An Act To Authorize Career and Technical Education Regions To Enter into Energy Conservation Performance Contracts for School Facilities (AFTER DEADLINE)
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1618
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: CARSON, GIDEON, MILLETT, KORNFIELD
Amends: 20-A MRSA §15915

Legislative Document
No. 1618
S.P. 515
In Senate, April 23, 2019
An Act To Authorize Career and Technical Education Regions To 
Enter into Energy Conservation Performance Contracts for School 
Facilities
(AFTER DEADLINE)
Approved for introduction by a majority of the Legislative Council pursuant to Joint Rule 
205.
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator CARSON of Cumberland.
Cosponsored by Speaker GIDEON of Freeport and
Senator: MILLETT of Cumberland, Representative: KORNFIELD of Bangor.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §15915, sub-§1, as repealed and replaced by PL 2011, c. 
279, §1, is amended to read:
1.  Initial agreement for energy conservation improvements.  A school 
administrative unit may enter into an agreement of up to 20 years with an energy services 
company.  For the purposes of this section, "energy services company" means a company 
or 3rd-party financing company that provides design, installation, operation, maintenance 
and financing of energy conservation or combined energy conservation and related air 
quality improvements at existing school administrative unit facilities.  The school 
administrative unit's costs to enter into such an agreement are not applicable to the unit's 
school construction project costs, the debt service on which is eligible for subsidy 
purposes under section 15907.  Such an agreement is deemed to be a professional service, 
which is not subject to the competitive bidding requirements of Title 5, section 1743-A, if 
the agreement:
A.  Provides for operation or maintenance of the improvement for at least 5 years or 
the entire term of the financing agreement if longer than 5 years;
B.  Requires a guaranty by the contractor that the improvement will meet 
performance criteria set forth in the agreement for at least 5 years or for the entire 
term of the financing agreement if longer than 5 years; and
C.  Has a total contract cost, excluding private or federal grant funds, interest and 
operating and maintenance costs, of less than $2,500,000 for any school building.
A school administrative unit may select an energy services company on the basis of a 
request for qualifications or a request for proposals, and it is not required to use a 
competitive method set forth in this chapter and Title 5, section 1743-A and Private and 
Special Law 1999, chapter 79.  The selection process must include at a minimum a 
request for qualifications or a request for proposals that is advertised in a newspaper of 
general circulation in the school administrative unit and a newspaper of general 
circulation in the City of Augusta.  The deadline for receipt of requests for qualifications 
or requests for proposals may not be less than 15 days from the last day the advertisement 
was published. The school administrative unit shall establish an interview committee, 
which must include the superintendent of the school administrative unit and at least one 
school board member.  The interview committee shall interview not fewer than 3 energy 
services companies unless a smaller number of energy services companies responds to the 
request for qualifications or request for proposals.  A request for qualifications or a 
request for proposals may not contain terms that require an energy services company to 
have more than 3 years of experience in the energy conservation field, a minimum 
number of prior projects or project references or membership in or accreditation from a 
regional, national or international association of energy services companies or to use 
equipment that is not generally available to energy services companies or terms that are 
otherwise included for the purpose of bias or favoritism toward a particular energy 
services company.
Objections to the terms of a request for qualifications or a request for proposals under this 
subsection are deemed waived if not delivered in writing to the office of the 
superintendent of schools in that school administrative unit within 7 days of the last 
publication of the newspaper advertisement. If an objection is received, the school board 
shall conduct a hearing on the objection within 14 days of its receipt.  The school board 
shall allow interested energy services companies to speak at the hearing and shall issue a 
decision to either validate or invalidate the request for qualifications or the request for 
proposals within 7 days of the close of the hearing.  A decision by the school board in 
response to an objection is a final government action subject to appeal to the Superior 
Court.
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §15915, sub-§1-B is enacted to read:
1-B.  Definitions.  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings:
A.  "Energy services company" means a company or 3rd-party financing company 
that provides design, installation, operation, maintenance and financing of energy 
conservation or combined energy conservation and related air quality improvements 
at existing school administrative unit facilities.
B.  "School administrative unit" or "unit" includes a career and technical education 
region under chapter 313, subchapter 4.
C.  "School board" or "board" includes a cooperative board of a career and technical 
education region under section 8452.
D.  "Superintendent" includes a career and technical education director of a career 
and technical education region under section 8458.
SUMMARY
This bill adds the authority to enter into an agreement for energy conservation 
improvements with an energy services company to the powers and duties of a cooperative 
board of a career and technical education region, similar to the authority of a school 
administrative unit.