An Act To Require All Lodging Places To Be Licensed by the State
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0330
Committee: Health and Human Services
Sponsors: PATRICK, PETERSON, CUSHING, JACKSON, MASON
Amends: 22 MRSA §2501, 30-A MRSA §3801, 30-A MRSA §3811

Legislative Document 
No. 330 
S.P. 126 
In Senate, February 12, 2013 
An Act To Require All Lodging Places To Be Licensed by the State 
Reference to the Committee on Health and Human Services suggested and ordered printed. 
DAREK M. GRANT 
Secretary of the Senate 
Presented by Senator PATRICK of Oxford. 
Cosponsored by Representative PETERSON of Rumford and 
Senators: CUSHING of Penobscot, JACKSON of Aroostook, Representative: MASON of 
Topsham. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  22 MRSA §2501, first ¶, as amended by PL 2011, c. 193, Pt. B, §10, is 
further amended to read: 
Private homes are not deemed or considered lodging places and subject to a license 
when not more than 5 rooms are let; such private homes must post in a visible location in 
each rented room a card with the following statement in text that is easily readable in no 
less than 18-point boldface type of uniform font "This lodging place is not regulated by 
the State of Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Maine Center for Disease 
Control and Prevention."  The homes must provide guests upon check-in with a notice 
containing the same information.  A license is not required from dormitories of 
charitable, educational or philanthropic institutions, fraternity and sorority houses 
affiliated with educational institutions, or from private homes used in emergencies for the 
accommodation of persons attending conventions, fairs or similar public gatherings, nor 
from temporary eating establishments and temporary lodging places for the same, nor 
from railroad dining or buffet cars, nor from construction camps, nor from boarding 
houses and camps conducted in connection with wood cutting and logging operations, nor 
from any boarding care facilities or children's homes that are licensed under section 7801. 
Sec. 2.  22 MRSA §2501, 2nd ¶, as amended by PL 2011, c. 193, Pt. B, §10, is 
repealed. 
Sec. 3.  30-A MRSA §3801, sub-§3, ¶A, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 737, Pt. A, §2 
and Pt. C, §106 and amended by PL 1989, c. 6; c. 9, §2; and c. 104, Pt. C, §§8 and 10, is 
further amended to read: 
A.  A house where lodgings are rented to fewer than 5 lodgers who are persons within 
the 2nd degree of kindred to the person operating the lodging house; 
(1)  The term "lodger" does not include persons within the 2nd degree of kindred 
to the person operating the lodging house; 
Sec. 4.  30-A MRSA §3811, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 737, Pt. A, §2 and 
Pt. C, §106 and amended by PL 1989, c. 6; c. 9, §2; and c. 104, Pt. C, §§8 and 10, is 
repealed. 
SUMMARY 
Current law requires lodging places to be licensed by the Department of Health and 
Human Services; lodging houses may be licensed by the municipality under the direction 
of state law.  Private homes when not more than 5 rooms are let, rooms and cottages 
where not more than 3 rooms or cottages are let and fraternity and sorority houses 
affiliated with educational institutions are exempt from licensing by the State.  Lodging 
houses with fewer than 5 lodgers are exempt from municipal licensing.  The dormitories 
of charitable, educational or philanthropic institutions and houses used in emergency 
situations are exempt from both state and municipal licensing. 
This bill removes the exemptions from state licensing of lodging places, private 
homes and inns, requiring them all to be licensed by the State, and repeals the authority of 
a municipality to license lodging houses since it will now be done by the State.  Fraternity 
and sorority houses affiliated with educational institutions, dormitories of charitable, 
educational or philanthropic institutions and houses used in emergency situations remain 
exempt from state licensing.