AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Teenage drivers are likely to feel the most direct impact of new Maine laws that will take effect this Thursday.
A wide-ranging law increases fines and terms of license suspensions for violating conditions on a juvenile provisional license, and increases the amount of time a repeat offender would lose his or her license.
And for all drivers, the minimum fine for texting and driving increases from $100 to $250.
The agency that regulates development in Maine's 10 million-acre Unorganized Territory gets a new name. The seven-member Land Use Regulation Commission becomes the nine-member Land Use Planning Commission, with heavier representation from counties in its jurisdiction.
Another new law bars the state from prohibiting its employees from having concealed weapons in their locked cars. That law already applies to private employers.
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