An Act to Expand Municipal Volunteer Program Eligibility
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 0294
Sponsors: BUNKER
Amends: 36 MRSA §6232

Legislative Document
No. 294
H.P. 194
House of Representatives, February 3, 2025
An Act to Expand Municipal Volunteer Program Eligibility 
Requirements in the Municipal Property Tax Assistance Laws
Received by the Clerk of the House on January 30, 2025.  Referred to the Committee on 
Taxation pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative BUNKER of Farmington.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  36 MRSA §6232, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2019, c. 159, §2, is further 
amended to read:
1.  Conditions of program.  Except as provided in subsection 1‑A and 1-B, a program 
adopted under this section must:
A.  Require that the claimant has maintained a homestead in the municipality for a 
certain period of time, as determined by the municipality;
B.  Provide benefits for both owners and renters of homesteads; and
C.  Calculate benefits in a way that provides greater benefits proportionally to claimants 
with lower incomes in relation to their property taxes accrued or rent constituting 
property taxes accrued.
A program adopted under this section may impose additional standards of eligibility and 
procedures, as long as those standards are established by the municipality by ordinance.
Sec. 2.  36 MRSA §6232, sub-§1-B is enacted to read:
1-B.  Expanded municipal volunteer program.  Beginning January 1, 2026, a 
municipality may by ordinance adopt a program that permits claimants who are eligible 
volunteers to earn benefits up to an annual maximum of $1,000 or 100 times the state 
minimum hourly wage under Title 26, section 664, subsection 1, whichever is greater, by 
volunteering to provide services to the municipality.  A program adopted under this 
subsection does not need to meet the requirements of subsection 1, paragraph B or C.  
Benefits provided under this subsection must be related to the amount of volunteer service 
provided.  Benefits received under this subsection may not be considered income for 
purposes of Part 8.  A municipality may by ordinance establish procedures and additional 
standards of eligibility for a program adopted under this subsection.
Notwithstanding the age requirements under this section, for the purposes of this 
subsection, "eligible volunteer" means a person who is at least 60 years of age or a person 
who is a volunteer firefighter as defined in Title 30-A, section 3151, subsection 4, a 
volunteer municipal firefighter as defined in Title 30-A, section 3151, subsection 5 or a 
volunteer emergency medical services person.  For the purposes of this subsection, 
"volunteer emergency medical services person" means an emergency medical services 
person as defined in Title 32, section 83, subsection 12 who is licensed pursuant to Title 
32, chapter 2-B, who receives up to 20% of the compensation of a full-time emergency 
medical services person and who may receive injury and death benefits.
Receiving benefits from a municipal program established pursuant to this subsection does 
not make a person ineligible to participate in the program as an eligible volunteer.
SUMMARY
This bill allows a municipality, beginning January 1, 2026, to adopt a program to 
provide benefits to residents of the municipality who are at least 60 years of age or 
volunteer firefighters, volunteer municipal firefighters or volunteer emergency medical 
services persons. It also clarifies that receiving compensation through a program 
established by a municipality does not make an eligible volunteer ineligible for 
participation in that program.