AUGUSTA — A bill aimed at encouraging minors to seek help for alcohol poisoning is sitting on Gov. Paul LePage’s desk and, according to its supporters, is at risk of being vetoed by the governor.

Overconsumption of alcohol poisoning is a leading cause of death among young people in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bill, if passed into law, would reduce legal consequences for minors if they seek medical help for possible alcohol poisoning.

Rep. Joyce Maker, a Calais Republican and member of the education committee, said Tuesday she sponsored LD 263, An Act To Provide a Minor with a Defense to Prosecution in a Situation That Involves Risk of Alcohol Overdose, to help save lives.

“Because I had an experience in Calais years ago where a young man died — he choked on his vomit after drinking the night before in Canada,” she said by phone from Augusta.

Maker said she put the bill forward after being asked to do so by Old Town school board member Lee Jackson, a University of Maine political science student.

Jackson said he is afraid the bill will be rejected by Gov. Paul LePage, who has indicated he plans to veto it.

“It could truly save lives,” Jackson said of the bill, which provides minors with a defense to prosecution under the alcoholic beverages laws when there is a risk of alcohol overdose or imminent danger. “I think a law that saves lives and is proven to not increase drinking is just common sense.”

The University of Maine put a similar policy into place five years ago.

“Ours is called an amnesty program. It’s best practice for harm reduction,” Robert Dana, UMaine’s vice president for student affairs, said Friday. “You want to have bystander intervention.”

The Medical Amnesty and Good Samaritan reporting program was piloted in 2010 as a campuswide undertaking that encourages students to report extremely intoxicated classmates.

“You don’t want a minor saying, ‘I’m not going to call because the cops [could arrest me].’ You want them saying, ‘I’m going to help. I’m going to call and help save someone’s life.’”

Maker said LePage has 10 days from Friday to make a decision. “It’s my understanding that he is going to veto it,” he added.

When asked why, she responded, “I don’t know. One of his staff members asked for information because he intended to veto it. I didn’t think that was enough information. She suggested I make an appointment. I tried to set up an appointment, but his schedule didn’t allow it.”

A voicemail and email message left Tuesday for Adrienne Bennett, the governor’s press secretary, for an update on the bill’s status were not immediately returned.

Jackson, who along with other students has been lobbying for the bill, said the measure has been endorsed by the Maine Sheriffs’ Association and is supported by Young Maine Dems and #Gen207 members, as well as community leaders who gave public testimony in front of the committee.

“There was zero testimony against it,” Jackson said.

The bill does not provide a defense for those charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol; it only protects those who call police to help a friend or themselves after overconsumption.

The Medical Amnesty Initiative issued a letter in support of the Maine bill.

“Tragically, too many young people lose their lives each year because those around them were intoxicated and afraid of the judicial consequences that may occur when 911 is called,” Aaron Letzeiser, Medical Amnesty Initiative executive director, said.

“In an inebriated state, where confusion and a false sense of safety takes control, young people convince themselves that a person who is ‘passed out’ isn’t drunk enough to die — that they will simply wake up the next morning with an awful hangover,” Letzeiser said later. “Tragically, too many sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and friends do not wake up.”

The bill was co-sponsored by Sen. Eric Brakey of Androscoggin County, as well as representatives Matthea E. Daughtry, D-Brunswick; Mark N. Dion, D-Portland; Anthony J. Edgecomb, R-Fort Fairfield; Matthew G. Pouliot, R-Augusta; Ryan Tipping-Spitz, D-Orono; Dustin Michael White, R-Washburn; and Sen. Linda Baker, D-Topsham; and Senate Majority Leader Garrett P. Mason, R-Androscoggin.

Maker said if the law had been on the books years ago, others who had been drinking with the young Calais man who tragically died by aspiration may have called for help.

“I believe that this is a problem,” Maker said. “It doesn’t encourage drinking. It encourages them to stabilize.”