An Act To Clarify That the Medical Records of Applicants for Disability Variances Submitted to Municipal Boards of Appeal Are Not Public Records
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 0136
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: MONAGHAN
Amends: 30-A MRSA §4353, 30-A MRSA §4353-A

Legislative Document 
No. 136 
H.P. 94 
House of Representatives, January 22, 2015 
An Act To Clarify That the Medical Records of Applicants for 
Disability Variances Submitted to Municipal Boards of Appeal Are 
Not Public Records 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative MONAGHAN of Cape Elizabeth. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  30-A MRSA §4353, sub-§4-A, as repealed and replaced by PL 2009, c. 
342, §1, is amended to read: 
4-A.  Disability variance; vehicle storage.  A disability variance may be granted 
pursuant to this subsection. 
A.  The board may grant a variance to an owner of a dwelling for the purpose of 
making that dwelling accessible to a person with a disability who resides in or 
regularly uses the dwelling. The board shall restrict any variance granted under this 
paragraph solely to the installation of equipment or the construction of structures 
necessary for access to or egress from the dwelling by the person with the disability.  
The board may impose conditions on the variance granted pursuant to this paragraph, 
including limiting the variance to the duration of the disability or to the time that the 
person with the disability lives in the dwelling. For the purposes of this paragraph,  
the term "structures necessary for access to or egress from the dwelling" is defined to 
include railing, wall or roof systems necessary for the safety or effectiveness of the 
structure. 
B.  If authorized by the zoning ordinance establishing the board, the board may grant 
a variance to an owner of a dwelling who resides in the dwelling and who is a person 
with a permanent disability for the construction of a place of storage and parking for 
a noncommercial vehicle owned by that person and no other purpose.  The width and 
length of the structure may not be larger than 2 times the width and length of the 
noncommercial vehicle.  The owner shall submit proposed plans for the structure 
with the request for the variance pursuant to this paragraph to the board. 
The person with the permanent disability shall prove by a preponderance of the 
evidence that the person's disability is permanent. 
For purposes of this paragraph, "noncommercial vehicle" means a motor vehicle as 
defined in Title 29-A, section 101, subsection 42 with a gross vehicle weight of no 
more than 6,000 pounds, bearing a disability registration plate issued pursuant to 
Title 29-A, section 521 and  owned by the person with the permanent disability. 
The board may impose conditions on the variance granted pursuant to this subsection. 
Documents submitted to the board that describe or verify a person's disability are not 
public records pursuant to Title 1, chapter 13, subchapter 1. 
For purposes of this subsection, "disability" has the same meaning as a physical or mental 
disability under Title 5, section 4553-A. 
Sec. 2.  30-A MRSA §4353-A, as enacted by PL 2013, c. 186, §2, is amended by 
adding after the first paragraph a new paragraph to read: 
Documents submitted to the code enforcement officer that describe or verify a 
person's disability are not public records pursuant to Title 1, chapter 13, subchapter 1. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides that documents submitted to a municipal board of appeals or a 
municipal code enforcement officer that describe or verify the disability of a person who 
is seeking a variance from municipal zoning ordinances in order to accommodate the 
disability are not public records pursuant to the Freedom of Access Act.