An Act To Clarify the FiIiBg RequiremeIrts for Nonmnnnercial Whitewater Rafting Orga~
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 2065
Committee: Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Sponsors: HASTINGS, HAMPER
Amends: 12 MRSA §12908

Legislative Document 
No. 2065 
H.P.1449 
House of Representatives, December 21,2007 
An Act To Clarify the FiIiBg RequiremeIrts for Nonmnnnercial 
Whitewater Rafting Orga~ 
Approved for introduction by a majority of the Legislative Council pursuant to Joint Rule 
203. 
Received by the Clerk of the House on December 19, 2007. Referred to the Committee on 
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to Joint 
Rule 401. 
Presented by Representative Mll.LE1T of Waterford. 
Cosponsored by Senator HASTINGS of Oxford and 
Representatives: HAMPER of OxfortL HAYES of Buckfield. 
7lJ~177.17l~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the Peopfe-Of11le-State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §12908, sub-§2, as .affected by PL 2003, c. 614, §9 and 
amended by c. 655, Pt. B, §328 and affected by §422, is further amended to read: 
2. Noncommercial whitewater rafting club. An organization is a "noncommercial 
organization" if the commissioner determines that the organization is a qualifying 
noncommercial whitewater rafting club. 
A "qualifying noncommercial whitewater 
rafting club" is a group that collects dues or fees from its members and that the 
commissioner determines to be organized solely to provide noncommercial whitewater 
rafting opportunities to its members. To be considered under this subsection, a club must 
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provide to the commissioner the following information /:)efore JafH:lary 1 st of ea61'1 year: 
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A. 
--A- By January I st of each year the club intends to operate a whitewater rafting 
trip, a list that includes the name, legal residence and home telephone number of each 
dl:les payiAg officer and board member of the club. That Jist must identify a member 
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as the president of the club and must identify any other officers or board members of 
the club. 
A commercial whitewater outfitter or a licensed whitewater guide is 
ineligible to be an officer or a board member of the club. The commissioner may not 
accept more than one amended membership officer and board member list from a 
club between April 1 st and November 1st; 
A-I. By December 31st of each year the club operated a whitewater rafting trip, a list 
that includes the name, legal residence and home telephone number of every person 
who was a dues-paying member during the calendar year ending that December 31 st. 
The commissioner may not accept more than one amended membership list per year 
from a club; 
B. 
-A- Before January 1st of each year the club intends to operate a whitewater 
rafting trip, a statement signed by all board members. if any, and all officers of the 
club swearing that: 
(1) The sale purpose of the club is to provide noncommercial whitewater rafting 
opportunities to its members; 
(2) No member of the club, including officers and board members, receives any 
form of compensation from the club at any time, either while a member of the 
club or afterwards; 
(3) The club will use its own rafting equipment, and all fees or dues collected 
1T0m club members are used only to provide insurance and to purchase and 
maintain rafting equipment for use solely by the club; and 
(4) The club will not employ or otherwise compensate any person for any 
service relating to rafting or accept zmy gifts of products or services from any 
commercial whitew.ater outfitter or licensed whitewater guide; and 
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C. 
Afly Before January 1 st of each year the club intends to operate a whitewater 
r.afting trip, any other information the commissioner determines necessary. If the 
club is an incorporated entity, the commissioner shall require the club to submit a 
copy of the club's articles of incorporation. The commissioner may not consider any 
incorporated 
entity other than a 
tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation as 
a 
noncommercial whitewater rafting club. 
SUMMARY 
Current law requires a club that desires to qualify as a noncommercial whitewater 
rafting club, -and thus be exempt from the requirement of obtaining B commercial 
whitewater outfitter's license, to file a list of all of its dues-paying members by January 
st of each year, prior to the start of the whitewater rafting season. 
This bill maintains the January I st filing requirement for officers and board members 
of the club, but allows the club to file a list of the other members annually by December 
31st. after the whitewater rafting season.