An Act To Amend the General Assistance Laws Governing Reimbursement
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 0910
Committee: Health and Human Services
Sponsors: BRENNAN
Amends: 22 MRSA §4311

Legislative Document
No. 910
H.P. 666
House of Representatives, March 8, 2021
An Act To Amend the General Assistance Laws Governing 
Reimbursement
Reference to the Committee on Health and Human Services suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative BRENNAN of Portland.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  22 MRSA §4311, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2015, c. 267, Pt. SSSS, §1, is 
further amended to read:
1.  Departmental reimbursement.  When a municipality incurs net general assistance 
costs in any fiscal year prior to July 1, 2015 in excess of .0003 of that municipality's most 
recent state valuation relative to the state fiscal year for which reimbursement is being 
issued, as determined by the State Tax Assessor in the statement filed as provided in Title 
36, section 381, the Department of Health and Human Services shall reimburse the 
municipality for 90% of the amount in excess of these expenditures when the department 
finds that the municipality has been in compliance with all requirements of this chapter.  If 
a municipality elects to determine need without consideration of funds distributed from any 
municipally-controlled trust fund that must otherwise be considered for purposes of this 
chapter, the department shall reimburse the municipality for 66 2/3% of the amount in 
excess of such expenditures when the department finds that the municipality has otherwise 
been in compliance with all requirements of this chapter.
The department shall reimburse each municipality and each Indian tribe 70% of the direct 
costs incurred by that municipality or tribe on or after July 1, 2015 and prior to July 1, 2022 
for the general assistance program granted by that municipality or tribe.  For the purposes 
of this subsection, "Indian tribe" has the same meaning as in section 411, subsection 8-A.
Sec. 2.  22 MRSA §4311, sub-§1-D is enacted to read:
1-D.  Departmental reimbursement beginning 2022.  Beginning July 1, 2022, the 
department shall reimburse each municipality for the direct costs incurred by that 
municipality for the general assistance program granted by that municipality if the 
department finds that the municipality was in compliance with all requirements of this 
chapter during the fiscal year for which reimbursement is sought.  The department shall 
reimburse to each municipality an amount equal to 70% of all direct general assistance 
granted by the municipality equal to or below .0003 and 90% of all direct general assistance 
granted by the municipality in excess of .0003 of that municipality's most recent state 
valuation relative to the state fiscal year for which reimbursement is being issued, as 
determined by the State Tax Assessor in the statement filed as provided in Title 36, section 
381.
Sec. 3.  22 MRSA §4311, sub-§1-E is enacted to read:
1-E.  Indian tribe reimbursement beginning 2022.  Beginning July 1, 2022, the 
department shall reimburse each Indian tribe for 100% of all direct costs for general 
assistance granted by the Indian tribe if the department finds that the Indian tribe was in 
compliance with all requirements of this chapter during the fiscal year for which 
reimbursement is sought.  For the purposes of this subsection, "Indian tribe" has the same 
meaning as in section 411, subsection 8-A.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the State to provide 100% reimbursement for general assistance costs 
to Indian tribes.  It provides that a municipality's most recent state valuation rather than the 
all state valuation is used for calculating when the municipality begins to be reimbursed 
90% for general assistance costs and that the reimbursement is for gross costs rather than 
net costs.  It establishes that the new departmental reimbursement to municipalities begins 
July 1, 2022.