An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1822
Committee Amendment CA_A_H536 (House)
Amends: 1 MRSA §412

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A " 
to H.P. 1270, L.D. 1822, Bill, "An Act To 
Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee" 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the title and before the summary and 
inserting the following: 
'Mandate preamble. This measure requires one or more local units of government 
to expand or modify activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local 
revenues but does not provide funding for at least 90% of those expenditures. Pursuant to 
the Constitution of Maine, Article IX, Section 21, 2/3 of all of the members elected to 
each House have determined it necessary to enact this measure. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 1 MRSA §412 is enacted to read: 
§412. Public records and proceedings training for certain elected officials 
1. Training required; Beginning July 1, 2008, an elected official subject to this 
section shall complete a course of training on the requirements of this chapter relating to 
public records and proceedings. The official shall complete the training not later than the 
120th day after the date the elected official takes the oath of office to assume the person's 
duties as an elected official. For elected officials subject to this section serving in office 
on July 1, 2008, the training required by this section must be completed by November 1, 
2008. 
2. 
Approval by advisory committee; minimum requirements. The training 
course under subsection I must be approved by the advisory committee. The training 
must be designed to be completed by an official in less than 2 hours. At a minimum, the 
training must include instruction in: 
A. The general legal requirements of this chapter regarding public records and public 
proceedings; 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" 1+. to H.P. 1270, L.D. 1822 
B. Procedures and requirements regarding complying with a request for a public 
record under this chapter; and 
C. Penalties and other consequences for failure to comply with this chapter. 
3. Certification of completion. Upon completion of the training course under 
subsection 1, the elected official shall send a written or an electronic notification to the 
advisory committee attesting to the fact that the training has been completed. The 
advisory committee shall maintain a record of those elected officials who have completed 
the training required by this section and make that record available to the public 111 
accordance with the requirements of this chapter. 
4. Application. This section applies to: 
A. The Governor; 
B. The Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer of State and State Auditor; 
C. Members of the Legislature; and 
D. An elected official of a county, municipality, school district or school board or 
any regional or other political subdivision who, as part of the duties of the office, 
exercises executive or legislative powers.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment revises the freedom of access training requirement for elected 
officials to delay the effective date to July 1,2008. The amendment deletes the section of 
the bill that creates the Public Access Ombudsman and instead requires that the training 
course be approved by the Right To Know Advisory Committee. It also requires elected 
officials to send a written or electronic notification to the Right To Know Advisory 
Committee when they have completed their training. It also adds a mandate preamble to 
the bill. 
FISCAL :\OTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
. . 
.-.~. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Revised: 06/09107 frae 
LD 1822 
LR 2538(02) 
An Act To Implement tbe Recommendations of tbe Rigbt To Know Advisory Committee 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment -It" 
Committee: Judiciary 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
State Mandate - Exempted 
State Mandates 
Required Activity 
Unit Affected 
Costs 
This bill requires certain elected officials of a county, municipality, school district or 
School 
Insignificant 
school board to complete a training course related to public records and proceedings. Municipality 
Pursuant to the Mandate Preamble, the two-thirds vote of all members elected to 
each House exempts the State from the constitutional requirement to fund 90% of 
the additional local costs. 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
The additional costs to review and approve the freedom of access training can be absorbed by the advisory committee 
utilizing existing budgeted resources. 
LR2S38(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1