An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Emergency Management
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 1391
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: GERZOFSKY, PLUMMER
Amends: 37-B MRSA §741, 37-B MRSA §745, 37-B MRSA §799, 37-B MRSA §805

-FIRST P~GULAR SESSION-2009 
Legislative Document 
No. 1391 
In Senate, April 2, 2009 
An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Emergency Management 
Submitted by the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management pursuant 
to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed. 
Presented by Senator GERZOFSKY of Cumberland. 
Cosponsored by Representative PLUMMER of Windham. 
Printed on recycled pnpcr 
9tg(J~ 
JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Be it enacted by the People of the. State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 37-B MRSA §741, sub-§3, ';fG, as repealed and replaced by PL2003, c. 
510, Pt. A, §34, is amended to read: 
G. 
On behalf of the State, enter into mutual aid arrangements with other states and 
foreign countries, and their political subdivisions, and coordinate mutual aid plans 
between political subdivisions of the State. If an arrangement is entered into with a 
jurisdiction that has enacted the Interstate Civil Defense and Disaster Compact, 
chapter ·15, the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, chapter· 16, or the 
International Emergency Management Assistance Compact, chapter 16-A, any 
resulting agreement or agreements may be. considered supplemental agreements 
pursuant to those compacts. If the other jurisdiction or jurisdictions with which the 
Governor proposes to cooperate have not enacted one of those compacts, the 
. Governor may negotiate special agreements with the jurisdiction or jurisdictions. 
Any agreement, if sufficient authority for its making does not otherwise exist, 
becomes effective only after approval by the Legislature; and 
Sec. 2 .. 37-B MRS A §745, sub-§2,· as amended by PL 2005, c.634, § 13, IS 
further amended to read: 
2. Sources of fund. The foIlowing must be paid into the fund: 
A. 
AIl money appropriated for inclusion in the fund; 
B. 
AIl interest from investment of the fund; and 
C. 
. Any other money deposited iri the fund from the Department of Defense, 
Veterans and Emergency Management, Disaster Assistance Relief, Other Special 
Revenue Funds account~; and·· 
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D.· Reimbursement received from the Federal Government or other legal entity for 
. disaster relief expenditures made from the fund .. 
Sec. 3. 37-B MRS A §745, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2005, c. 634, § 13, IS 
further amended to read: 
3. Use of tund. The fund must be the first resource used when section 742 or 744 is 
invoked, except as provided in paragraph A. The fund mayalso be used for the purpose 
. of matching federal funds in the event of a federally declared disaster. The uses of the 
fund are as foIiows: 
. 
A. To provide disaster relief to individuals and families when a federal disaster 
declaration is not received; 
B. 
To provide disaster relief to local governmental units. of the State for 
infrastructure repair and response when a federal disaster declaration is not received; 
C. Emergency response costs for state agencies; 
D. 
To provide low.,interest loans to businesses for disaster relief when a federal 
disaster declaration is not received; 
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E. 
Disaster-related unmet needs of individuals and families following a federally 
declared disaster; 
F. Matching funds for assistance to individuals in a federally declared disaster; and 
G.Matching funds for assistance' to state and local governmental units in a federally 
declared disaster. 
Sec. 4. 37-B MRSA §745,' sub-§4, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 634, §13, IS 
amended to read: 
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4. Fund balance. The fund's balance may not exceed $3,000,000, except by order of 
the Governor. Afly In the absence of such an order, any amount, including interest, that 
accrues in excess of $3,000,000 must be transferred by the State Controller to the Maine 
II 
Budget Stabilization Fund, estabJ.ished in Title 5, section 1532. Beginning July 1, 20 I 0, 
the fund's maximum allowable balance must be adjusted annually on July .1 st by any 
percentage change in the Consumer Price Index fi'om January I st to December 31 st of the 
previous year, but only to a maximum increase of 2%. 
Sec. 5. 37-B MRSA§797, as amended by PL 2001, c. 533, §1, is further amended 
to read: 
§797. Maine chemical inventory report 
A person required to submit a facility emergency response plan, material safety data 
sheet or list of hazardous chemicals and extremely hazardous substances must submit a 
Maine chemical inventory reporting form report to the commission, the localem~rgency 
planning committee and the local firedepartment with jurisdiction over the facility. The 
inventory reporting form report and fee must be submitted by March I st annually for the 
previous calendar year, except that the inventory reportIng form report and fee may be 
submitted with the registration fee in the year of reporting if the repOIiing facility can 
. project its inventory levels for the current year. 
Infonnation on the linventory of 
extremely hazardous substances and hazardous chemicals for the previous calendar year 
is required en- in the fet:m. report. These forms This report must state, at a minimum: 
1: Chemical name. The chemical name of each substance listed; 
2. Maximum weight. The maximum number of pounds of each substance present at 
any time during the preceding year; 
3. Average amount. The average daily amount of each substance present during the 
preceding year; 
4. Chemical storage. A brief description of the manner of the chemical's storage; 
5. Chemical location .. The chemical's location atthe facility; 
6. Information withholding. An indication if the person is electing to withhold 
information from disclosure under section 800; 
rag.::: - 124LROS44(OI)-1 
3. 
7. Transportation. A description ofthe manner in which the substance is shipped to 
the facility, including standard and alternate transportation routes taken through the State 
from point of origin or entry to the faCility.. Records held by the commission regarding 
standard and alternate transportation routes are confidential records for the purposes of 
Title 1, chapter 13, subchapter II. The commission may provide those records to state, 
county or local emergency management agencies or public officials, as the commission 
determines necessary, but shall require those agencies or officials to hold those records as 
confidential; and 
8. Progress toward toxics use reduction goals. 
For those persons required to 
submit a fefm report under this section for extremely hazardous substances, a report on 
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the progress made by the facility toward meeting the toxics use reduction goals 
established in Title 38, section2303. 
Sec. 6. 37-B MRSA §799, as amended by PL 1993, c. 355, §2, is further amended 
to read: 
§799. Toxic chemical release reports 
Under this section, the owner or operator of every facility with 10 or more employees 
and within Standard Industrial Classification Codes 20-39 must file toxic chemical 
release femP.::; reports for routine releases with the United States EI1Vironmental Protection 
Agency, the Department of Environmental Protection, the commission and the local 
emergency planning committee by October 1, 1989 and annually thereafter consistent 
with the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, Public Law 99-499, 
Title III, Section 313, and 40 Code of Federal Regu lations, Part 372. Those feFm.& reports 
must be made available to the public by the commission and the local emergency 
planning committee. The owner or operator of every facility required to report under this 
section must also submit a report on the progress made by the facility toward meeting the 
toxics release reduction goals established in Title 38, section 2303. 
Sec. 7. 37-B MRSA §805, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 464, §3, is amended to read: 
§805. Community right to know· 
1. Availability to public. Each emergency response plan, material safety data sheet, 
list described in section 796, subsection 2, Maine che,mical inventory reporting form 
report, toxic chemical release fefm report and follow-up emergency notice sfla+l must be 
made available to the general public, consistent with section 800, during normal working 
hours at the location or locations designated by the Administrator of the United States 
Environmental Protection Agency, the Governor, the commission or the local emergency 
planning committee, as appropriate. Upon request by an owner or operator of a facility 
subject to the requirements of section 797, the commission and the appropriate local 
emergency planning committee shall withhold from disclosure under this section the 
location of any specific chemical required by section 797 to be contained in a Maine 
chemical inventory reporting form report. 
2. Notice of public availability. Each committee shall annuaIly publish a notice in 
loqtl newspapers that the emergency response plan, material safety data sheets and Maine 
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chemical inventory reporting forms reports have been submitted under this section. The 
notice sfl.al-I- must state that follow-up emergency notices may subsequently be issued and 
announce that members of the public who wish to review any such plan, sheet, fofm 
repOli or follow-up notice may do so at the location designated under subsection I. 
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Sec. 8. 37-BMRSA §806, sub-§4, 'TIA, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 464, §3, is 
amended to read: 
A. 
Any person may commence a civil action on that person's own behalf against tpe 
owner or operator of a facility for failure to do any of the following: 
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(I) Submit a follow-up emergency notice under section 798, subsection 3; 
(2) Subm,it a material safety data sheet or a list under section 796; 
(3) Complete and submit a Maine chemical inventory reporting form report 
under section 797; or 
(4) Complete and submit a toxic chemical release form- report under section 799. 
Sec. 9. 37-B MRSA c. 15, as amended, is repealed. 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends the laws governing the Disaster Relief Fund to allow for reimbursed 
costs to be deposited back into the fund, to list uses of the fund and to adjust the fund's 
, maximum allowable balance annually for inflation. It also revises language relating to 
chemical inventory reporting. It amends statutory language to reflect the administrative 
change that has phased out paper chemical inventory reporting forms in favor of 
electronic repOlis containing the same information. It repeals the Interstate Civil Defense 
and Disaster Compact, which has been superseded by the Emergency Management 
Assistance Compact.' 
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