This bill provides that any person providing direct health care, whether in a licensed health facility or as part of home health care, must be a certified nursing assistant. The bill exempts consumer-directed personal care assistants from this regulation. The bill authorizes the State Board of Nursing to provisionally certify a nursing assistant and the Maine Registry of Certified Nursing Assistants to provisionally list a person who has completed the training, but has not yet successfully completed a background check. It further directs the board to adopt major substantive rules concerning background checks and how information in a check could be used to revoke a provisional certification. Lastly, the bill increases the sales tax on bottled soda to 10%, with 1/2 of the money earmarked for the Department of Education to support certified nursing assistant training courses.