An Act Regarding Service of Criminal Process on Electronic Communication Service Providers and Remote Computing Service Providers
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 0332
Committee Amendment CA_A_H339 (House)

COMMJTTEE AMENDMENT "/J" to H.P. 246, L.D. 332, Bill, "An Act 
Regarding Service of Criminal Process on Electronic Communication Service Providers 
and Remote Computing Service Providers" 
Amend the bill in section 1 in subsection 6 in the 2nd line (page 1, line 18 in L.D.) by 
striking out the following: "A clerk" and inserting the following: 'A commercial clerk' 
Amend the bill in section 1 in subsection 6 by striking out all of paragraph C (page 2, 
lines 7 to 15 in L.D.) and inserting the following: 
'C. For purposes of this subsection, criminal process is properly served if it is: 
(1) Delivered by hand, or in a manner reasonably allowing for proof of delivery 
if delivered by United States mail, overnight delive1y service or facsimile to a 
commercial clerk or commercial registered agent as provided in section 106; 
section 107, subsection 4: or this section; 
(2) Delivered by specific means identified by the provider for service of criminal 
process, including, but not limited to, e-mail, facsimile or submission via an 
Internet web portal: or 
(3) Delivered to the provider's place of business within the State. 
If service is made pursuant to subparagraph (1) or (3) and the provider promptly 
notifies the law enforcement agency of the specific means of service identified by the 
provider pursuant to subparagraph (2) for criminal process, service must be made by 
the means of service specified by the provider if possible.' 
Amend the bill in section 3 in §56 in subsection 1 by striking out all of paragraph L 
(page 3, line 37 and page 4, lines 1 to 8 in L.D.) and insetting the following: 
'L. "Properly served" means that a search warrant or grand jmy subpoena has been: 
(1) Delivered by hand, or in a manner reasonably allowing for proof of delivery 
if delivered by United States mail, overnight delivery service or facsimile to a 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" fl,, to H.P. 246, L.D. 332 
commercial clerk or commercial registered agent as provided in Title 5, section 
106; Title 5, section 107, subsection 4; or this section; 
(2) Delivered by specific means identified by the provider for service of criminal 
process, including, but not limited to, e-mail, facsimile or submission via an 
Intemet web portal; or 
(3) Delivered to the provider's place of business within the State. 
If service is made pursuant to subparagraph (1) or (3) and the provider promptly 
notifies the law enforcement agency of the specific means of service identified by the 
provider pursuant to subparagraph (2) for criminal process, service must be made by 
O 
the means of service specified by the provider if possible.' 
Amend the bill in section 3 in §56 by striking out all of subsections 2, 3 and 4 and 
inserting the following: 
'2. 
Requirements applicable to a foreign entity provider. 
The following 
provisions apply to criminal process issued pursuant to this section that requires a search 
for records that are in the possession or control of a foreign entity provider when those 
records would reveal the identity of a customer using services, data stored by or on behalf 
of a customer, a customer's usage of the service, the recipient or destination of 
communications sent to or from a customer, content information or location infonnation. 
A. A foreign entity provider served with a search warrant pursuant to this section 
shall produce to the applicant all records sought, including those records maintained 
or located outside this State, within 14 days of service. The 14 days may be extended 
by the court as follows: 
(1) By the 10th day following service, the foreign entity provider in writing or 
electronically must notify the law enforcement officer who served the warrant 
that producing all the records within 14 days is not practicable, the reasons why 
compliance is not practicable and the date by which the foreign entity provider 
will complete the production; and 
(2) The law enforcement officer shall file a notice with the comt of the reasons 
under subparagraph (1). 
0 
If the court finds that good cause exists for the delay, the court may extend the 14-day 
period to the date of production specified by the foreign entity provider and the 
provider is prohibited from asserting that the wanant has expired. For purposes of 
this paragraph, good cause includes, but is not limited to, impracticability of timely 
response, difficulty of identifying and retrieving the data requested and the volume of 
data or number of sources sought. 
B. A foreign entity provider served with a grand jmy subpoena pursuant to this 
section shall produce to the prosecutor or grand jmy all records sought, including 
those records maintained or located outside this State, by or at the time of the grand 
jmy appearance. The grand jmy subpoena must include the address of the prosecutor 
or grand jury to which the provider must produce the records. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITIEE AMENDMENT" A" to H.P. 246, L.D. 332 
C. A foreign entity provider shall verify the authenticity of records that it produces 
by providing an affidavit that complies with the requirements set forth in the Maine 
Rules of Evidence, Rule 902(12). Admissibility of these records in a court in this 
State is governed by the Maine Rules of Evidence, Rule 803(6). 
D. 
A foreign entity provider that produces records or testifies pursuant to this 
subsection is immune from criminal or civil liability for the release of the requested 
information to the court, attorney for the State or law enforcement agency involved in 
the investigation. 
3. 
Requirements applicable to a domestic entity provider. 
The following 
provisions apply to criminal process issued pursuant to this section that requires a search 
for records that are in the possession or control of a domestic entity provider when those 
records would reveal the identity of a customer using services, data stored by or on behalf 
of a customer, a customer's usage of the service, the recipient or destination of 
communications sent to or from a customer, content information or location information. 
A. A domestic entity provider, when served with criminal process issued by another 
state to produce records that would reveal the identity of a customer using services, 
data stored by or on behalf of a customer, a customer's usage of the service, the 
recipient or destination of communications sent to or from a customer, content 
information or location information, shall produce those records as if that criminal 
process had been issued by a comt in this State. 
B. A domestic entity provider served with a search warrant pursuant to this section 
shall produce to the applicant all records sought, including those records maintained 
or located outside this State, within 14 days of service. The 14-day period may be 
extended by the court as follows: 
(1) By the 10th day following service, the domestic entity provider in writing or 
electronically must notify the law enforcement officer who served the warrant 
that producing all the records within 14 days is not practicable, the reasons why 
compliance is not practicable and the date by which the domestic entity provider 
will complete the production; and 
(2) The law enforcement officer shall file a notice with the comt of the reasons 
under subparagraph (1). 
If the comt finds that good cause exists for the delay, the comt may extend the 14-day 
period to the date of production specified by the domestic entity provider and the 
provider is prohibited from asse1ting that the warrant has expired. For purposes of 
this paragraph, good cause includes, but is not limited to, impracticability of timely 
response, difficulty of identifying and retrieving the data requested and the volume of 
7 
data or number of sources sought. 
C. A domestic entity provider served with a grand jmy subpoena pursuant to this 
section shall produce to the prosecutor or grand jury all records sought, including 
those records maintained or located outside this State, by or at the time of the grand 
jmy appearance. The grand jmy subpoena must include the address of the prosecutor 
or grand jmy to which the provider must produce the records. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A "to H.P. 246, L.D. 332 
D. A domestic entity provider shall verify the authenticity of records that it produces 
by providing an affidavit that complies with the requirements set forth in the Maine 
Rules of Evidence, Rule 902(11) or on a form provided by the requesting jurisdiction. 
Admissibility of these records in a court in this State is governed by the Maine Rules 
of Evidence, Rule 803(6). 
E. 
A domestic entity provider that produces records or testifies pursuant to this 
subsection is immune from criminal or civil liability for the release of the requested 
infonnation to the court, attorney for the State or law enforcement agency involved in 
the investigation. 
4. Application for expedited production of records. Notwithstanding the 14-day 
period specified in subsection 2 or 3 for production of the records, if an applicant for a 
search warrant believes that delaying production is reasonably likely to cause an adverse 
result, the applicant may request that the comt require the production of the records 
sooner than 14 days after service pursuant to this subsection. 
A. The applicant shall demonstrate to the comt the specific adverse result or results, 
as specified in subsection 1, paragraph A, subparagraphs (1) to (7), that delaying 
production for 14 days is reasonably likely to cause. 
B. If the court finds that the delay may cause an adverse result, the comt shall state 
the adverse result specified in subsection 1, paragraph A, subparagraphs ( 1) to (7) and 
may require the provider to produce the records in a specified number of days. 
C. If the court specifies that the provider has less than 14 days to produce the record 
and the adverse result finding is listed in subsection 1, paragraph A, subparagraphs 
(1) to (4), the provider must respond within the time specified by the comt. 
D. If the comt specifies that the provider has less than 14 days to produce the record 
and the only adverse result findings are results listed in subsection 1, paragraph A, 
subparagraphs (5) to (7), the provider must notify the law enforcement officer serving 
the wal1'ant that compliance within that period specified by the court is not 
practicable and must state the date within 14 days from service by which the provider 
will respond. The law enforcement officer shall file the provider's response with the 
court, and, upon a demonstration of good cause by the provider, the response period 
may be extended by the court to no more than 14 days from the date of service of the 
warrant. 
As used in this paragraph, good cause includes, but is not limited to, 
impracticability of timely response, difficulty of identifying and retrieving the data 
requested and the volume of data or number of sources sought.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment makes the following changes to the bill. 
7 
1. It specifies that the clerk who is authorized to receive service of a grand jury 
8 
subpoena or search warrant is the commercial clerk. 
2. It prioritizes the method of service of criminal process, specifying first priority as 
through the specific means identified by the electronic service provider or remote 
computing service provider. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to H.P. 246, L.D. 332 
3. It specifies that the provisions applicable to a search for records from a foreign 
entity provider apply to records that are in the possession or control of the foreign entity 
provider. 
4. It provides a mechanism for a foreign entity provider or a domestic entity provider 
to obtain an extension beyond 14 days to reply to a search warrant through notice to the 
law enforcement officer who served the warrant. It strikes from the procedure the 
requirement that the foreign entity provider file a request for relief with the court. 
5. It provides for production of the requested grand jury documents to the grand jury 
and provides that the prosecutor's or the grand jury's address must be included in the 
subpoena. 
6. It provides in the mechanism for expedited production of records a way for the 
provider to request a 14-day period for return of the information if the only adverse result 
finding is for the reason of jeopardizing the investigation, undue delay of trial or a 
significantly detrimental consequence that is not immediate danger of death or serious 
physical injury, flight from prosecution, destruction of or tampering with evidence or 
intimidation of a potential witness. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 05/11/17 feac 
LD 332 , 
LR 507(04) 
An Act Regarding Service of Criminal Process on Electronic Communication Service Providers and 
Remote Computing Service Providers 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment ,A, { Jl-3JV 
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - General Fund 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Additional costs to the Department of Public Safety associated with this legislation can be absorbed within existing 
budgeted resources. 
LR0507(04) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1