An Act Regarding the Right of a Person To Appeal from the Action of a State Agency
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1415
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: DAMON
Amends: 5 MRSA §11001, 38 MRSA §341-D

Legislative Document 
No. 1415 
S.P.493 
March 15,2007 
An Act Regarding the Right of a Person To Appeal from the Action 
of a State Agency 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Senator DAMON of Hancock. 
Printed on recycled paper 
JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §11001, sub-§l, as amended by PL 1979, c. 127, §40, is further 
amended to read: 
1. Agency action. Except where a statute provides for direct review or review of a 
pro forma judicial decree by the Supreme Judicial Court or where judicial review is 
specifically precluded or the issues therein limited by statute, any person who is 
aggrieved by final agency action sAall ee or any preliminary, procedural, intermediate or 
other nonfinal agency action is entitled to judicial review thereof in the Superior Court in 
the manner provided by this subchapter. PrelimiRaf)', procedural, iRtermediate or otAer 
RORfiRal ageRcy actioR sAall ee iRdepeRdeRtiy revie'Naele oRly if review of tAe fiRal 
ageRC)' actioR would Rot provide aR adequate remedy. 
Sec. 2. 38 MRSA §341-D, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1993, c. 356, § 1, is further 
amended to read: 
5. Requests for reconsideration. A person aggrieved by a decision of the board on 
a permit or license application may petition the board once to reconsider that decision, 
except that a person may not petition the board to reconsider a decision that is an appeal 
or review of a final license or permit decision made by the commissioner under 
subsection 4, paragraph A. A petition for reconsideration must be made in writing within 
days after the board's decision and may be made for: 
A. 
Correction of any part of the decision that the petitioner believes to be in error 
and not intended by the board; 
B. 
An opportunity to present new or additional evidence to secure reconsideration 
of any part of the decision; or 
C. 
A challenge to any fact of which official notice was taken. 
The petition must set forth in detail the findings, conclusions or conditions to which the 
petitioner objects, the basis of the objections, the nature of any new or additional 
evidence to be offered and the nature of the relief requested. Within 30 days of receiving 
a complete reconsideration petition, the board shall decide whether to reconsider its 
decision. The board may hold a hearing within 30 days of its decision to reconsider the 
decision. 
In considering the petition, the board may grant the petition in full or in part, or dismiss 
the petition. The board shall provide reasonable notice to interested persons. A decision 
by the board to dismiss a petition submitted under this subsection must be accompanied 
by written findings of fact and an order that may be appealed by the petitioner to the 
Superior Court as a decision or order of the board as described in section 346. 
The board may allow the record to be supplemented when it finds that the evidence 
offered is relevant and material and that an interested party seeking to supplement the 
record has shown due diligence in bringing the evidence to the licensing process at the 
earliest possible time or the evidence is newly discovered and could not, by the exercise 
of diligence, have been discovered in time to be presented earlier in the licensing process. 
Page I -123LRI910(OI)-1 
I 
The running of the time for appeal under section 346, subsection I, is terminated by a 
timely petition for reconsideration filed under this subsection. The full time for appeal 
commences and is computed from the date of the final board action dismissing the 
petition or another final board action as a result of the petition. 
The filing of a petition for reconsideration is not an administrative or judicial prerequisite 
for the filing of an appeal under section 346, subsection 1. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides that a person who is aggrieved by any preliminary, procedural, 
intermediate or other non final action of a state agency is entitled to judicial review of that 
action in the Superior Court. It also provides that a decision by the Board of 
II 
Environmental Protection to dismiss a petition submitted under the Maine Revised 
Statutes, Title 38, section 341-0, subsection 5 must be accompanied by written findings 
of fact and an order that may be appealed by the petitionC'[ to the Superior Court.