Update: On March 28, 2024, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed LD1948 into law!

LD1948 will establish data policies according to best practices to protect privacy, provide public access, and ensure collaboration among stakeholders and the government. The bill provides a year for the development of a definition and standard for multiple demographic fields, including race, ethnicity, and sex, about which Maine already collects data, and now for sexual orientation, gender, citizenship, education, socioeconomic status, veteran status, disability status, and age.

GLAD submitted testimony in support of LD1948 alongside EqualityMaine, OUT Maine, MaineTransNet, Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Portland Outright, and the Maine Council on Aging.