An Act To Create the New Gloucester Water District
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 1703
Committee Amendment CA_A_H684 (House)

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "ft" to H.P. 1255, L.D. 1703, Bill, "An Act To 
Create the New Gloucester Water District" 
Amend the bill in the emergcncy preamble by inserting after the 2nd indented 
paragraph the following: 
'Whereas~ in order to secure necessary funding to address the contamination of 
water in New Gloucester's Upper Village, the Town of New Gloucester has had to 
schedule in January of 2012 a vote on the creation of a water district, which could occur 
before this legislation is approved, and this legislation must take effect as close to the 
vote as possible to effectuate the formation of the water district; and' 
Amend the bill in section 2 in the 3rd to 5th lines (page 2, lines 3 to 5 in L.D.) by 
striking out the following: "and is authorized to perform all acts and to do all things 
necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes and powers provided in this Act or 
reasonably implied from those purposes and powers" 
Amend the bill by striking out all of section 3 (page 2, lines 6 to 14 in L.D.) 
Amend the bill in section 4 in the 2nd line (page 2, line 16 in L.D.) by striking out the 
following: "A" and inserting the following: 'Notwithstanding the Maine Revised Statutes, 
Title 35-A, section 6410, a' 
Amend the bill in section 5 in the 2nd linc (page 2, line 19 in L.D.) by inserting after 
the following: "Act." the following: 'Trustees of the first board must be appointed within 
days of the effective date of this Act.' 
Amend the bill in section 6 in the 2nd line (page 2, line 22 in L.D.) by inserting after 
the following: "terms" the following: 'in accordance with the Maine Revised Statutes, 
Title 35-A, section 6410' 
Amend the bill in section 7 by striking out all of the first paragraph (page 2, lines 23 
to 35 in L.D.) and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 7. Emergency clause; referendum; effective date. This Act takes effect 
when approved only for the purpose of permitting its submission to the legal voters 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
~s 
~O 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 'A" to H.P. 1255, L.D. 1703 
within the tenitory described in section I of this Act at an election called and held for that 
purpose, except that this Act takes effect for all purposes immediately upon its approval if 
a majority of the legal voters within the tenitory described in section I of this Act voting 
at a referendum held after January 9, 2012 and prior to approval of this Act vote in favor 
of the question specified in this section. Even if the municipality has not accepted the 
secret ballot voting, the election must be called, advertised and conducted according to 
the law relating to municipal elections, including the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, 
section 2528. For the purposes of registration of voters, the registrar of voters must be in 
session the secular day preceding the election. The subject matter of this Act is reduced to 
the following question:' 
Amend the bill in section 7 by striking out all of the last indented paragraph (page 3, 
lines I to 4 in L.D.) and inserting the following: 
'If a referendum is not held after January 9,2012 and before approval of this Act or a 
referendum is held between those dates but a majority of the legal voters within the 
tenitory described in section 1 ofthis Act do not vote in favor ofthe question specified in 
this section, this Act takes effect for all purposes immediately upon its approval by a 
majority of the legal voters voting at an election held at a later date. Failure to achieve the 
necessary approval in any referendum does not prohibit subsequent referenda consistent 
with this section.' 
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or 
section nwnber to read consecutively. 
SUMMARY 
This amendment strikes redundant language from the bill. It adds a time frame 
according to which the trustees of the water district must be appointed and strikes the 
exception that the registrar of voters is not required to prepare or the clerk to post a new 
list of voters. Because of the limited time frame to secure funding to address water 
contamination in the New Gloucester Upper Village, the referendum for the legal voters 
to approve the creation of the New Gloucester Water District has been scheduled at a 
time that may occur before legislative approval of the bill as amended. Because of the 
unique and extraordinary circumstances giving rise to the bill, the bill and this 
amendment allow for that referendum to be held before legislative approval. If the 
referendum is held prior to legislative approval and the majority of legal voters approve 
creation of the water district, the bill as amended will take effect immediately upon the 
Governor's signature. If the referendum occurs after legislative approval, the bill as 
amended will take effect if approved by the majority of legal voters voting in the 
referendum. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT