Weekly Rulemaking Notices Contact Us Find It

Notices are published each Wednesday to alert the public regarding state agency rule-making. You may obtain a copy of any rule by notifying the agency contact person. You may also comment on the rule, and/or attend the public hearing. If no hearing is scheduled, you may request one -- the agency may then schedule a hearing, and must do so if 5 or more persons request it. If you are disabled or need special services to attend a hearing, please notify the agency contact person at least 7 days prior to it. Petitions: you can petition an agency to adopt, amend, or repeal any rule; the agency must provide you with petition forms, and must respond to your petition within 60 days. The agency must enter rule-making if the petition is signed by 150 or more registered voters, and may begin rule-making if there are fewer. You can also petition the Legislature to review a rule; the Executive Director of the Legislative Council (115 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333, phone 207/287-1615) will provide you with the necessary petition forms. The appropriate legislative committee will review a rule upon receipt of a petition from 100 or more registered voters, or from "...any person who may be directly, substantially and adversely affected by the application of a rule..." (Title 5 Section 11112). World-Wide Web: Copies of the weekly notices and the full texts of adopted rule chapters may be found on the World-Wide Web at: http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/rcn/apa/.

AGENCY: 99-346 - Maine State Housing Authority
RULE TITLE OR SUBJECT: Ch. 24, Home Energy Assistance Program (hearing rescheduled)
PROPOSED RULE NUMBER: 2005-P128
CONCISE SUMMARY: The purpose of the proposed amendment to the Home Energy Assistance Program Rule (the "Rule") is to: (i) clarify that railroad cars, buses and homeless shelters are excluded from the definition of "Dwelling Unit"; (ii) clarify that a person must qualify as a separate Household and have a rental agreement to be included in the definition of "Roomer"; (iii) clarify the documentation required in order to determine an Applicant's eligibility for HEAP; (iv) clarify that transportation to medical appointments constitutes a medical expense for purposes of determining an applicant's eligibility for HEAP; (v) increase the one-time benefit amount paid to residents of subsidized housing with heat included in the rent for the beginning of the new 2005/2006 Program Year and ending on September 30, 2011; (vi) update the Rule to clarify that MSHA may simultaneously contract with each Subgrantee to administer the Programs under the Rule, and provide benefits directly in connection therewith, and to provide that MSHA may make prepayments, installment payments and advances with or without interest related thereto; (vii) provide MSHA with greater flexibility in Subgrantee selection and to update tl1e Subgrantee selection criteria to include the requirement that a Subgrantee have an acceptable schedule for the taking of applications, and the ability to perform outreach activities for, and serve, homebound recipients; (viii) clarify that the amount of the annual allocation of HEAP funds to each Subgrantee shall not include any amount of HEAP funds allocated to MSHA to pay HEAP benefits in the event MSHA elects to provide benefits directly; (ix) clarify in the Rule the rights, responsibilities and obligations of MSHA and each Subgrantee in connection with HEAP and the Energy Crisis Intervention Program ("ECIP") in the event that MSHA elects to pay HEAP and ECIP benefits directly; (x) update the list of Subgrantee responsibilities in order to clarify that work plans, budgets, monthly status reports and other such reports and information must be submitted to MSHA in connection with the administration of HEAP; (xi) provide for the timely and efficient processing of applications for HEAP and awards of benefits through, among other things, the completion and review of applications with Applicants by telephone; (xii) clarify when a Subgrantee should use the actual energy consumption method or the design heat load calculation method in computing HEAP benefits; (xiii) clarify the process for payment of benefits to Vendors; (xiv) update the Rule to provide that MSHA may use HEAP funds to make prepayments, installment payments and advances to Vendors in connection with the provision of Home Energy benefits, the administration of HEAP and to repay with interest any prepayments, installment payments and advances made by MSHA with MSHA funds for such purposes; (xv) modify the Rule to specify that (a) the price of any Home Energy deliveries paid with HEAP benefits shall not exceed the lesser of any maximum delivery price agreed upon between the Vendor and MSHA pursuant to any Vendor Agreement and the Cash Price, (b) that a HEAP Household participating in a Supplier Payment Plan must have a signed agreement from the Vendor stating the terms of the agreement, and also explaining that any price for Home Energy deliveries paid for with HEAP benefits shall not exceed the lesser of any maximum delivery price agreed upon between the Vendor and MSHA pursuant to any Vendor Agreement and the Cash Price, (c) that if a HEAP Household does not participate in a Supplier Payment Plan, then the Cash Price continues to apply, except that the price of Home Energy deliveries paid for with HEAP benefits shall not exceed the lesser of any maximum delivery price as agreed upon between the Vendor and MSHA pursuant to any Vendor Agreement and the Cash Price; (xvi) modify the Rule to provide directly for the return of any credit balance to MSHA, or the Subgrantee if MSHA requires the ·Subgrantee to pay the benefits, in the event a household moves out of the State of Maine or does not receive deliveries or other services after twelve (12) months; and (xvii) make minor technical and grammatical changes.
THIS RULE WILL NOT HAVE A FISCAL IMPACT ON MUNICIPALITIES AND COUNTIES.
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: 30-A MRSA §§ 4722(1)(W), 4741(15), and 4991 et seq.
PUBLIC HEARING: The Public Hearing regarding amendment of the Home Energy Assistance Program Rule scheduled for July 5, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. has been rescheduled for July 19, 2005, 11:00 a.m., at Maine State Housing Authority, 41 Anthony Avenue, Augusta, ME 04330. The meeting room is accessible to persons with physical disabilities and, upon sufficient notice, appropriate communication auxiliary aids and services will be provided for persons with disabilities.
DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS: July 29, 2005, 5:00 p.m.
AGENCY CONTACT PERSON: Peter Wintle, EHS Division Director, Maine State Housing Authority, 353 Water Street, Augusta, ME 04330-4633
TELEPHONE: (207) 626-4600 (voice)
TTY: (800) 452-4603

AGENCY: 01-015 - Maine Milk Commission
RULE TITLE OR SUBJECT: Ch. 3, Schedule of Minimum Prices, Order #08-05
PROPOSED RULE NUMBER: 2005-P141
CONCISE SUMMARY: The principal reason for this rule is the need to respond to Federal Order changes and to certain other conditions affecting prevailing Class I, II and III milk prices in Southern New England in accordance with 7 MRSA §2954.
THIS RULE WILL NOT HAVE A FISCAL IMPACT ON MUNICIPALITIES.
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: 5 MRSA §8054 and 7 MRSA §2954
PUBLIC HEARING: July 22, 2005, Friday, starting at 1:30 p.m., Room 233, Department of Agriculture, Food & Rural Resources, Deering Building, Hospital Street, Augusta, Maine
DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS: July 22, 2005
AGENCY CONTACT PERSON: Stanley K. Millay
AGENCY NAME: Maine Milk Commission
ADDRESS: 28 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333
TELEPHONE: (207) 287-7521

AGENCY: 04-059 – Department of Conservation, Bureau of Parks and Lands
RULE TITLE OR SUBJECT: Ch. 54, Bear Baiting on Public Lands
PROPOSED RULE NUMBER: 2005-P142
CONCISE SUMMARY: The Bureau is proposing changes to the existing rules in order to maintain fairness in the allocation of the limited number of bear bait sites on the lands it manages. Changes proposed are: to require disclosure by the applicant of any and all business relationships with guides, outfitters or sporting camp related businesses on the application form for bait sites; require the name and contact number of the person baiting the site(s) if other than the applicant; to make persons holding guides licenses eligible for commercial sites only, remove confusing language regarding permit allocation and to increase bear bait site fees to $30 for each personal bear bait site and $65 for each commercial bear bait site beginning in 2006. A copy of the proposed rule changes is available from the Agency Contact Person listed below.
THIS RULE WILL NOT HAVE A FISCAL IMP ACT ON MUNICIPALITIES.
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: 12 MRSA §1803
PUBLIC HEARING: None scheduled; one may be requested
DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS: July 30, 2005
AGENCY CONTACT PERSON: Joe Wiley, Department of Conservation, Bureau of Parks and Lands, 22 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0022
TELEPHONE (207) 287-4921
E-MAIL: joe.wiley@maine.gov

AGENCY: 99-346 - Maine State Housing Authority
RULE TITLE OR SUBJECT: Ch. 16, Allocation of State Ceiling for Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Rule
PROPOSED RULE NUMBER: 2005-P143
CONCISE SUMMARY: The Allocation of State Ceiling for Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Rule is being amended to (i) establish the qualified allocation plan for allocation of the 2006 State ceiling of low income housing tax credits pursuant to Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code; (ii) more clearly define SRO Housing and modify the SRO Housing Set-aside to require that a minimum of 75% of the units in the SRO Housing be set-aside for persons who are homeless; (iii) reduce the amount of the Non-profit Set-aside, but allow the winner of the set-aside to receive credits in excess of the set-aside amount up to the maximum credit restriction; (iv) eliminate certain requirements from the provision that allows one tax credit project to receive tax credits in excess of the maximum credit restriction; (v) clarify and expand the circumstances under which an application for tax credits or a reservation of tax credits will be deemed withdrawn or cancelled; (vi) require applicants to submit a market study at the time of application for tax credits, to adopt the National Council of Affordable Housing Market Analysts (NCAHMA) market study standards as the guideline for preparation of market studies and to reserve the right to reject and commission market studies; (vii) require tax credit projects to meet MSHA's Green Building Standards; (viii) require construction contractors and subcontractors involved in the construction of tax credit projects to comply with MSHA's Contractor Standards; (ix) establish a new threshold requirement that tax credit project owners make a resident service coordinator available on-site to evaluate resident needs and refer residents to appropriate services at no charge to the tenants during the tax credit compliance period; (x) clarify that the rehabilitation of existing housing selection criterion is limited to multi-family rental housing; (xi) replace the previous general physical plant amenities and services selection criteria with a menu of specific amenities from which tax credit applicants can chose based on the design and location of the project and the needs of the residents to be served; (xii) eliminate the requirement for services and funding under the special needs housing selection criterion, because of the new resident service coordinator threshold requirement; (xiii) relax the family project selection criterion to allow more 2-bedroom units and fewer 3 or more bedroom units; (xiv) modify the previous municipal zoning selection criterion to better achieve the purpose of rewarding projects for readiness by requiring an applicant to have all necessary municipal approvals to proceed with a project and all appeal periods expired with no challenge; (xv) encourage a greater level of accessibility in tax credit projects than is required by federal and state law by creating a selection criterion that rewards projects with more than 10% of the units in the project as Type A fully accessible and adaptable units; (xvi) modify the below market funding selection criterion to (a) reward projects that have applied for below market funding but have not yet received a commitment, albeit at a discounted value relative to below market funding that is committed to a project, (b) detail how commitments of below market funding will be evaluated and scored, (c) clarify that construction period financing will not be considered under the criterion, (d) treat approved Affordable Housing TIF funding that directly benefits a project as a grant for purposes of determining the value of the below-market funding, and (e) give applicants a grace period to replace any funding that the applicant applied for but did not receive and was awarded points under the criterion before re-scoring the application; (xvii) clarify the donated property and property acquired for a project at a nominal value selection criterion to include leased property and to define nominal value; (xviii) update the housing need rankings selection criterion to (a) reflect the most recent demographic data available for family and elderly housing, (b) to reflect changes in the methodology used to develop the need rankings such as using relative rather than absolute housing need in the calculation, narrowing the population considered to persons with incomes between 30% area median income and 60% area median income which is the population that can be served with the tax credits and narrowing the economic growth period considered in the calculation, (c) eliminate the market areas with medium and low need rankings for family, senior and SRO housing and any associated points from the selection criteria, (d) increase the maximum points awarded to projects located in market areas ranked very high need and high need, and (e) eliminate the provision allowing applicants to challenge the housing need ranks; (xix) give projects in community revitalization areas that involve the rehabilitation of existing multi-family housing an extra point under the community revitalization selection criterion in accordance with the Code; (xx) establish a new selection criterion that awards points to projects located in Tier 1 Service Center Communities as established by the State Planning Office; (xxi) limit the sponsor characteristics selection criterion relating to 8823 history to those projects that have experience developing tax credit projects; (xxii) increase the points awarded under the non-profit participation selection criterion and to clarify that general partners that are limited liability companies, the sole member of which is a qualified non-profit corporation, will receive consideration under the criterion; (xxiii) modify the provision that allows MSHA to convert credit allocated in a particular calendar year to a reservation of credit in a subsequent year to clarify that projects only have to comply with the qualified allocation plan in effect in the year the credit was originally allocated to the project; (xxiv) modify the provisions relating to tax-exempt bond financed projects to exempt "automatic" tax credit projects from the new resident service coordinator threshold requirement; and (xxv) make updates, clarifications and grammatical changes.
THIS RULE WILL NOT HAVE A FISCAL IMPACT ON MUNICIPALITIES.
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: 30-A MRSA §§ 4741(1) and 4741(14), Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended
PUBLIC HEARING: Tuesday, July 19, 2005, 9:30 a.m., Maine State Housing Authority, 41 Anthony Avenue, Augusta, Maine 04330 -- Board Room. The meeting room is accessible to persons with physical disabilities and, upon sufficient notice, appropriate communication auxiliary aids and services will be provided for persons with disabilities.
DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS: Friday, July 29, 2005, 5:00 p.m.
AGENCY CONTACT PERSON: Jodie Stevens, Counsel
AGENCY NAME: Maine State Housing Authority
ADDRESS: 353 Water Street, Augusta, ME 04330-4633
TELEPHONE: (207) 626-4600 (voice)
TTY: (800) 452-4603

AGENCY: 03-201 - Maine Department of Corrections
RULE TITLE OR SUBJECT: Ch. 10, Policy and Procedures Manual: Subsection 2.12, Prisoner/Resident Accounts
ADOPTED RULE NUMBER: 2005-244
CONCISE SUMMARY: The Maine Department of Corrections is adopting revisions to the existing policy, procedures, and rules governing Prisoner/Resident Accounts pursuant to 34-A MRSA §3039.
The revisions are designed to state clearly what is expected of each business office and prisoners/residents regarding their money and accessing their funds. They also provide for service fees in connection with certain prisoner/resident requests for services. The policy also clarifies the definition of indigent prisoners/residents and what they are entitled to receive without payment - basic hygiene items, two (2) one ounce stamps per week, legal photocopies and legal mail.
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 29, 2005
AGENCY NAME: Maine Department of Corrections
AGENCY CONTACT PERSON: Esther Riley
ADDRESS: 111 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333-0111
TELEPHONE: (207) 287-4681

AGENCY: 01-015 - Maine Milk Commission
CHAPTER NUMBER AND TITLE: Ch. 3, Schedule of Minimum Prices, Order #07-05
ADOPTED RULE NUMBER: 2005-245
CONCISE SUMMARY: Minimum July 2005 Class I price is $17.14 plus $0.79/cwt. for Producer Margins and an over-order premium of $1.10/cwt as being prevailing in Southern New England for a total of $18.24. Class II minimums set at $12.78 for May 2005 which includes a $0.15/cwt. Producer Margin. These changes were passed on in minimum prices.
Minimum prices can be found at: http://www.maine.gov/agriculture/ahi/mmc/prihis.htm
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 3, 2005
AGENCY CONTACT PERSON: Stanley K. Millay
AGENCY NAME: Maine Milk: Commission
ADDRESS: 28 State House Station, Augusta ME 04333
TELEPHONE: (207) 287-7521

AGENCY: 26-239 - Office of the Attorney General
CHAPTER NUMBER AND TITLE: Ch. 104, Motor Vehicle Advertising
ADOPTED RULE NUMBER: 2005-246
CONCISE SUMMARY: These rules describe advertising practices by new and used motor vehicle dealers that are unfair and deceptive in violation of the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act, 5 MRSA §207.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2005
AGENCY CONTACT PERSON: James A. McKenna, Assistant Attorney General
AGENCY NAME: Office of the Attorney General
ADDRESS: 6 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0006
TELEPHONE: (207) 626-8842

AGENCY: 03-201 - Maine Department of Corrections
RULE TITLE OR SUBJECT: Ch. 15, Barterer Intervention Program Certification
ADOPTED RULE NUMBER: 2005-247
CONCISE SUMMARY: The Maine Department of Corrections is adopting a proposal to revise the existing standards for the certification of barterer intervention programs pursuant to 19-A MRSA §4014(1) to revise the Standards as a result of the 2004 biannual review. The Maine Department of Corrections developed the proposed rules in consultation with the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse in accordance with the provisions of 19-A MRSA §4014(1). The proposed revisions to the Barterer Intervention standards will result in improved operation of the Barterer Intervention Programs.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 23, 2005
AGENCY NAME: Maine Department of Corrections
AGENCY CONTACT PERSON: Esther Riley
ADDRESS: State House Station 111, Augusta, Maine 04333-0111
TELEPHONE: (207) 287-4681