An Act to Ensure Timely Responses to Requests for School Administrative District Reapportionments LR 1447(02) A
Maine Legislature, Session 121, LD 0541
Committee Amendment CA_A_S174 (Senate)

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to S.P. 181, L.D. 541, Bill, "An 
Act 
To 
Ensure 
Timely 
Responses 
to 
Administrative District Reapportionments" 
Requests 
for 
School 
Amend the bill by inserting after the title and before the 
enacting clause the following: 
. Mandate preamble. 
This measure requires one or more local 
units of government to expand or modify activities so as to 
necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues but does 
not provide funding for at least 90% 
of those expenditures. 
Pursuant to the Constitution of Maine, Article IX, Section 21, 
2/3 of all of the members elected to each House have determined 
it necessary to enact this measure. 
Emergency preamble. Whereas, Acts of the Legislature do not 
become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted 
as emergencies; and 
Whereas, this legislation needs to take effect before the 
expiration of the 90-day period in order to take advantage of its 
provisions, which require the Commissioner of Education to make 
more 
timely 
determinations 
regarding 
the 
reapportionment 
of 
school administrative districts; and 
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts 
create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of 
Maine 
and 
require 
the 
following 
legislation 
as 
immediately 
necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and 
safety; now, therefore,' 
Further amend the bill by striking out everything after the 
Page l-LR1447(2) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "(4 .. , to S.P. 181, L.D. 541 
enacting clause and before the summary and inserting in its place 
the following: 
'Sec. 1. 20·A MRSA §1255, sub·§§1 and 3, as amended by PL 1987, 
c. 395, Pt. A, §54, are further amended to read: 
1. 
Duties 
of 
commissioner. 
The 
determine if a district is apportioned in 
principles of one ffiaB person, one vote, if: 
commissioner 
shall 
accordance with the 
A. 
He The commissioner receives a request by the board of 
directors; 
B. 
He 
The 
commissioner 
receives 
a 
petition signed by 
district voters equal to at least 10% of the voters who 
voted in the last gubernatorial election in the district; 
or 
C. 
He 
The 
commissioner 
determines 
a 
district is 
not 
apportioned according to the principles of one ffiaB person, 
one vote. 
The commissioner shall make a determination under paragraph A or 
B within 30 days of receiving the request or the petition. 
3. 
Findings and order. 
If the 
commissioner 
finds 
the 
district's representation is not apportioned in accordance with 
the principle of one ffiaB person, one vote, he the commissioner 
shall, within 7 days of that decision, notify the superintendent 
of the finding and shall order the superintendent to notify the 
municipal officers in each municipality in the district and the 
school 
board 
to 
create 
a 
reapportionment 
committee. 
The 
superintendent's 
notification 
sha±± 
must 
include 
the 
commissioner's notification, the information provided pursuant to 
subsection 6 and the time and place for the first meeting of the 
committee~ which sha±± must be held not later than 20 days after 
the notification. 
Sec. 2. 20·A MRSA §1255, sub·§6, as enacted by PL 1981, c. 
693, §§5 and 8, is amended to read: 
6. 
Duties of commissioner. 
The commissioner shall provide 
the 
e9ffiffiittee 
superintendent 
with 
the 
most 
recent 
Federal 
Decennial Census or Federal Estimated Census figures for each 
municipality 
in 
the 
district 
and 
at 
least 
one 
recommended 
apportionment plan. 
Emergency clause. 
In view of the emergency cited in the 
preamble, this Act takes effect when approved.' 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT .. A 
.. to S.P. 181, L.D. 541 
SUMMARY 
This 
amendment 
strikes and replaces 
the bill to 
add 
a 
mandate preamble, emergency preamble and clause to the bill and 
to 
clarify the 
duties 
of 
the 
Commissioner 
of 
Education in 
ordering the establishment of a reapportionment committee. 
The 
amendment 
retains 
the 
original 
prov~s~on of 
the bill 
that 
requires the Commissioner of Education to make a determination 
whether a 
school district needs to be reapportioned wi thin 30 
days of 
rece~v~ng a 
request by the board of directors or a 
petition from district voters. 
FISCAL ~on_ RE(JllRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
State Mandate 
Revised: 05/15/03 ~ae 
Office of Fiscal and Program Review 
LD541 
An Act to Ensure Timely Responses to Requests for School 
Administrative District Reapportionments 
LR 1447(02) 
A 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment rt' S-I?' 
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Exempt State Mandate 
New or Expanded Activity 
Unit Affected 
Costs 
Requiring school superintendents to notify mtmicipal officers in each municipality 
School 
Insignificant 
of the district and the school board to create a reapportionment committee is a State 
mandate. Pursuant to the Mandate Preamble, the two-thirds vote of all members 
elected to each House exempts the State from the constitutional requirement to fimd 
90% of the additional local costs. 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Shifting the responsibility for notifying municipal officers in each municipality of a school district, and that district's 
school board, to create a reapportionment committee will result in General Fund savings to the Department of 
Education. The amount will not be significant. 
LRl447(2) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1