immiscible with water. It has a minty odor vaguely reminiscent of diethyl ether, leading to unpleasant taste...
. Subsequently, Hinck helped to organize cases nationwide for recovery from MTBE pollution.
Maine House of Representatives
Jon Hinck was first elected to the Maine House of RepresentativesMaine House of Representatives
The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 members representing an equal amount of districts across the state. Each voting member of the House represents around 8,450 citizens of the state...
in 2006, and is now serving his third term. He represents District 118, which covers part of Portland.
Hinck has served as House Chair of the legislature’s Utilities & Energy Committee and is the now the House Minority Lead of the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology. He also served on the Joint Select Committee on Maine’s Energy Future and the Commission to Study Maine’s Energy Infrastructure. He is vice-chair of the Energy & Environment Committee of the Council of State Governments /Eastern Regional Council an organization dedicated to assisting in collaboration among legislators of Eastern states and provinces. Hinck is a member of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators and the national Coalition of Legislators for Energy Action Now.
In 2006 Hinck authored L.D. 837, An Act to Prevent Infant Exposure to Harmful Hormone-disrupting Substances, which would have set new guidelines for chemicals in children’s products, including a ban on Bisphenol A
Bisphenol A
Bisphenol A is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. It is used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, along with other applications....
, popularly known as BPA. The bill was defeated, but some of its provisions were subsequently adopted through rulemaking
Rulemaking
In administrative law, rulemaking refers to the process that executive and independent agencies use to create, or promulgate, regulations. In general, legislatures first set broad policy mandates by passing statutes, then agencies create more detailed regulations through rulemaking.By bringing...
.
During Hinck’s two sessions as co-chair of Maine Legislature’s Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology, the Committee worked on and unanimously passed out legislation on such subjects as: 1) rural broadband infrastructure, known in Maine as the "three ring binder"; 2) the smart grid; 3) ocean energy development; 4) energy corridors; and 5) Property Assessed Clean Energy ("PACE") legislation to provide innovative financing for efficiency, weatherization and residential use of renewable power. These bills were passed by the full legislature and signed into law by Governor Baldacci.
In 2010, Hinck successfully sponsored LD 1535, An Act To Create a Smart Grid Policy in the State, which was signed into law in 2010. The law promotes development of an electrical transmission system to manage and reduce energy use.
Hinck introduced a bill to encourage best practices and greater responsibility in the dispensing and prescribing of addictive painkillers like OxyContin; that bill has now been enacted as Resolve, To Reduce Opioid Overprescription, Overuse and Abuse.