An Act To Ensure Appropriate Education for Health Care Workers
Maine Legislature, Session 121, LD 1258
Committee: Taxation
Sponsors: PERRY, EDMONDS, DUGAY, HATCH, MARLEY, PENDLETON
Amends: 22 MRSA §1811-A, 22 MRSA §1812-G, 22 MRSA §2145, 32 MRSA §2202-C, 36 MRSA §1752, 36 MRSA §1811

Legislative Document 
No. 1258 
H.P.932 
House of Representatives, March 6, 2003 
An Act To Ensure Appropriate Education for Health Care Workers 
Reference to the Committee on Taxation suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative PERRY of Calais. 
Cosponsored by Senator EDMONDS of Cumberland and 
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MilLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Representatives: DUGAY of Cherryfield, HATCH of Skowhegan, MARLEY of Portland, 
Senator: PENDLETON of Cumberland. 
Printed on re~yf;led paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §1811-A is enacted to read: 
S18ll-A. 
Minimum requirements for health care workers 
1. 
Definitions. 
As 
used 
in this 
section, 
unless 
the 
context 
otherwise 
indicates, 
the 
following 
terms 
have 
the 
following meanings. 
A. 
"Facility" means any facility that is licensed under 
this chapter. 
B. 
"Direct health care worker" means any person who has 
direct patient access and provides direct patient care. 
2. 
Requirement. 
A facility shall ensure that every direct 
health care worker is certified as a certified nursing assistant 
as defined in Title 32, section 2102, subsection 8 within the 
first 4 months of employment as a direct health care worker. 
Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §1812-G, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2001, c. 
596, Pt. B, §5 and affected by §25, is further amended to read: 
3. 
Eligibility requirements for listing. 
The State Board 
of Nursing shall adopt rules pursuant to the Maine Administrative 
Procedure Act defining eligibility requirements for listing on 
the Maine Registry of Certified Nursing Assistants, 
including 
rules regarding temporary listing of nursing assistants who have 
received training in another jurisdiction and provisional listing 
for nursing assistants who 
are provisionally certified under 
Title 
32, 
section 
2202-C. 
The 
rules 
must 
permit 
nursing 
assistants 
to 
work 
under 
the 
supervision 
of 
a 
registered 
professional 
nurse 
in 
a 
facility 
providing 
assisted 
living 
services as defined in chapter 1664 and must recognize work in 
those facilities for the purpose of qualifying for and continuing 
listing on the registry. 
Rules adopted regarding the work of 
nursing 
assistants 
in 
facilities 
providing 
assisted 
living 
services are routine technical rules as defined by Title 5, 
chapter 375, subchapter II-A 2-A. 
Sec. 3. 22 MRSA §2145, sub-§5 is enacted to read: 
5. 
Standards for direct health care workers. 
The standards 
must reguire that any individual, other than a consumer directed 
personal care assistant, providing direct patient health care for 
a home health care entity is certified as a certified nursing 
assistant as defined under Title 32, section 2102, subsection 8 
within the first 4 months of employment. 
Page l-LR0472(1) 
• 
Sec. 4. 32 MRSA §2202-C is enacted to read: 
§2202-C. 
Provisional certification 
Any 
person 
who 
has 
successfully 
completed 
the 
nursing 
assistant 
training 
program 
as 
described 
in 
section 
2102, 
subsection 
2, 
paragraph 
D 
may 
be 
granted 
a 
provisional 
certification under rules adopted by the State Board of Nursing 
until 
a 
successful 
background 
check 
is 
completed 
or 
the 
provisional certification is revoked. 
The rules must define what 
constitutes a successful 
background check and what actions would 
constitute 
grounds 
to 
revoke 
the 
provisional 
certification. 
Rules adopted under this section are major substantive rules in 
accordance with Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
Sec. 5. 36 MRSA §1752, sub-§l-H is enacted to read: 
I-H. 
Bottled 
soda. 
"Bottled 
soda" 
means 
any 
ready-to-consume, 
carbonated 
nonalcoholic 
drink, 
commonly 
referred to as a soda and contained in a bottle or any other 
closed or sealed glass, metal, paper or plastic container or any 
other type of container regardless of the size or shape of the 
container. 
Sec. 6. 36 MRSA §1811, first" as amended by PL 2001, c. 439, 
Pt. TTTT, §2 and affected by §3, is further amended to read: 
A tax is imposed on the value of all tangible personal 
property and taxable services sold at retail in this State. 
The 
rate of tax is 
7% 
on the value of liquor sold in licensed 
establishments as defined in Title 28-A, section 2, subsection 
15, in accordance with Title 28-A, chapter 43; 7% on the value of 
rental of living quarters in any hotel, rooming house or tourist 
or trailer camp; 
10°'0 on the value of bottled soda: 10% on the 
value of rental 
for 
a 
period of less than one year of 
an 
automobile; 
70,,0 
on the value of prepared food; 
and 
5% on the 
value 
of 
all 
other 
tangible 
personal 
property 
and 
taxable 
services. 
Value 
is 
measured 
by 
the 
sale price, 
except 
as 
otherwise provided. 
Sec. 7. 36 MRSA §1811, as amended by PL 2001, c. 439, Pt. 
TTTT, §2 and affected by §3, is further amended by adding at the 
end a new paragraph to read: 
One-half of the amount collected under this chapter in the 
sales of bottled soda must be transferred monthly by the State 
Controller 
to 
the 
Department 
of 
Education, 
adult 
education 
program 
to 
support 
training 
programs 
for 
nursing 
assistant 
certification under Title 32, chapter 31. 
SUMMARY 
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 112 of the money earmarked for the 
Department of Education to support certified nursing assistant 
training courses.