An Act To Promote Workplace Safety and Certainty within the Construction Industry by Authorizing the Workers' Compensation Board To Issue Construction Contractor Certificates
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1275
Committee Amendment CA_A_H641 (House)
Amends: 39-A MRSA §102, 39-A MRSA §154

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A " to H.P. 903, L.D. 1275, Bill, "An Act To 
Promote Workplace Safety and Certainty within the Construction Industry by 
Authorizing the Workers' Compensation Board To Issue Construction Contractor 
Certificates" 
Amend the bill by striking out all of section 1 and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 1. 39-A MRSA §102, sub-§l1, ~A, as amended by PL 2007, c. 350, § 1, is 
further amended to read: 
A. 
"Employee" includes officials of the State and officials of counties, cities, towns, 
water districts and all other quasi-public corporations of a similar character, every 
duly elected or appointed executive officer of a private corporation other than a 
charitable, religious, educational or other nonprofit corporation, and every person in 
the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, 
except: 
(1) 
Persons engaged in maritime employment or in interstate or foreign 
commerce who are within the exclusive jurisdiction of admiralty law or the laws 
of the United States, except that this section may not be construed to exempt 
from the definition of "employee" a person who is employed by the State and is 
thereby barred by the State's sovereign immunity from bringing a claim against 
that person's employer under admiralty law or other laws of the United States for 
claims that are otherwise cognizable under this Act; 
(2) Firefighters, including volunteer firefighters who are active members of a 
volunteer fire association as defined in Title 30-A, section 3151; volunteer 
emergency medical services persons as defined in Title 32, section 83, subsection 
12; and police officers are employees within the meaning of this Act. 
In 
computing the average weekly wage of an injured volunteer firefighter or 
volunteer emergency services person, the average weekly wage must be taken to 
be the earning capacity of the injured employee in the occupation in which the 
employee is regularly engaged. Employers who hire workers within this State to 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT .. (+" to H.P. 903, L.D. 1275 
work outside the State may agree with these workers that the remedies under this 
Act are exclusive as regards injuries received outside this State arising out of and 
in the course of that employment; and all contracts of hiring in this State, unless 
otherwise specified, are presumed to include such an agreement. Any reference to 
an employee who has been injured must, when the employee is dead, include the 
employee's legal representatives, dependents and other persons to whom 
compensation may be payable; 
(3) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, any charitable, religious, 
educational or other nonprofit corporation that may be or may become an 
assenting employer under this Act may cause any duly elected or appointed 
executive officer to be an employee of the corporation by specifically including 
the executive officer among those to whom the corporation secures payment of 
compensation in conformity with chapter 5; and the executive officer must 
remain an employee of the corporation under this Act while such payment is so 
secured. With respect to any corporation that secures compensation by making a 
contract of workers' compensation insurance, specific inclusion of the executive 
officer in the contract causes the officer to be an employee of the corporation 
under this Act; 
(4) Except for persons engaged in harvesting of forest products, any person who, 
in a written statement to the board, waives all the benefits and privileges provided 
by the workers' compensation laws, provided that the board has found that person 
to be a bona fide owner of at least 20% of the outstanding voting stock of the 
corporation by which that person is employed or a shareholder of the professional 
corporation by which that person is employed and that this waiver was not a 
prerequisite condition to employment. For the purposes of this subparagraph, the 
term "professional corporation" means a domestic or foreign professional 
corporation as defined in Title 13, section 723. 
Any person may revoke or rescind that person's waiver upon 30 days' written 
notice to the board and that person's employer. The parent, spouse, domestic 
partner as defined in Title 24, section 2319-A, subsection 1 or child of a person 
who has made a waiver under the previous sentence may state, in writing, that the 
parent, spouse, domestic partner as defined in Title 24, section 2319-A, 
subsection 1 or child waives all the benefits and privileges provided by the 
workers' compensation laws if the board finds that the waiver is not a prerequisite 
condition to employment and if the parent, spouse, domestic partner as defined in 
Title 24, section 2319-A, subsection 1 or child is employed by the same 
corporation that employs the person who has made the first waiver; 
(5) Except for persons engaged in harvesting of forest products, the parent, 
spouse, domestic partner as defined in Title 24, section 2319-A, subsection 1 or 
child of a sole proprietor who is employed by that sole proprietor or the parent, 
spouse, domestic partner as defined in Title 24, section 2319-A, subsection I or 
child of a partner who is employed by the partnership of that partner or the 
parent, spouse, domestic partner as defined in Title 24, section 2319-A, 
subsection 1 or child of a member of a limited liability company who is 
employed by that limited liability company may state, in writing, that the parent, 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "it" to H.P. 903, L.D. 1275 
spouse, domestic partner as defined in Title 24, section 2319-A, subsection 1 or 
child waives all the benefits and privileges provided by the workers' 
compensation laws if the board finds that the waiver is not a prerequisite 
condition to employment; 
(6) Employees of an agricultural employer when harvesting 150 cords of wood 
or less each year from farm wood lots, provided that the employer is covered 
under an employer's liability insurance policy as required in subsection 17; 
(7) An independent contractor; 
(8) Except as otherwise provided in section 401 and section 105-A, if a person 
employs an independent contractor, any employee of the independent contractor 
is not considered an employee of that person for the purposes of this Act. The 
person who employs an independent contractor is not responsible for providing 
workers' compensation insurance covering the payment of compensation and 
benefits to the employees of the independent contractor. An insurance company 
may not charge a premium to any person for any employee excluded by this 
subparagraph; or 
(9) A state or municipal employee while the employee is on assignment as a 
certified disaster service volunteer for the American Red Cross pursuant to Title 
5, section 19-B or Title 30-A, section 2705. 
Duties performed while on a 
volunteer disaster relief assignment for the American Red Cross may not be 
considered a work assignment by a state agency or municipality.' 
Amend the bill in section 3 in § 105-A in subsection 2 in the first line (page 4, line 1 
in L.D.) by striking out the following: "2008" and inserting the following: '2009' 
Amend the bill by inserting after section 4 the following: 
'Sec. 5. 39-A MRSA §154, sub-§6, ,A, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 240, Pt, LL, 
§ 1, is amended to read: 
A. The assessments levied under this section may not be designed to produce more 
than $6,000,000 in revenues annually beginning in the 1995-96 fiscal year, more than 
$6,600,000 annually beginning in the 1997-98 fiscal year, more than $6,735,000 
beginning in the 1999-00 fiscal year, more than $7,035,000 in the 2001-02 fiscal 
year, more than $6,860,000 beginning in the 2002-03 fiscal year, more than 
$8,390,000 beginning in the 2003-04 fiscal year, more than $8,565,000 beginning in 
the 2004-05 fiscal year, more than $8,525,000 beginning in the 2005-06 fiscal year, 
more than $9,820,178 beginning in the 2007-08 fiscal year, more than $10,000,000 
$10,299,004 beginning in the 2008-09 fiscal year, more than $10,400,000 
$10,688,367 beginning in the 2009-10 fiscal year, more than $10,800,000 
$11,098,019 beginning in the 2010-11 fiscal year or more than $11,200,000 
$11,507,854 beginning in the 2011-12 fiscal year. Assessments collected that exceed 
$6,000,000 beginning in the 1995-96 fiscal year, $6,600,000 beginning in the 1997-
fiscal year, $6,735,000 beginning in the 1999-00 fiscal year, $7,035,000 in fiscal 
year 2001-02, $6,860,000 beginning in the 2002-03 fiscal year, $8,390,000 beginning 
in the 2003-04 fiscal year, $8,565,000 beginning in the 2004-05 fiscal year, 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ".{:I .. to H.P. 903, L.D. 1275 
$8,525,000 beginning in the 2005-06 fiscal year, $9,820,178 beginning in the 2007-
fiscal year, $10,000,000 $10,299,004 beginning in the 2008-09 fiscal year, 
$10,400,000 $10,688,367 beginning in the 2009-10 fiscal year, $10,800,000 
$11,098,019 beginning in the 2010-11 fiscal year or $11,200,000 $11,507,854 
beginning in the 2011-12 fiscal year by a margin of more than 10% must be refunded 
to those who paid the assessment. Any amount collected above the board's allocated 
budget and within the 10% margin must be used to create a reserve of up to 114 of the 
board's annual budget.' 
Amend the bill by striking out all of section 5 and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 5. Fee for application for construction contractor certificate. If the 
Workers' Compensation Board determines that it must establish, through rulemaking 
authorized pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 39-A, section lOS-A, subsection 
11, a fee for processing applications for construction contractor certificates, the fee may 
not exceed $50 per application. 
Sec. 6. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and 
allocations are made. 
WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD 
Administration - Workers' Compensation Board 0183 
Initiative: Allocates funds for one Deputy Counsel position, one Abuse Investigator 
position, one Management Analyst I position and one Administrative Assistant position 
and related All Other associated with issuing a construction contractor certificate to 
persons working in the construction industry who meet certain requirements. 
OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS 
POSITIONS - LEGISLATIVE COUNT 
Personal Services 
All Other 
OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS TOTAL 
2007-08 
0.000 
$0 
$0 
$0 
2008-09 
4.000 
$304,004 
$40,000 
$344,004 
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or 
section number to read consecutively. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ,,{too to H.P. 903, L.D. 1275 
SUMMARY 
This amendment is the minority report of the Joint Standing Committee on Labor. It 
increases the assessment cap for the Workers' Compensation Board Administrative Fund 
to cover the costs of issuing a construction contractor certificate and also adds an 
appropriations and allocations section. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 12119107 
~ae 
LD 1275 
LR 1257(02) 
An Act To Promote Workplace Safety and Certainty within the Construction Industry by Authorizing 
the Workers' Compensation Board To Issue Construction Contractor Certificates 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment "f!" 
Appropriations/Allocations 
Other Special Revenue Funds 
Revenue 
Other Special Revenue Funds 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Committee: Labor 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
2007-08 
$0 
$0 
2008-09 
$344,004 
$344,004 
Projections 
2009-10 
$333,367 
$333,367 
Projections 
2010-11 
$343,019 
$343,01.; 
This bill includes an Other Special Revenue Funds allocation of $344,004 to the Workers' Compensation Board in 
fiscal year 2008-09 for 1 Deputy Counsel position, 1 Abuse Investigator position, 1 Management Analyst position and 
Administrative Assistant position and related costs associated with issuing construction contractor certificates to 
persons working in the construction industry who meet certain requirements. 
The Workers' Compensation Board estimates the revenue generated by the $50 per applicant processing fee will be 
approximately $45,000 per year. Since this revenue will not be sufficient to support the additional costs ofthis 
ongoing legislation and the Workers' Compensation Board will not be able to absorb the additional costs within 
existing resources, the Board will need to increase the assessment cap by $299,004 in fiscal year 2008-09, $288,367 in 
fiscal year 2009-10 and $298,019 in fiscal year 2010-11. 
LRI257(02) - Fiscal Note - Page I of I