• 1. Provides that in the context of a road discontinuance proceeding the municipal officers must proceed with a discontinuance without retaining a public easement if the municipal officers verify that private easements that run with the title of the property owners' land for the purpose of allowing travel along the way for all abutting property owners and their lessees and guests have been filed with the registry of deeds. If the municipal officers are unable to verify those easements, they may discontinue the road only if a public easement is retained and the public use for which the easement is retained is specified. If the municipality retains a public easement, the municipality must provide sufficient public maintenance of the public easement to allow the specified use;
• 2. Modifies the road abandonment law to provide that:
• A. A presumption of abandonment of a way is fully rebutted and removed by evidence that records maintained by the Department of Transportation indicate that a municipality received funds under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 23, chapter 19, subchapter 6 based on any mileage of the way during any portion of the 30 or more consecutive years of apparent discontinuance;
• B. A municipality may not intentionally cease to maintain a way as a means of creating a presumption of abandonment and a presumption of abandonment is fully rebutted and removed by evidence that a municipality intentionally ceased maintenance as a means of creating a presumption of abandonment; and
• C. A municipality may not assert a presumption of abandonment for any way that was discontinued prior to September 3, 1965 that resulted in a public easement;
• 3. Moves a provision of law relating to the removal of snow fences along public highways from a section relating to mail routes to the section of law relating to snow removal;
• 4. Requires a town to maintain any town public right-of-way used as part of a United States postal route in passable condition for postal service delivery. All maintenance must be in accordance with applicable United States Postal Service requirements. If the postal service route is seasonal, the right-of-way must be maintained for the applicable season and, if the mail route is year-round, it must be maintained year-round; and
• 5. Provides that a failure of a town to meet the snow removal and other maintenance requirements of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 23, section 3201 and section 3202, subsection 1 is deemed a failure to maintain a way under Title 23, chapter 313 and the actions and remedies specified in sections 3651 to 3655 of that chapter apply to such a failure.

The bill also requires school administrative units to build new schools and buildings using radon-resistant new construction techniques as recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Amendment H-251
This amendment, which is the unanimous report of the committee, removes the requirement in the bill that school administrative units test for radon, but allows school administrative units to test for radon. It provides that any testing and new school construction must comply with rules adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services instead of recommendations of the United States Environmental Protection Agency as in the bill.

LD 1079 Chaptered Law
LD 1079 Chaptered Law fiscal note

This bill authorizes a member of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System who retired on or after March 1, 2014 and prior to June 30, 2015 to include in the member's retirement benefit calculations wages lost due to merit pay freezes, retroactive to the date of the member's retirement. This provision does not include lost wages due to longevity pay freezes.

This bill also establishes a moratorium on the issuance of any permit, certificate or other approval by the Public Utilities Commission or the Department of Environmental Protection for a high-impact electric transmission line until 90 days after the adjournment of the Second Regular Session of the 129th Legislature to allow time for the commission, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, to adopt rules necessary to implement the requirements of the legislation.

Amendment H-437
This amendment changes the bill as follows:

• 1. It modifies the definition of "high-impact electric transmission line" to include a transmission line that is:
• A. Greater than 50 miles in length;
• B. Capable of operating at 200 kilovolts or more;
• C. Not a generator interconnection transmission facility; and
• D. Not constructed primarily to provide electric reliability within the State;
• 2. It replaces the requirement that a high-impact electric transmission line provide significant tangible benefits with requirements that:
• A. The petitioner for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the line pay an amount of tax benefits projected by the petitioner; and
• B. The petitioner for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the line provide a community benefits package with a total value of no less than $20,000 per year per megawatt of capacity of the line;
• 3. It requires that at least 2/3 of the local governments through which the high-impact electric transmission line will pass approve the line and clarifies that if a referendum vote is held, that vote supersedes any vote by local government officers; and
• 4. It makes other clarifying changes.

• 1. Prohibits the State, or any agency or instrumentality of the State, from seeking payment from an ABLE account or its proceeds for MaineCare benefits provided to a beneficiary, unless otherwise required by federal law;
• 2. Provides that funds held in an ABLE account must be disregarded when determining the designated beneficiary's eligibility for any means-tested public assistance program; and
• 3. Provides that earnings on funds held in an ABLE account are exempt from taxation by the State.

• 1. Establishes the Maine Climate Change Council to assist Maine to mitigate, prepare for and adapt to climate change;
• 2. Provides that by January 1, 2030 80% of electricity consumed in the State must come from renewable resources and by January 1, 2050 100% of electricity consumed in the State must come from renewable resources;
• 3. Updates the greenhouse gas emissions reductions required in statute; and
• 4. Requires that the state climate action plan be updated by December 1, 2020 and every 4 years thereafter.

• 1. It removes from the bill provisions regarding requirements for the consumption of electricity from renewable resources.
• 2. It stipulates an interim greenhouse gas emissions reductions level to be achieved by January 1, 2040, requiring by such date that the greenhouse gas emissions reductions be on a trajectory sufficient to achieve the 2050 annual emissions reductions level in the bill.
• 3. It clarifies the rule-making authority concerning compliance rules for the greenhouse gas emissions reductions levels required under the bill, specifying that the rules are to be adopted by the Board of Environmental Protection rather than the Department of Environmental Protection and that the rules must be consistent with the updated climate action plan and must be fair and equitable and account for and give significant weight to greenhouse gas emissions reductions already achieved by various sectors.
• 4. It requires the State's climate action plan update to include development of a clean energy economy transition plan.
• 5. It amends the Maine Climate Change Council, which is proposed in the bill, as follows.
• A. It changes the name of the council to the Maine Climate Council.
• B. It adds as a member of the council the Commissioner of Labor, increasing the total membership to 39.
• C. It clarifies member compensation and terms of membership, increasing the term for public members from 2 years to 3 years.
• D. It clarifies the purpose and makeup of the council's steering committee as well as the designation of the members of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the working groups.
• E. It clarifies the duties and responsibilities of the council, the subcommittee and the working groups.
• F. It removes language from the bill authorizing the subcommittee and the working groups to solicit and accept funding, and instead authorizes the council to conduct all funding solicitation and acceptance.
• G. It requires, beginning January 15, 2021, and annually thereafter, that the council submit a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over environment and natural resources matters describing the activities of the council, the subcommittee and its working groups over the prior calendar year and including any findings and recommendations of the council, including any proposed legislation. After reviewing the report, the committee may report out legislation to implement any recommendations contained in the report.
  
  It requires that the report also include a list of the amounts and sources of any funds accepted by the council in the prior calendar year, excluding those funds appropriated or allocated by the Legislature, and an indication of whether such outside funds were expended in the prior calendar year and, if expended, the purpose or purposes of the expenditure.
• 6. It makes a number of other clarifications and technical changes to the bill.

It changes the duties and powers of the commission to include developing an open area plan; assisting in drafting the municipality's comprehensive plan; advising any municipal reviewing authority in its deliberation related to effects on the municipality's environment and natural resources; educating community members; and developing and recommending to bodies politic a program for the better use of open areas.

• 1. That the petitioner provided equal access to rights-of-way and data and information about the petitioner's transmission system to any person seeking to compete with the petitioner to construct the transmission line; and
• 2. That the proposed elective transmission line either will not use ratepayer-funded assets or will use ratepayer-funded assets and the petitioner made these assets available on equal terms to any person seeking to compete with the petitioner to construct the transmission line and agrees to provide a benefit to ratepayers in the State of equal value, as determined by the commission, to the ratepayer-funded assets used to construct the transmission line.

This Part makes appropriations and allocations.

• 1. It establishes the total cost of education from kindergarten to grade 12, the state contribution, the annual target state share percentage and the mill expectation for the local contribution for fiscal year 2020-21.
• 2. It establishes, beginning in fiscal year 2020-21, the per-pupil rate for education service center administration.
• 3. With respect to fiscal years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, it caps the total allocation for a career and technical education center or career and technical education region.
• 4. It provides that funding for incremental salary increases in fiscal year 2020-21 must be based on data submitted to the Department of Education and certified by school administrative units as of October 1, 2019.
• 5. It amends the laws governing the payment of targeted education funds to remove authorization for the annual education research contract and to authorize the payment of costs to provide musical instruments and professional development in rural schools.
• 6. It establishes for fiscal years 2023-24 through 2026-27 the debt service ceiling for capital projects, including major projects and integrated, consolidated secondary and postsecondary projects.

This Part directs the Maine Municipal Bond Bank to transfer $20,000,000 during fiscal year 2019-20 from the Liquor Operation Revenue Fund to the unappropriated surplus of the General Fund.

This Part directs the State Controller to transfer $17,431,338 during fiscal year 2019-20 from the General Fund unappropriated surplus to the Maine Budget Stabilization Fund established in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, section 1532.

This Part authorizes the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of Forestry to pay operating expenses from the Aerial Fire Suppression Fund.

This Part implements criminal history record checks for certain individuals with access to federal tax information and other federally protected data at the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Office of Information Technology. The criminal history record checks apply to all new applicants and current employees and contractors or subcontractors of the office to ensure compliance with federal laws and regulations governing access to federally protected data, including, but not limited to, the Internal Revenue Service's criminal history record check requirements for all employees and contractors with access to federal tax information and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Criminal Justice Information Services Division.

This Part authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to transfer available balances of Personal Services appropriations and allocations in the Disproportionate Share - Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center program, the Disproportionate Share - Riverview Psychiatric Center program, the Riverview Psychiatric Center program and the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center program after all salary, benefit and other obligations are met to the All Other line category.

This Part updates references to the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986 contained in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 36 to refer to the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended through December 31, 2019, for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2019 and for any prior tax years as specifically provided by the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. It also provides that, for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, the Maine standard deduction under the Maine income tax is equal to the federal standard deduction and is not limited by the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Section 63.

This Part clarifies that, with regard to each hospital in the State, the hospital’s fiscal year that ended during calendar year 2016 is intended to be the hospital’s taxable year for all state fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2019 for the purpose of taxes imposed by Title 36, section 2892.

This Part requires the Department of Health and Human Services to amend the Office of Elderly Services Policy Manual, 10-149 C.M.R. Chapter 5, Section 63 to increase the number of reimbursable medication passes per consumer per day from 3 to 6.

This Part transfers $2,036,206 to the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services; this transfer is in addition to a transfer of $16,526,403 made in July 2019.

This Part transfers funds from the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Carrying Balances - General Fund account to the Enforcement Operations - Inland Fisheries and Wildlife program, General Fund account to fund a Personal Services shortfall in fiscal year 2019-20.

This Part reduces unemployment insurance trust fund contributions for employers by a percentage used to calculate the Unemployment Program Administrative Fund assessment except as described in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 26, section 1221, subsection 4-A, paragraphs A and B pertaining to new employer rates and contribution rate category 20.

This Part establishes the Unemployment Program Administrative Fund for the purpose of operating the Maine unemployment insurance program, including both personnel and nonpersonnel costs, and for the costs of administering the fund.

This Part authorizes the use of unemployment insurance modernization funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and Section 903(f) of the federal Social Security Act for the purposes of operating the State's unemployment compensation and public employment systems.

• 1. For investments made on or after April 1, 2020:
• A. Reducing from 50% to 40% of investment the maximum credit available to individual investors and private venture capital funds;
• B. Reducing from $5,000,000 to $3,500,000 the total aggregate investment eligible for tax credits for any one business; and
• C. Limiting to $2,000,000 the eligible total aggregate investment for any one business in any calendar year;
• 2. Increasing from $5,000,000 to $15,000,000 the overall annual limit on total authorized credits for calendar years 2020 through 2026;
• 3. Expanding the definition of "eligible business" to include businesses that provide a product that is sold predominantly outside the State; and
• 4. Providing a structure for the required reporting of data to facilitate an evaluation of the effectiveness of the credit by the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability.

This Part authorizes the carry-forward of any remaining balance of the amount appropriated in Public Law 2019, chapter 343 in the Office for Family Independence - District program, General Fund account within the Department of Health and Human Services for the purpose of upgrades to the public assistance web portal to be used for the same purposes in the next fiscal year.

This Part authorizes a transfer of a portion of the accumulated balance in the operating account of the Maine Governmental Facilities Authority to the State in fiscal year 2019-20. This balance has built up over the last 20 years from loan initiation fees, maintenance fees and related interest that exceed amounts needed to fund the actual costs of administering these loans and has been identified as a resource that could be transferred to the State.