An Act To Improve the General Assistance Program
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 1303
Committee: Health and Human Services
Sponsors: STUCKEY
Amends: 22 MRSA §431

124th MAINE LEGISLATURE' 
FIRST F..EGULAR SESSION-2009 
Legislative Document 
No. 1303 . 
H.P.906 
House of Representatives, March 31, 2009 
An Act To Improve the General Assistance Program 
Reference to the Committee on Health and Human Services suggested and ordered printed. 
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Presented by Representative STUCKEY of Portland. 
Printed on recycled paper 
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117· 7lltJ£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 22 MRS A §4305, sub-§3-lB, as amended by PL 2005, c. 231, § 1, is 
further amended to read: 
3-B. Temporary maximum levels. Notwithstanding .subsection 3-A, municipalities 
shall establish an aggregate maximum level of assistance that is .f..i..Q.% 150% of the 
applicable existing housing fair market rents as established by the United States 
Department 0f Housing and Urban. Develqpment pursuant to 24 Code of Federal 
Regulations, Section 888.115, applying the zero-bedroom level for one person, the one-
bedroom level for 2 persons, the 2-bedroom level for 3 persons, the 3-bedroom level for 4 
persons and the 4-bedr60m level for 5 persons. For each additional person, the aggregate 
maximum level increases by $75. For the purposes of this subsection, municipalities with 
populations greater than 10,000 are deemed Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas in 
those counties for which there are 2 fair market rent values and the aggregate maximum 
level of assistance for all Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas is the average of the fair 
market rental values for the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas and areas that are not 
Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas for each county in which there are 2 fair market 
rental values. 
. 
Beginning October 2005 and annually thereafter, the aggregate maximum level of 
assistance must be established at the greater of .f..i..Q.% 150% of the fair market rents as 
determined in this subsection and the amount achieved by annually increasing the most 
recent aggregate maximum level of assistance by the percentage increase in the federal 
poverty level of the current year over the federal poverty level of the prior year. . 
For the purposes of this subsection, "federal poverty level" means that measure defmed 
. by the federal Department of Health and Human Services and updated annually in the 
Federal Register under authority of 42 United States Code, Section 9902(2). 
' Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §431l, as amended by PL 1995, c. 696, Pt. A, §39 and PL 2003, 
c. 689, Pt. B, §6, is repealed and the following enacted in its place: 
§4311. State reimbursement to municipalities; reports 
. 1. 
Departmental reimbursement. 
The department shall reimburse each 
municipality for the costs of a portion of its general assistance program if the department 
finds that the municipality was in compliance with all requirements of this chapter during 
the fiscaLyear for which reimbursement is sought. The amount of reimbursement to each 
municipality must be an amount equal to: 
A. Eighty percent of all general assistance granted by that municipality; or 
B. Ten percent of all general assistance granted until the municipality incurs net 
general assistance costs in any fiscal year in excess of .0003 of that municipality's 
most recent state valuation relative to the state fiscal yearfor which reimbursement is 
being issued, as determined by the State Tax Assessor in the statement filed as 
provided in Title 36, section 381, at which time the department shall reimburse the 
municipality, in addition to the above amount, for. 90% of the amount in excess of 
these expenditures when the department finds that the municipality has been in 
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compliance with all requirements of this chapter. 
If a municipality elects to 
determine need without consideration of funds distributed from any municipally 
controlled trust fund that must otherWise be considered for purposes of this chapter, 
the department shall reimburse the municipality for 66 2/3% of the amount in exc.ess 
of such expenditures when the department finds that the municipality has otherwise 
been in compliance with all requirements of this chapter. 
I-A. Municipal reimbursement for catastrophic illness. When a municipality 
pays for expenses approved pursuant to section 4313 for hospital inpatient or outpatient 
care at any hospital on behalf of any person who is otherwise eligible and who would 
have been entitled to receive payments for hospital care if that care had been rendered 
prior to May 1, 1984 for services under the catastrophic illness program, section 3185, the 
department shalLreimburse the municipality for'100% of those payments. 
2. 
Submission of reports. 
Municipalities must submit monthly, quarterly or 
semiannual reports on forms provided by the department in accordance with department 
rules. 
3. 
Claims. 
The department may refuse to accept and pay ~my claim for 
reimbursement that is not submitted by a municipality to the department within 90 days 
of the payment on which that claim is based or at the end of the reporting period Jor 
which reimbursement is sought unless just cause exists for failure to file a timely claim. 
Sec. 3. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and 
allocations are made. 
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HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF 
General Assistance - Reimbursement to Citi~s and Towns 0130 
Initiative: Appropriates funds for general assistance reimbursement to cities and towns to 
bring funding to levels appropriate to meet the needs of people experiencing economic 
hardship. 
GENERAL FUND 
All Other 
GENERAL FUND TOTAL 
SUMMARY 
2009-10 
$8,800,000 
$8,800,000 
2010-11 
$8,800,000 
$8,800,000 
This bill changes the general assistance reimbursement nite methodology, which has 
been in place since 1991. 
It replaces the 50 percent/90 percent option with a flat 
reimbursement of 80% of all general assistance. The bill raises the temporary maximum 
levels of assistance to 150% of the applicable existing housing fair market rents. The bill 
also makes an ongoing General Fund appropriation of $8,800,000 for general assistance 
reimbursement to cities and towns to bring funding to levels appropriate to meet the 
needs of people experiencing economic hardship.