An Act To Modernize the Local Health Officer Statutes
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 2294
Amends: 20-A MRSA §6356, 22 MRSA §454, 22 MRSA §454-A, 22 MRSA §801, 22 MRSA §1313-A, 22 MRSA §2608, 30-A MRSA §1560, 38 MRSA §2171

Legislative Document 
No. 2294 
S.P.915 
April 2, 2008 
An Act To Modernize the Local Health Officer Statutes 
Reported by Senator BRANNIGAN of Cumberland for the Joint Standing Committee on 
Health and Human Services pursuant to Public Law 2007, chapter 462, section 7. 
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. 20-A MRS A §6301, sub-§5-A, as enacted by PL 1983, c. 661, §6 and 
amended by PL 2003, c. 689, Pt. B, §6, is further amended to read: 
5-A. Notification. The superintendent shall cause notice of the communicable 
disease to be given to the Department of Health and Human Services, in accordance with 
the requirements of Title 22, chapter chapters 250 and 251, and rules issued under that 
chapter those chapters. 
Sec. 2. 20-A MRS A §6301, sub-§6, as enacted by PL 1981, c. 693, §§5 and 8 
and amended by PL 2003, c. 689, Pt. B, §6, is further amended to read: 
6. Authority and duties of the Department of Health and Human Services. The 
Department of Health and Human Services shall have has the authority and duties 
prescribed in Title 22, chapter chapters 250 and 251 Effi with respect to the control of 
notifiable diseases and conditions and communicable diseases. 
Sec. 3. 20-A MRSA §6356, sub-§l, as enacted by PL 1983, c. 661, §8, is 
amended to read: 
1. Public health official action. When a public health official has reason to believe 
that the continued presence in a school of a child who has not been immunized against 
one or more diseases presents a clear danger to the health of others, the public health 
official shall notify the Department of Health and Human Services, Maine Center for 
Disease Control and Prevention and the superintendent of the school. The superintendent 
shall cause the child to be excluded from school during the period of danger or until the 
child receives the necessary immunizing agent. 
Whenever, as a result of this section, a child is absent from the public school for more 
than 10 days, the superintendent shall make arrangements to meet the educational needs 
of the child. 
Sec. 4. 22 MRS A §252, as amended by PL 1989, c. 487, §2, is further amended to 
read: 
§252. Penalties 
\¥hoe¥eF \'lillfully A person who intentionally or knowingly violates any provision of 
section 451, 454, 456 454-A, 461 or 462, or of rules adopted pursuant to those sections, 
or neglects or refuses to obey any order or direction of any local health officer authorized 
by those provisions, the penalty for which is not specifically provided, or '.villfully 
intentionally or knowingly interferes with any person or thing to prevent the execution of 
those sections or of the rules, is guilty of a Class E crime commits a civil violation for 
which a fine of not more than $500 may be adjudged. The District Court shall ha .. 'e has 
jurisdiction of all offenses under these sections. 
Sec. 5. 22 MRS A §451, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 462, § 1, is amended to 
read: 
Page I - 123LR3604(Ol)-1 
2. Qualifications. The local health officer must be qualified by education, training 
or experience in the field of public health or a combination as detennined by standards 
adopted by department rule no later than June 1,2008. A person who is employed as a 
local health officer who is not qualified by education, training or experience must meet 
qualification standards adopted by department rule no later than June 1, 2009. On or after 
June 1, 2009, a person may not be appointed and employed as a local health officer unless 
that person is first qualified pursuant to the standards set by department rule 6 months 
after appointment. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are major substantive rules 
as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
Sec. 6. 22 MRSA §454, as repealed and replaced by PL 1997, c. 387, § 1 and 
amended by PL 2003, c. 689, Pt. B, §7, is repealed. 
Sec. 7. 22 MRSA §454-A is enacted to read: 
§454-A. Powers and duties 
1. Supervision. For the purposes of this section, a local health officer is subject to 
the supervision and direction of the commissioner or the commissioner's designee. 
2. Duties. Within jurisdictional limits, a local health officer shall: 
A. Make and keep a record of all the proceedings, transactions, ordinances, orders 
and rules acted upon by the local health officer; 
B. Report to the commissioner or the commissioner's designee facts that relate to 
communicable diseases and cases of communicable disease as required by 
department rules; 
C. During a declared health emergency, as defined in section 802, subsections 2 and 
2-A, report to the commissioner or the commissioner's designee facts regarding 
potential notifiable diseases and cases that directly relate to the declared health 
emergency, as the rules of the department require; 
D. Receive and examine the nature of complaints made by members of the public 
concerning conditions posing a public health threat or a potential public health threat; 
E. With the consent of the owner, agent or occupant, enter, inspect and examine any 
place or premises where filth, whether or not the cause of sickness, or conditions 
posing a public health threat are known or believed to exist. An agent with special 
expertise appointed by the local health officer may inspect and examine the place or 
premises. If entry is refused, the local health officer shall apply for an inspection 
warrant from the District Court, pursuant to Title 4, section 179, prior to conducting 
the inspection; 
F. After consulting with the commissioner or the commissioner's designee, order the 
suppression and removal of nuisances and conditions suspected of posing or found to 
pose a public health threat; 
G. Act as a resource for connecting residents with the public health services and 
resources provided by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention; and 
H. Enforce public health safety laws, including: 
(1) Laws pertaining to the exclusion of students from school under Title 20-A, 
section 6356; 
(2) Laws pertaining to control of brown tail moths under section 144~ 
(3) Laws pertaining to the removal of a private nuisance or nuisance of a dead 
animal under sections 1561 and 1562; 
(4) Laws pertaining to the establishment of temporary health care facilities under 
section 1762; and 
(5) Laws pertaining to prohibited dumping under Title 30-A, section 3352 . 
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For purposes of this subsection, "public health threat" means any condition or behavior 
that can reasonably be expected to place others at significant risk of exposure to infection 
with a communicable disease. 
Sec. 8. 22 MRS A §459, as amended by PL 1989, c. 487, §§6 and 7 and PL 2003, 
c. 689, Pt. B, §6, is repealed. 
Sec. 9. 22 MRSA §801, sub-§6, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 487, §ll, is amended 
to read: 
6. Local health officer. "Municipal Local health officer" means a person who is a 
municipal official appointed pursuant to section 451 and who is authorized by the 
department to enforce this chapter. 
Sec. 10. 22 MRS A §804, sub-§I, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 487, §11, is amended 
to read: 
1. Rules enforced. All agents of the department, municipal local health officers, 
sheriffs, state and local law enforcement officers and other officials designated by the 
department shall are authorized to enforce the rules of the department made pursuant to 
section 802 to the extent that enforcement is authorized in those rules. 
Sec. 11. 22 MRSA §1313-A, first ~, as amended by PL 2007, c. 133, §2, is 
further amended to read: 
If an undomesticated animal suspected of having rabies bites or may have otherwise 
exposed to rabies a person or a domestic animal, an animal control officer, a local health 
effieeF or a game warden shall immediately either remove the undomesticated animal or 
cause the undomesticated animal to be removed and euthanized for testing. If a wolf 
hybrid suspected of having rabies bites or may have otherwise exposed to rabies a person 
or a domestic animal, an animal control officer, a local health officer or a law 
enforcement officer shall immediately cause the animal to be euthanized for testing. 
When in the judgment of the animal control officer, local health officer, game warden or 
law enforcement officer the animal poses an immediate threat to a person or domestic 
animal, the animal control officer, local health officer, game warden or law enforcement 
officer may immediately kill or order killed that animal without destroying the head. The 
Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife shall arrange for the transportation of the 
head to the State Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory, except that the animal 
control officer shall make the arrangements if the animal is a wolf hybrid. 
Sec. 12. 22 MRSA §2608, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 1983, c. 837, §2, is repealed. 
Sec. 13. 30-A MRS A §1560, sub-§l, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 737, Pt. A, §2 
and Pt. C, §106 and amended by PL 1989, c. 6; c. 9, §2; and c. 104, Pt. C, §§8 and 10, is 
further amended to read: 
1. Removal. If a prisoner in a j ail is afflicted with a disease wffieh that the leeal 
health officer Commissioner of Health and Human Services or the commissioner's 
designee, by medical advice, considers dangerous to the safety and health of other 
° prisoners or of the inhabitants of the municipality, the local health officer commissioner 
or designee shall, by written order, direct the person's removal to some place of safety, to 
be securely kept and provided for until the officer's commissioner's or designee's further 
order. 
Sec. 14. 30-A MRSA §1560, sub-§4, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 737, Pt. A, §2 
and Pt. C, §106 and amended by PL 1989, c. 6; c. 9, §2; and c. 104, Pt. C, §§8 and 10, is 
further amended to read: 
4. Notice. If the diseased person was committed to the place of confinement by an 
order of court or judicial process, the local health officer Commissioner of Health and 
Human Services or the commissioner's designee shall send the following to the office of 
the clerk of court from which the order or process was issued: 
A. 
The order for the diseased person's removal or a copy of the order attested by the 
local health officer commissioner or designee; and 
B. 
A statement describing the actions taken under the order. 
Sec. 15. 38 MRSA §2171, sub-§I, as amended by PL 1993, c. 310, Pt. B, §4, is 
further amended to read: 
1. Membership. The committee must be comprised of citizens from each affected 
municipality, appointed by the municipal officers, including, but not limited to: a 
municipal local health officer; a municipal officer; and at least 3 additional residents of 
the municipality, including abutting property owners and residents potentially affected by 
pollution from the facility. 
In addition, each committee may include members 
representing any of the following interests: environmental and community groups; labor 
groups; professionals with expertise relating to landfills or incinerators; experts in the 
areas of chemistry, epidemiology, hydrogeology and biology; and legal experts. 
Sec. 16. 
Qualifications standards for current local health officers. A 
person who is employed as a local health officer on the effective date of this Act who is 
not qualified by education, training or experience or who has not met the qualification 
standards adopted by rule by the Department of Health and Human Services pursuant to 
the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, section 451, subsection 2 shall meet those 
qualification standards no later than June 30, 2009. 
SUMMARY 
This bill modernizes the local health officer role by focusing the authorities and 
duties of the local health officer on preventing and suppressing communicable diseases, 
as well as acting as a conduit of public health-related information between residents and 
statewide resources. 
Certain functions of local health officers are transferred to the 
Commissioner of Health and Human Services. 
FISCAL \OTF J{E<)lIRED 
(See attached) 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Approved: 03/31/08 Mac::.. 
LD 
LR 3604(01) 
An Act To Modernize the Local Health Officer Statutes 
Fiscal Note for Original Bill 
Committee: Health and Human Services 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - General Fund 
The additional costs to the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health and Human 
Services can be absorbed utilizing existing budgeted resources. 
LR3604(0 I) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1