An Act To Protect Personal Information of Participants in a Community Well-being Check Program
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 0196
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: MALABY, CHACE, HARVELL, HEAD, HYMANSON, NADEAU
Amends: 1 MRSA §402

Legislative Document
No. 196
H.P. 152
House of Representatives, January 24, 2017
An Act To Protect Personal Information of Participants in a 
Community Well-being Check Program
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative MALABY of Hancock.
Cosponsored by Representatives: CHACE of Durham, HARVELL of Farmington, HEAD of 
Bethel, HYMANSON of York, NADEAU of Winslow.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  1 MRSA §402, sub-§3, ¶T, as amended by PL 2015, c. 161, §2, is further 
amended to read: 
T.  Records describing research for the development of processing techniques for 
fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing or the design and operation of a 
depuration plant in the possession of the Department of Marine Resources; and 
Sec. 2.  1 MRSA §402, sub-§3, ¶U, as enacted by PL 2015, c. 161, §3, is 
amended to read: 
U.  Records provided by a railroad company describing hazardous materials 
transported by the railroad company in this State, the routes of hazardous materials 
shipments and the frequency of hazardous materials operations on those routes that 
are in the possession of a state or local emergency management entity or law 
enforcement agency, a fire department or other first responder.  For the purposes of 
this paragraph, "hazardous material" has the same meaning as set forth in 49 Code of 
Federal Regulations, Section 105.5.; and 
Sec. 3.  1 MRSA §402, sub-§3, ¶V is enacted to read: 
V.  Participant application materials and other personal information obtained or 
maintained by a municipality or other public entity in administering a community 
well-being check program, except that a participant's personal information, including 
health information, may be made available to local law enforcement or other 
designated first responders as necessary to administer the program. For the purposes 
of this paragraph, "community well-being check program" means a voluntary 
program that involves daily, or regular, telephone contact with a participant and, 
when telephone contact cannot be established, sends local law enforcement or other 
designated first responders to the participant's residence to check on the participant's 
well-being. 
SUMMARY 
This bill creates a public records exception under the Freedom of Access Act to 
protect the confidentiality of personal information of participants in community well-
being check programs. A community well-being check program, sometimes known as a 
"Good Morning Program," is a voluntary program that involves daily, or regular, 
telephone contact with participants and, when telephone contact cannot be made, sends 
local law enforcement or other designated first responders to check on the well-being of 
the participant at the participant's residence. The bill makes an exception to the 
confidentiality provision to allow for the sharing of a participant's personal information, 
including health information, with local law enforcement or other designated first 
responders as necessary to administer the program.