An Act To Create Parity for Proprietary Information Submitted to the Department of Marine Resources
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 1687
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: BEAVERS, LANGLEY
Amends: 12 MRSA §6072, 12 MRSA §6072-A, 12 MRSA §6173-B

Legislative Document 
No. 1687 
H.P. 1210 
House of Representatives, December 30, 2013 
An Act To Create Parity for Proprietary Information Submitted to 
the Department of Marine Resources 
Submitted by the Department of Marine Resources pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed. 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative BEAVERS of South Berwick. 
Cosponsored by Senator LANGLEY of Hancock. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  12 MRSA §6072, sub-§10, ¶D, as amended by PL 2009, c. 240, §8, is 
further amended to read: 
D.  The lessee shall annually submit to the department a seeding and harvesting 
report for the past year and a seeding and harvesting plan for the coming year.  Upon 
written request, the department shall provide a copy of the report to the municipality 
or municipalities in which or adjacent to which the lease is located.  The seeding and 
harvesting reports submitted by a lessee under this paragraph are considered 
proprietary information confidential statistics for the purposes of section 6077, 
subsection 4 6173. 
Sec. 2.  12 MRSA §6072-A, sub-§17-A, ¶D, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 240, §11, 
is amended to read: 
D.  The lessee shall annually submit to the department a seeding and harvesting 
report for the past year and a seeding and harvesting plan for the coming year.  Upon 
written request, the commissioner shall provide a copy of the report to the 
municipality or municipalities in which or adjacent to which the lease is located.  The 
seeding and harvesting reports submitted by a lessee under this paragraph are 
considered proprietary information confidential statistics for the purposes of section 
6077, subsection 4 6173. 
Sec. 3.  12 MRSA §6173-B is enacted to read: 
§6173-B.  Special licenses; mandatory quality control program; shellfish sanitation 
and depuration certificates; confidentiality of proprietary information 
Except as provided in subsections 1 and 2, information obtained by the department 
under this section is a public record as provided by Title 1, chapter 13, subchapter 1. 
1.  Confidential information.  Information submitted to the department pursuant to 
provisions regarding special licenses for research, aquaculture or education under section 
6074, surveillance and inspection of all segments of the State's fishing industries under 
section 6102 or the shellfish sanitation certificate and the depuration certificate under 
section 6856 may be designated by the submittor as proprietary information and as being 
only for the confidential use of the department, its agents and employees, other agencies 
of State Government, as authorized by the Governor, and the Attorney General. The 
designation must be clearly indicated on each page or other unit of information. The 
commissioner shall establish procedures to ensure that information so designated is 
segregated from public records of the department. The department's public records must 
include the indication that information so designated has been submitted to the 
department, giving the name of the submittor and the general nature of the information. 
Upon a request for information the scope of which includes information so designated, 
the commissioner shall notify the submittor. Within 15 days after receipt of the notice, the 
submittor shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the department that the designated 
information should not be disclosed because the information is proprietary information. 
Unless such a demonstration is made, the information must be disclosed and becomes a 
public record. The department may grant or deny disclosure for all or any part of the 
designated information requested and within 15 days shall give written notice of the 
decision to the submittor and the person requesting the designated information. A person 
aggrieved by a decision of the department under this subsection may appeal to the 
Superior Court. 
2.  Release information.  The commissioner may not release information designated 
under subsection 1 prior to the expiration of the time allowed for the filing of an appeal or 
to the rendering of the decision on any appeal.  
3.  Nonconfidential information.  Any information that is collected by any other 
local, state or federal agency or information required by the department for the purpose of 
obtaining a permit, license, certification or other approval may not be designated or 
treated as confidential information under subsection 1. 
4.  Definition.  For purposes of this section, "proprietary information" means 
information that is a trade secret or production, commercial or financial information the 
disclosure of which would impair the competitive position of the submittor and would 
make available information not otherwise publicly available. 
SUMMARY 
This bill allows certain businesses licensed under the marine resource laws to request 
that certain information submitted to the Department of Marine Resources be kept 
confidential to protect proprietary business information.  It also corrects 2 references to 
confidential statistical landings information collected under aquaculture leases and 
licenses.