An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee”
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 2102
Committee Amendment CA_A_H825 (House)
Amends: 1 MRSA §411

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT “      ” to H.P. 1497, L.D. 2102, Bill, “An Act To 
Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee”
Amend the bill by striking out all of sections 1 to 3 (page 1, lines 2 to 16 in L.D.) and 
inserting the following:
'Sec. 1.  1 MRSA §411, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2015, c. 250, Pt. A, §§1 and 2, 
is further amended to read:
2.  Membership.  The advisory committee consists of the following members:
A.  One Senator who is a member of the joint standing committee of the Legislature 
having jurisdiction over judiciary matters, appointed by the President of the Senate;
B.  One member of the House of Representatives who is a member of the joint 
standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over judiciary matters, 
appointed by the Speaker of the House;
C.  One representative of municipal interests, appointed by the Governor;
D.  One representative of county or regional interests, appointed by the President of 
the Senate;
E.  One representative of school interests, appointed by the Governor;
F.  One representative of law enforcement interests, appointed by the President of the 
Senate;
G.  One representative of the interests of State Government, appointed by the 
Governor;
H.  One representative of a statewide coalition of advocates of freedom of access, 
appointed by the Speaker of the House;
I.  One representative of newspaper and other press interests, appointed by the 
President of the Senate;
Date: 
(Filing No. H-          )
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT “      ” to H.P. 1497, L.D. 2102
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
J.  One representative of newspaper publishers, appointed by the Speaker of the 
House;
K.  Two representatives of broadcasting interests, one appointed by the President of 
the Senate and one appointed by the Speaker of the House;
L.  Two representatives of the public, one appointed by the President of the Senate 
and one appointed by the Speaker of the House;
M.  The Attorney General or the Attorney General's designee; and
N.  One member with broad experience in and understanding of issues and costs in  
multiple areas of information technology, including practical applications concerning 
creation, storage, retrieval and accessibility of electronic records; use of 
communication technologies to support meetings, including teleconferencing and 
Internet-based conferencing; databases for records management and reporting; and 
information technology system development and support, appointed by the 
Governor.; and
O.  One representative having legal or professional expertise in the field of data and 
personal privacy, appointed by the Governor.
The advisory committee shall invite the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court to 
designate a member of the judicial branch to serve as a member of the committee.
In making appointments to the advisory committee, the appointing authorities shall take 
into consideration the racial and ethnic diversity of the State.' 
Amend the bill by adding after section 6 the following:
'Sec. 7.  Appropriations and allocations.  The following appropriations and 
allocations are made.
ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF
Freedom of Access Training N346
Initiative: Provides funding to reimburse municipalities for costs associated with 
requiring certain municipal officials to complete freedom of access training.
' 
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or 
section number to read consecutively.
SUMMARY
This amendment is the majority report of the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary.
GENERAL FUND
2019-20
2020-21
All Other
$0
$33,300
GENERAL FUND TOTAL
$0
$33,300
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT “      ” to H.P. 1497, L.D. 2102
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
This amendment explicitly requires that the appointments to the Right to Know 
Advisory Committee must take into consideration the racial and ethnic diversity of the 
State.
This amendment includes an appropriation to provide funds to reimburse 
municipalities for the costs required for additional municipal officials to meet the 
freedom of access training requirements.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)
Revised: 07/30/20
LD 2102
LR 3194(02)
FY 2019-20
FY 2020-21
Projections 
FY 2021-22
Projections 
FY 2022-23
Net Cost (Savings)
General Fund
$0
$33,300
$3,600
$3,600
Appropriations/Allocations
General Fund
$0
$33,300
$3,600
$3,600
State Mandates
Unit Affected
Local Cost
Municipality
$33,300 one-
time, $3,600 
annually
Fiscal Detail and Notes
The bill includes a General Fund appropriation of $33,300 in fiscal year 2020-21 to the Department of Administrative 
and Financial Services to reimburse municipalities for 90% of the administrative costs associated with implementing 
the bill. The cost was calculated using salary and position data provided by the Maine Municipal Association. 
Projected future costs assume annual employee turnover of 11.8%, resulting in new employees each year who will 
need training. 
Fiscal Note
An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment " "
Committee: Judiciary
Fiscal Note Required: Yes
State Mandate - Funded
Required Activity
This bill expands the number of municipal officials required to complete freedom of 
access training to include code enforcement officers, town and city managers, 
administrators and planning board members. It requires deputies of various officials 
complete the training. School superintendents, assistant superintendents and school 
board members are also required to complete the training.
The required local activities in this bill may represent a state mandate pursuant to the Constitution of Maine. If the bill 
does require a local unit of government to expand or modify its activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures 
from local revenue, the state mandate provisions of the Constitution of Maine require either: (1) General Fund 
appropriations be provided to fund at least 90% of any additional necessitated local costs of the mandate; or (2) a 
Mandate Preamble be added to the bill and two-thirds of the members of each House vote to exempt the mandate from 
the funding requirement. If the bill does represent a state mandate and neither one of these actions occurs, the local 
units of government will not be required to implement the mandated activities.
LR3194(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1