An Act To Support Maine Military Charities
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 1449
Committee Amendment CA_A_H264 (House)
Amends: 37-B MRSA §3, 37-B MRSA §101-A, 37-B MRSA §158

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A "to H.P. 1001, L.D. 1449, Bill, "An Act To 
Support Maine Military Charities" 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the 
summary and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 1. 37-B MRSA §3, sub-§1, ~' as amended by PL 2015, c. 465, Pt. A, §1, 
is further amended to read: 
D. Have the following powers and duties. 
( 1) The Adjutant General shall administer the department subordinate only to the 
Governor. 
(2) The Adjutant General shall establish methods of administration consistent 
with the law necessary for the efficient operation of the department. 
(3) The Adjutant General may prepare a budget for the department. 
(4) The Adjutant General may transfer personnel from one bureau to another 
within the depaitment. 
(5) 
The Adjutant General shall supervise the preparation of all state 
informational reports required by the federal military establishment. 
(6) The Adjutant General shall keep an accurate account of expenses incurred 
and, in accordance with Title 5, sections 43 to 46, make a full repmt to the 
Governor as to the condition of the military forces, and as to all business 
transactions of the Military Bureau, including detailed statements of expenditures 
for milita1y purposes. 
(7) The Adjutant General is responsible for the custody, care and repair of all 
militaty propetty belonging to or issued to the State for the militaty forces and 
shall dispose of military property belonging to the State that is unserviceable. 
The Adjutant General shall account for and deposit the proceeds from that 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITIEE AMENDMENT "H "to H.P. 1001, L.D. 1449 
disposal with the Treasurer of State, who shall credit them to the Capital Repair, 
Maintenance, Construction and Acquisition Account of the Military Bureau. 
(8) The Adjutant General may sell for cash to officers of the state military forces, 
for their official use, and to organizations of the state military forces, any militaty 
or naval property that is the propetty of the State. The Adjutant General shall, 
with an annual report, render to the Governor an accurate account of the sales and 
deposit the proceeds of the sales with the Treasurer of State, who shall credit 
them to the General Fund. 
(9) The Adjntant General shall represent the state militaiy forces for the purpose 
of establishing the relationship between the federal military establishment and the 
various state militaty staff departments. 
(10) The Adjutant General shall accept, receive and administer federal funds for 
and on behalf of the State that are available for milita1y purposes or that would 
fmther the intent and specific purposes of this chapter and chapter 3. 
The 
Adjutant General shall provide the personnel, supplies, services and matching 
funds required by a federal cost-sharing arrangement pursuant to 31 United States 
Code, Chapters 63 and 65 (2013); 32 United States Code (2013); and National 
Guard Regulation 5-1 (2010). The Adjutant General shall receive funds and 
prope1ty and an accounting for all expenditures and property acquired through 
such a federal cost-sharing arrangement and make returns and reports concerning 
those expenditures and that prope1ty as required by such a federal cost-sharing 
arrangement. 
( 11) The Adjutant General shall acquire, construct, operate and maintain military 
facilities necessaiy to comply with this Title and Title 32 of the United States 
Code and shall operate and maintain facilities now within or hereafter coming 
within the jurisdiction of the Military Bureau. 
(12) The Adjutant General may adopt rules pe1taining to compliance with state 
and federal contracting requirements, subject to Title 5, chapter 375. Those rules 
must provide for approval of contracts by the appropriate state agency. 
(13) The Adjutant General shall allocate and supervise any funds made available 
by the Legislature to the Civil Air Patrol. 
( 14) The Adjutant General shall report at the beginning of each biennium to the 
joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over veterans' 
affairs on any recommended changes or modifications to the laws governing 
veterans' affairs, particularly as those changes or modifications relate to changes 
in federal veterans' laws. The repott must include info1mation on the status of 
communications with the United States Depattment of Veterans Affairs regarding 
the potential health risks to and the potential disabilities of veterans who as 
members of the Maine National Guard were exposed to environmental hazards at 
the Canadian military support base in Gagetown, New Brunswick, Canada. 
(15) The Adjutant General may receive personal propetty from the United States 
Depaitment of Defense that the Secretaiy of Defense has determined is suitable 
for use by agencies in law enforcement activities, including counter-drug 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITIEE AMENDMENT "H "to H.P. 1001, L.D. 1449 
activities, and in excess of the needs of the Department of Defense pursuant to 10 
United States Code, Section 2576a, and transfer ownership of that personal 
property 
to 
state, 
county 
and 
municipal 
law 
enforcement 
agencies 
notwithstanding any other provision of law. The Adjutant General may receive 
excess personal property from the United States Department of Defense for use 
by the department, notwithstanding any other provision of law. 
(16) The Adjutant General may establish a science, mathematics and technology 
education improvement program for schoolchildren known as the ST ARBASE 
Program. 
The Adjutant General may accept financial assistance and in-kind 
assistance, advances, grants, gifts, contributions and other fonns of financial 
assistance from the Federal Government or other public body or from other 
sources, public or private, to implement the STARBASE Program. The Adjutant 
General may employ a director and other employees, permanent or temporary, to 
operate the ST ARBASE Program. 
(17) The Adjutant General shall establish a system, to be administered by the 
Director of the Bureau of Maine Veterans' Services, to express formally 
condolence and appreciation to the closest surviving family members of members 
of the United States Armed Forces who, since September 11, 2001, are killed in 
action or die as a consequence of injuries that result in the award of a Purple 
Heatt medal. In accordance with the existing criteria of the department for the 
awarding of gold star medals, this system must provide for the Adjutant General 
to issue up to 3 gold star medals to family members who reside in the State, one 
to the spouse of the deceased service member and one to the parents of the 
service member. If the parents of the service member are divorced, the Adjutant 
General may issue one medal to each parent. If the service member has no 
surviving spouse or parents or if they live outside of the State, the Adjutant 
General may issue a gold stat' medal to the service member's next of kin, as 
reported to the department, who resides in the State. 
(18) The Adjutant General may establish a National Guard Youth Challenge 
Program consistent with 32 United States Code, Section 509 (1990). 
The 
Adjutant General may accept financial assistance from the Federal Government 
or other public body or from other sources, public and private, to implement the 
National Guard Youth Challenge Program. The Adjutant General may employ a 
director and other employees, pe1manent or temporary, to operate the program. 
(19) The Adjutant General may execute cooperative agreements for purposes 
described or defined by this Title and other arrangements necessary to operate the 
department. 
(20) The Adjutant General shall act as the Governor's homeland security advisor. 
(21) The Adjutant General shall implement a program to identify residents of the 
State who are not considered veterans but are military retirees or former members 
of the Maine Army National Guard or Maine Air National Guard who 
successfully completed service. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
~~ 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "H "to H.P. 1001, L.D. 1449 
(22) The Adjutant General may provide logistical and administrative support to 
military welfare societies as defined in 10 United States Code, Section 1033(b)(2) 
in the performance of their functions and to state military welfare societies as 
defined in section 101-A, subsection 3 in the performance of their functions to 
provide relief directly to members of the Maine National Guard and the Maine 
Air National Guard and to facilitate the distribution of emergency financial relief 
in accordance with section 158. 
Sec. 2. 37-B MRSA §101-A, sub-§3 is enacted to read: 
3. 
State military welfare society. 
"State militarv welfare society" means a 
nonprofit agency composed primarily of serving or fonner Maine Army National Guard 
or Maine Air National Guard members established to solicit and accept donations for the 
purpose of providing emergency financial relief to members of the state military forces. 
A state military welfare society may be the same organization as a military welfare 
society as defined in 10 United States Code, Section 1033(b)(2). 
Sec. 3. 37-B MRSA §158, as amended by PL 2015, c. 437, §3, is fmther amended 
to read: 
§158. Maine Military Family Relief Fund 
The Maine Military Family Relief Fund, referred to in this section as "the fund," is 
established as a nonlapsing fund in the department administered according to rules 
adopted by the Adjutant General. The funds deposited in the fund include, but are not 
limited to, fines imposed by the court on any person convicted under Title 17-A, section 
354, subsection 2, paragraph A of theft by deception due to that person's intentional 
creation or reinforcement of a false impression that the person is a veteran or a member of 
the Aimed Forces of the United States or a state military force. The Adjutant General is 
authorized to award loans and grants from the fund for emergencies and other special 
needs to members or families of members of the Maine National Guard or residents of the 
State who are members or families of members of the Reserves of the Armed Forces of 
the United States and to distribute funds to a statewide nonprofit organization established 
for the purpose of providing assistance to members or families of members of the Maine 
National Guard or residents of the State who are members or families of members of the 
Reserves of the Aimed Forces of the United States. The Adjutant General is authorized 
to distribute money from the fund to state military welfare societies that the Adjutant 
General has designated in accordance with section 3, subsection 1, paragraph D, 
subparagraph (22) for the purpose of providing emergency relief to members of the state 
militmy forces and their families in accordance with this section and rules adopted in 
accordance with this section. The Adjutant General shall require that funds distributed to 
a designated military welfare society must be segregated from all other funds 
administered by the society and shall require regular reports on how the society 
distributed the funds. 
The Military Bureau shall adopt rules establishing eligibility 
criteria for the loans and grants. 
Rules adopted pursuant to this section are routine 
technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.' 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "Pr to H.P. 1001, L.D. 1449 
SUMMARY 
This amendment replaces the bill. It establishes a definition of state military welfare 
society and authorizes the Adjutant General to provide logistical and administrative 
support to state milita1y welfare societies and similar societies established under federal 
law. The amendment also provides that the Adjutant General may authorize state military 
welfare societies to distribute financial assistance to state military forces and their 
families from the Maine Military Family Relief Fund. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 05/18/17 .fl.dac:.. 
LD 1449 
LR 2227(02) 
An Act To Support Maine Military Charities 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment ·~· ( H 
_, J. &ff) 
Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs 
~ 
/ 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - General Fund 
Minor cost increase - Other Special Revenue Funds 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Additional costs to the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management associated with providing 
administrative support to military welfare societies and distributing money to these organizations can be absorbed 
within existing budgeted resources. 
LR2227(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1