An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee Concerning Records of Disciplinary Actions Against Public Employees
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1397
Committee: Judiciary
Amends: 5 MRSA §95-B, 5 MRSA §7070, 30-A MRSA §503, 30-A MRSA §2702

Legislative Document
No. 1397
H.P. 892
House of Representatives, March 28, 2023
An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know 
Advisory Committee Concerning Records of Disciplinary Actions 
Against Public Employees
Reported by Representative MOONEN of Portland for the Joint Standing Committee on 
Judiciary pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 1, section 411, subsection 6, paragraph 
G.
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary 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.  5 MRSA §95-B, sub-§7, as amended by PL 2019, c. 50, §10, is further 
amended to read:
7.  Disposition of records.  Records Notwithstanding any collective bargaining 
agreement or other employment contract entered into on or after January 1, 2024 that 
provides for the removal, destruction or purging of records, records may not be destroyed 
or otherwise disposed of by any local government official, except as provided by the 
records retention schedule established by the State Archivist pursuant to section 95‑C, 
subsection 2, paragraph A, subparagraph (3).  Records that have been determined to possess 
archival value must be preserved by the municipality.
Sec. 2.  5 MRSA §7070, sub-§2, ¶E, as amended by PL 1997, c. 770, §1, is further 
amended to read:
E.  Except as provided in section 7070‑A, complaints, charges or accusations of 
misconduct, replies to those complaints, charges or accusations and any other 
information or materials that may result in disciplinary action.  If disciplinary action is 
taken, the final written decision relating to that action is no longer confidential after 
the decision is completed if it imposes or upholds discipline.  The decision must state 
the conduct or other facts on the basis of which disciplinary action is being imposed 
and the conclusions of the acting authority as to the reasons for that action.  If an 
arbitrator completely overturns or removes disciplinary action from an employee 
personnel file, the final written decision is public except that the employee's name must 
be deleted from the final written decision and kept confidential.  If the employee whose 
name was deleted from the final written decision discloses that the employee is the 
person who is the subject of the final written decision, the entire final written report, 
with regard to that employee, is public.  In response to a request to inspect or copy the 
final written decision in accordance with Title 1, section 408-A, the Bureau of Human 
Resources shall produce the final written decision in its possession or custody whether 
located in a personnel file or in another location.
For purposes of this paragraph, "final written decision" means:
(1)  The final written administrative decision that is not appealed pursuant to a 
grievance arbitration procedure; or
(2)  If the final written administrative decision is appealed to arbitration, the final 
written decision of a neutral arbitrator.
A final written administrative decision that is appealed to arbitration is no longer 
confidential 120 days after a written request for the decision is made to the employer 
if the final written decision of the neutral arbitrator is not issued and released before 
the expiration of the 120 days;
Sec. 3.  30-A MRSA §503, sub-§1, ¶B, as amended by PL 2019, c. 451, §2, is 
further amended by amending subparagraph (5) to read:
(5)  Complaints, charges or accusations of misconduct, replies to those complaints, 
charges or accusations and any other information or materials that may result in 
disciplinary action.  If disciplinary action is taken, the final written decision 
relating to that action is no longer confidential after the decision is completed if it 
imposes or upholds discipline.  The decision must state the conduct or other facts 
on the basis of which disciplinary action is being imposed and the conclusions of 
the acting authority as to the reasons for that action.  If an arbitrator completely 
overturns or removes disciplinary action from an employee personnel file, the final 
written decision is public except that the employee's name must be deleted from 
the final written decision and kept confidential.  If the employee whose name was 
deleted from the final written decision discloses that the employee is the person 
who is the subject of the final written decision, the entire final written report, with 
regard to that employee, is public.  In response to a request to inspect or copy the 
final written decision in accordance with Title 1, section 408-A, the county shall 
produce the final written decision in its possession or custody whether located in a 
personnel file or in another location.
For purposes of this subparagraph, "final written decision" means:
(a)  The final written administrative decision that is not appealed pursuant to a 
grievance arbitration procedure; or
(b)  If the final written administrative decision is appealed to arbitration, the 
final written decision of a neutral arbitrator.
A final written administrative decision that is appealed to arbitration is no longer 
confidential 120 days after a written request for the decision is made to the 
employer if the final written decision of the neutral arbitrator is not issued and 
released before the expiration of the 120 days; and
Sec. 4.  30-A MRSA §2702, sub-§1, ¶B, as amended by PL 2019, c. 451, §3, is 
further amended by amending subparagraph (5) to read:
(5)  Complaints, charges or accusations of misconduct, replies to those complaints, 
charges or accusations and any other information or materials that may result in 
disciplinary action.  If disciplinary action is taken, the final written decision 
relating to that action is no longer confidential after the decision is completed if it 
imposes or upholds discipline.  The decision must state the conduct or other facts 
on the basis of which disciplinary action is being imposed and the conclusions of 
the acting authority as to the reasons for that action.  If an arbitrator completely 
overturns or removes disciplinary action from an employee personnel file, the final 
written decision is public except that the employee's name must be deleted from 
the final written decision and kept confidential.  If the employee whose name was 
deleted from the final written decision discloses that the employee is the person 
who is the subject of the final written decision, the entire final written report, with 
regard to that employee, is public.  In response to a request to inspect or copy the 
final written decision in accordance with Title 1, section 408-A, the municipality 
shall produce the final written decision in its possession or custody whether located 
in a personnel file or in another location.
For purposes of this subparagraph, "final written decision" means:
(a)  The final written administrative decision that is not appealed pursuant to a 
grievance arbitration procedure; or
(b)  If the final written administrative decision is appealed to arbitration, the 
final written decision of a neutral arbitrator.
A final written administrative decision that is appealed to arbitration is no longer 
confidential 120 days after a written request for the decision is made to the 
employer if the final written decision of the neutral arbitrator is not issued and 
released before the expiration of the 120 days; and
Sec. 5.  Revision of record retention schedules.  The State Archivist shall revise 
the record retention schedules applicable to state and local government personnel records 
as follows. 
1.  Except as provided in subsections 2 and 3 and notwithstanding any collective 
bargaining agreement or other employment contract entered into on or after January 1, 2024 
to the contrary, final written decisions relating to disciplinary action must be maintained 
for a period of 20 years. 
2.  For final written decisions relating to less serious conduct or disciplinary action as 
described in the schedules, the schedules may provide for a shorter retention period of no 
less than 5 years. 
3.  For final written decisions relating to law enforcement employee disciplinary 
actions that could be used to impeach the credibility of the law enforcement officer if the 
law enforcement officer is a witness in a criminal case, the schedules may provide for a 
retention period of more than 20 years.
4.  The schedules must use consistent terminology related to records that are not 
retained and provide definitions for terms used in the schedule such as "remove," "purge" 
and "destroy."
SUMMARY
This bill implements the recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee 
related to records of disciplinary actions against public employees. 
The bill provides that, notwithstanding any collective bargaining agreement or other 
employment contract entered into on or after January 1, 2024 to the contrary, local 
government records may not be disposed of except in accordance with record retention 
schedules established by the State Archivist. 
The bill amends the statutes governing state, municipal and county employee personnel 
records to require that, in response to Freedom of Access Act requests for final written 
decisions, the responding public body provide the records in its possession or custody 
regardless of the specific file location in which the final written decision is located.  The 
bill also requires the final written decisions applicable to state and county employees to 
state the conduct or other facts on the basis of which the disciplinary action is being 
imposed and the conclusions of the state or county employer as to the reasons for that 
action.  Similar language is already included in the statute governing municipal employee 
personnel records.
The bill directs the State Archivist to revise the record retention schedules applicable 
to state and local government personnel records to require that final written decisions 
relating to disciplinary action be maintained for a period of 20 years or a lesser period 
depending on the severity of the conduct or disciplinary action.  The State Archivist may 
increase the retention period beyond 20 years for final written decisions relating to law 
enforcement employee disciplinary actions that could be used to impeach the credibility of 
the law enforcement officer if the law enforcement officer is a witness in a criminal case.  
It also requires that the schedules use consistent terminology and define terms related to 
the disposition of records.