An Act To Support Infrastructure Improvements in Schools (AFTER DEADLINE)
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1593
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: BRENNAN, BERRY, CRAVEN, DENK, STANLEY
Amends: 20-A MRSA §15915

Legislative Document
No. 1593
H.P. 1152
House of Representatives, April 18, 2019
An Act To Support Infrastructure Improvements in Schools
(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.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative BRENNAN of Portland.
Cosponsored by Representatives: BERRY of Bowdoinham, CRAVEN of Lewiston, DENK of 
Kennebunk, STANLEY of Medway.
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Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §15915, sub-§1, as repealed and replaced by PL 2011, c. 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 individual or combined school 
administrative unit facility projects, including, but not limited to, energy conservation, 
facility infrastructure improvements and related air quality improvements at existing or 
new 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; and
B.  Requires a guaranty by the contractor that the improvement will meet financial 
and 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.
SUMMARY
This bill makes changes to the laws governing energy conservation improvements at 
school administrative unit facilities, including amending the definition of "energy 
services company" and removing the requirement that an agreement with an energy 
services company must have a total contract cost of less than $2,500,000 in order for the 
agreement to be deemed a professional service and not subject to competitive bidding 
requirements.