An Act To Enact the Home Care Consumer and Worker Protection Act
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1544
Committee Amendment CA_A_H535 (House)
Amends: 22 MRSA §1717

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A " 
to H.P. 1069, L.D. 1544, Bill, "An Act To 
Enact the Home Care Consumer and Worker Protection Act" 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the 
summary and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §1717, as amended by PL 2003, c. 634, §§1 and 2 and c. 673, 
Pt. NN, § 1, is further amended to read: 
§ 1717. Registration of personal care agencies and placement agencies 
1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings. 
A. 
"Activities of daily living" means tasks that are routinely performed by an 
individual to maintain bodily function, including, but not limited to, mobility; 
transfers in position among sitting, standing and prone positions; dressing; eating; 
toileting; bathing; and personal hygiene assistance. 
B. 
"Hires and employs" means recruits, selects, trains, declares competent, 
schedules, directs, defines the scope of the positions of, supervises or terminates 
individuals who provide personal care. 
B-1. "Home care services" means assistance with activities of daily living and related 
tasks. 
C. 
"Personal care agency" means a business entity or subsidiary of a business entity 
that is not otherwise licensed by the Division of Licensing and CertifieatioH 
Regulatory Services and that hires and employs unlicensed assistive personnel to 
provide assistance with activities of daily living and related tasks to individuals in the 
places in which they reside, either permanently or temporarily. An individual who 
hires and employs unlicensed assistive personnel to provide care for that individual is 
not a personal care agency, except when permitted by rule of the department. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
".d\~. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to H.P. 1069, L.D. 1544 
C-l. "Placement agency" means any person or entity engaged for gain or profit in the 
business of securing or attempting to secure home care services work for an 
individual or of securing or attempting to secure a home care services worker for a 
consumer. "Placement agency" includes, but is not limited to, employment agencies, 
nurse registries and any other entity that places a home care services worker for hire 
by a consumer in that consumer's temporary or permanent residence for purposes of 
providing home care services. 
D. 
"Unlicensed assistive personnel" means individuals employed to provide hands-
on assistance with activities of daily living to individuals in homes, assisted living 
centers, residential care facilities, hospitals and other health care settings. Unlicensed 
assistive personnel does not include certified nursing assistants employed in their 
capacity as certified nursing assistants. 
2. Registration of personal care agencies and placement agencies. Beginning 
August 1, 1998, a personal care agency not otherwise licensed by the department shall 
register with the department. The anneal registration fee is Beginning January 1, 2008, a 
placement agency not otherwise licensed by the department shall register with the 
department. The department shall adopt rules establishing the annual registration fee, 
which must be at least $25. 
3. Prohibited employment. A personal care agency or a placement agency shall 
obtain criminal history record information about applicants for positions as unlicensed 
assistive personnel and may not hire or place an individual who: 
A. 
Has worked as a certified nursing assistant and has been the subject of a notation 
by the state survey agency for a substantiated complaint of abuse, neglect or 
misappropriation of property in a health care setting that was entered on the Maine 
Registry of Certified Nursing Assistants; 
B. 
Has been convicted in a court of law of a crime involving abuse, neglect or 
misappropriation of property in a health care setting; or 
C. 
Has a prior criminal conviction within the last 10 years of: 
(1) A crime for which incarceration of 3 years or more may be imposed under 
the laws ofthe state in which the conviction occurred; or 
(2) A crime for which incarceration of less than 3 years may be imposed under 
the laws of the state in which the conviction occurred involving sexual 
misconduct or involving abuse, neglect or exploitation in a setting other than a 
health care setting. 
4. Penalties. The following penalties apply to violations of this section. 
A. 
A person who operates a personal care agency or placement agency without 
registering with the department as required by subsection 2 commits a civil violation 
for which a fine of not less than $500 per day of operation but not more than $ I 0,000 
may be adjudged. Each day of violation constitutes a separate offense. 
B. 
A person who operates a personal care agency or placement agency in violation 
of the employment prohibitions in subsection 3 commits a civil violation for which a 
fine of not less than $500 per day of operation in violation but not more than $10,000 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to H.P. 1069, L.D. 1544 
per day may be adjudged, beginning on the first day that a violation occurs. Each day 
of violation constitutes a separate offense. 
Sec. 2. Convening of work group. The Department of Health and Human 
Services shall convene a work group including, but not limited to, representatives of the 
long-term care ombudsman program established in the department by the Maine Revised 
Statutes, Title 22, section 5106, Legal Services for the Elderly, the Home Care and 
Hospice Alliance of Maine, Inc., the Service Employees International Union, Maine 
Personal Assistance Services Association, consumers, personal care agencies, placement 
agencies and other interested parties for the purpose of making recommendations 
regarding the regulation of personal care agencies and placement agencies and the 
development of procedures and methods that will clarifY the rights and obligations of the 
agencies, workers and consumers. This section does not curtail or affect the authority of 
the Department of Health and Human Services to otherwise adopt rules affecting personal 
care or placement agencies. The Department of Health and Human Services shall report 
the findings and recommendations of this work group, including any proposed 
implementing legislation, on or before February 15, 2008 to the Joint Standing 
Committee on Labor.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment strikes the bill and replaces it with language amending a section of 
the Maine Revised Statutes pertaining to the regulation of personal care agencies by 
adding placement agencies to the regulatory scheme. The amendment increases penalties 
for violations of the regulatory requirements of the section and adds an unallocated 
section that requires the Department of Health and Human Services to convene a work 
group to make recommendations regarding the regulation of personal care agencies and 
placement agencies. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 06/\1107 Mae 
LD 1544 
LR 45(02) 
An Act To Enact the Home Care Consumer and Worker Protection Act 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment .. A 
.. 
Committee: Labor 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - General Fund 
Minor revenue increase - General Fund 
Correctional and Judicial Impact Statements 
Establishes new civil violations. 
The collection of additional fines may also increase General Fund revenue by minor amounts. 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
The additional costs to the Department of Health and Human Services to convene the required workgroup and issue 
the report of its findings can be absorbed by the department utilizing existing budget resources. 
LR0045(02) - Fiscal Note - Page I of I