Correction: This story was revised on March 7, 2011, to reflect that more than 2,000 bills have been filed in the Maine Legislature so far this session. It was an editor’s error.

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Every legislative session, there are bills that gather lots of attention for their sensational nature or because they are viewed as frivolous (a lot of people are looking at you, whoopie pie).

Inevitably, readers ask how much each proposal costs taxpayers.

Legislative leaders also recently had the same question, and asked staff to come up with an estimate.

Last week, staff for the Legislative Council said they had determined that it costs the state between $350 and $400 from when a bill title is filed until it reaches the committee level.

As of Friday, the state’s bill tracking website showed that about 2,000 bills had been filed.

LINKING READING, PROSPERITY

The Maine Economic Growth Council, a 19-member group of business leaders, lawmakers and others, released its 17th annual Measures of Growth report last week.

This year, in addition to standard economic indicators such as per capita income and the cost of doing business, the report took a look at fourth-grade reading scores.

This area earned a red flag — a sign of trouble — because only 36 percent of Maine fourth-grade students scored proficient or better on a national reading test. And while the report points out this is actually better than the national average of 32 percent, the council flagged it because reading is “the indispensable key to future success in school, in the work force and in life.”

The full report, which awarded two gold stars for solid performance in international exports and conservation lands, is available online at www.mdf.org.

VEGGIE GARDENS AT PRISONS?

Rep. Howard McFadden, R-Dennysville, is sponsoring L.D. 685, “An Act to Require Vegetable Gardens at State Prisons,” at the request of one of his constituents.

The bill requires “each correctional and detention facility” to establish a vegetable garden “to feed and be maintained by the prisoners.”

The bill is headed to the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

JUNETEENTH BILL

Rep. Denise Harlow, D-Portland, is working to drum up support for her bill, L.D. 753, “An Act to Establish Juneteenth Independence Day.”

Harlow, a first-year lawmaker, said it’s part of a national movement to officially recognize the third Saturday in June as Juneteenth Independence Day. The day commemorates the day freedom was proclaimed to all slaves in the South in 1865, according to the bill.

The bill would require the governor to issue a proclamation each year in honor of the day.

It’s headed to the State and Local Government Committee for consideration.

BRENNAN AND SEAT BELTS

A thoughtful reader sent along an e-mail last week after a story about Gov. Paul LePage’s unusual appearance before the Appropriations Committee.

Historians and others who have been around for a while say they haven’t seen a sitting governor appear before a legislative committee since the mid-1960s, when Gov. John Reed testified before an environmental committee.

But Peter Doran of Belgrade said Gov. Joe Brennan, a Democrat who served from 1979 to 1987, also testified before a legislative committee in favor of a seat belt proposal. At the time, Doran was chairman of the Maine Seat Belt Coalition.

ANOTHER RALLY PLANNED FOR TODAY

As the Appropriations Committee shifts its focus to the Department of Health and Human Services this week, a large crowd of demonstrators is expected to rally at the State House today.

The Maine Can Do Better Coalition, 150 advocacy organizations and service providers, plans to speak out against the budget. In particular, the groups will talk about proposed cuts to funding for health care programs and the tax cut plan that they say will help the rich at the expense of “Maine’s working and retired families.”

The rally is planned for 9 a.m. today in the Hall of Flags.

MaineToday Media State House Writers Susan Cover and Rebekah Metzler contributed to this column.