An Act To Promote Electronic Filing of State Agency and Legislative Committee Publications
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 1947
Committee: State and Local Government
Amends: 1 MRSA §501-A, 5 MRSA §43, 27 MRSA §2, 27 MRSA §66

Legislative Document
No. 1947
H.P. 1452
House of Representatives, January 26, 2022
An Act To Promote Electronic Filing of State Agency and 
Legislative Committee Publications
Reported by Representative MATLACK of St. George for the Joint Standing Committee on 
State and Local Government pursuant to Resolve 2021, chapter 19.
Reference to the Committee on State and Local Government suggested and ordered printed 
pursuant to Joint Rule 218.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  1 MRSA §501-A, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 299, §1, is amended 
to read:
3.  Annual or biennial reports.  Immediately upon receipt of any annual or biennial 
report that is not included in the Maine State Government Annual Report provided for in 
Title 5, sections 43 to 46, the State Purchasing Agent shall deliver at least 55 4 copies of 
that annual or biennial report to the State Librarian for exchange and library use.  The State 
Purchasing Agent shall deliver the balance of the number of each such report to the agency 
that prepared the report.
Sec. 2.  1 MRSA §501-A, sub-§4, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 299, §1, is amended 
to read:
4.  State agency and legislative committee publications.  Except as provided in 
subsection 5, any agency or legislative committee issuing publishing publications, 
including publications in an electronic format, shall deliver 18 4 copies of the publications 
in the published format to the State Librarian. These copies must be furnished at the 
expense of the issuing agency.  Publications not furnished upon request will be reproduced 
at the expense of the issuing agency.  The agency or committee preparing a publication 
may determine the date on which a publication may be released, except as otherwise 
provided by law.
Sec. 3.  1 MRSA §501-A, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 299, §1, is amended 
to read:
5.  Electronic publishing.  An agency or committee that electronically publishes 
information to the public is only required to provide the State Librarian with only one 
printed copy of an electronically published publication if the agency or committee provides 
the State Librarian with an electronically published copy for the State Librarian to upload 
to the online repository maintained by the Maine State Library pursuant to Title 27, section 
or the agency or committee uploads an electronically published copy to the online 
repository maintained by the Maine State Library pursuant to Title 27, section 66. An 
electronically published publication is not required to be provided to the State Librarian if 
the publication is also published in print or in an electronic format and is provided to the 
State Librarian in compliance with subsection 4 or the publication is:
A.  Designed to provide the public with current information and is subject to frequent 
additions and deletions, such as current lists of certified professionals, daily updates of 
weather conditions or fire hazards; or
B.  Designed to promote the agency's services or assist citizens in use of the agency's 
services, such as job advertisements, application forms, advertising brochures, letters 
and memos.
Sec. 4.  5 MRSA §43, 4th ¶, as repealed and replaced by PL 1975, c. 436, §3, is 
amended to read:
The Governor shall, no later than December 31st annually, consolidate such reports 
into a public document entitled "the Maine State Government Annual Report" and shall 
cause them it to be printed and published in convenient form for distribution and sale as a 
public document entitled "The Maine State Government Annual Report" no later than 
December 31st published electronically in the online repository maintained by the State 
Librarian pursuant to Title 27, section 66 for permanent digital access to government 
documents.  A minimum of 4 copies of the report must be printed and provided to the State 
Librarian for retention in the Maine State Library government documents collection and 
distribution to other libraries in the State for patron access.
Sec. 5.  5 MRSA §43, 5th ¶, as repealed and replaced by PL 1975, c. 436, §3, is 
repealed.
Sec. 6.  27 MRSA §2, sub-§1, ¶F, as enacted by PL 1979, c. 541, Pt. A, §185, is 
amended to read:
F.  Full and complete sets of all the documents printed published by the State; and
Sec. 7.  27 MRSA §66, as amended by PL 2013, c. 82, §6, is further amended to 
read:
§66.  Reports of departments and institutions
The State Librarian shall distribute reports of the departments and institutions of the 
State and other books and documents published or purchased by the State in such manner 
as the law may direct. The State Librarian may transmit one copy of each published report 
of each department of the State Government to each library in the State and to the libraries 
of other states and territories, and make such other and further distribution as in the State 
Librarian's judgment seems proper. The For the purpose of permanent public access to all 
department reports and other publications of the State as defined in Title 1, section 501-A, 
the State Librarian shall maintain a document room government documents collection at 
the Maine State Library and an online repository for permanent digital access to 
government documents in which must be stored all department reports and other 
publications of the State intended for distribution and shall keep an accurate account of all 
books and documents received.
SUMMARY
This bill is reported out by the Joint Standing Committee on State and Local 
Government pursuant to Resolve 2021, chapter 19.  It reduces the number of paper copies 
a state agency or legislative committee must provide to the State Librarian when the agency 
or legislative committee publishes a report or other publication.  It requires the State 
Librarian to maintain an online repository for permanent digital access to government 
documents.
The committee has not taken a position on the substance of this bill.  By reporting this 
bill out the committee is not suggesting and does not intend to suggest that it agrees or 
disagrees with any aspect of this bill.  The committee is reporting the bill out for the sole 
purpose of having a bill printed that can be referred to the committee for an appropriate 
public hearing and subsequent processing in the normal course.  The committee is taking 
this action to ensure clarity and transparency in the legislative review of the proposals 
contained in the bill.