The bills were posted online Wednesday morning and have been assigned to the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee. The committee will hold public hearings and work sessions on all four bills next Monday, ahead of the full Legislature’s expected return on Thursday, Aug. 30.

The bills as drafted would collectively improve the Department of Health and Human Services’ ability to investigate suspected case of child abuse and neglect, but they don’t appear to address the many concerns that have been raised by caseworkers in recent weeks. The governor’s spokeswoman, Julie Rabinowitz, said a fifth bill was being drafted as well, but she didn’t offer details on that immediately.

Maine’s child protection system has been under intense scrutiny following the deaths of two girls, 4-year-old Kendall Chick in Wiscassetlast December and 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy in Stockton Springs in February. The deaths prompted an internal investigation by DHHS that already has led to some changes and an external probe by the legislature’s Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability that is still ongoing.

The bills submitted by the governor are the first legislative attempts this year to address problems.

The first bill would make it a Class E crime for so-called mandated reporters who fail to report suspected abuse or neglect. Currently, mandated reporters face civil charges for failing to report.

The second bill would change a state law that requires DHHS to expunge an unsubstantiated report of abuse or neglect after 18 months and prohibits any expunged records from being used for any purpose. The governor wants to instead allow the department to retain all records and allow information contained in those records, “to be introduced into evidence in an administrative or judicial proceeding.”

The third bill would authorize DHHS to access public and confidential criminal history records for the purposes of investigating possible abuse or neglect.

And the fourth bill amends existing law to reduce the emphasis on family reunification. Specifically, the bill strikes language that says the state should “Give family rehabilitation and reunification priority” and replaces it with language that says the state should “Require that reasonable efforts be made to rehabilitate and reunify families.”

The fourth bill would seem to have the biggest impact as it could fundamentally change how caseworkers do their jobs. Already, caseworkers have said that there has been increased pressure to remove more children from homes and to give less priority to family reunification.

One thing caseworkers have been united about is the need for a reduction in caseloads, which were heavy even before the deaths of Chick and Kennedy and have only gotten worse since. In early July, DHHS Commissioner Ricker Hamilton said the department would call for the addition of 75 new positions to address that. However, a month later, Gov. LePage reversed that position and said he would not ask for more money for new jobs during the current legislative session.