An Act to Update Financial Assurance Requirements for Certain
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 2227
Committee: Environment and Natural Resources
Amends: 38 MRSA §1310-Y

Legislative Document
No. 2227
H.P. 1504
House of Representatives, March 3, 2026
An Act to Update Financial Assurance Requirements for Certain 
Solid Waste Facilities
Reported by Representative DOUDERA of Camden for the Joint Standing Committee on 
Environment and Natural Resources pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 38, section 
2124-A, subsection 2.
Reference to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources 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.  38 MRSA §1310-Y, as amended by PL 2023, c. 517, §§7 and 8, is further 
amended to read:
§1310-Y.  Financial assurance
An owner or operator of a solid waste processing facility that processes plastic waste 
through chemical plastic processing that is licensed under section 1310‑N or of a solid 
waste disposal facility that is licensed under section 1310‑N shall provide the department 
assurance of its financial ability to satisfy the estimated cost of corrective action for known 
releases from the facility and its financial capacity to satisfy the estimated cost of closure 
and postclosure care and maintenance at the facility for a period of at least 30 years after 
closure.  The board may adopt rules that increase or decrease that postclosure care period, 
as long as those rules are consistent with applicable federal rules.  The department may 
consider the use of more than one acceptable form of financial assurance per facility to 
satisfy the financial assurance requirement of this section.  This section applies to all 
privately owned solid waste disposal facilities licensed by the department, including 
facilities licensed by the department before June 16, 1993, and to all solid waste processing 
facilities that process plastic waste through chemical plastic processing.  This section does 
not apply to a municipally owned or operated solid waste disposal facility that accepts 
exclusively special waste, construction and demolition debris, land-clearing debris or any 
combination of those types of waste or to a municipally owned or operated solid waste 
disposal facility licensed before June 16, 1993.
1.  Acceptable forms of financial assurance.  Acceptable forms of financial assurance 
are under this section must satisfy the applicable financial assurance criteria of 40 Code of 
Federal Regulations, Part 258, Subpart G, as in effect on April 10, 1998, and must include 
at least one of the following:
A.  A letter of credit that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of Federal Regulations, 
Section 258.74(c);
B.  A  surety bond that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of Federal Regulations, 
Section 258.74(b);
C.  An escrow account;
D.  A reserve account calculated in a manner consistent with the United States Internal 
Revenue Code;
E.  An irrevocable trust account; or
F.  In the case of a municipal solid waste disposal facility, any of the allowable financial 
assurance mechanisms set forth in applicable federal rules.
G.  A trust fund that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of Federal Regulations, 
Section 258.74(a);
H.  An insurance policy that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of Federal 
Regulations, Section 258.74(d);
I.  A corporate financial test that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of Federal 
Regulations, Section 258.74(e);
J.  A local government financial test that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of 
Federal Regulations, Section 258.74(f);
K.  A corporate guarantee that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of Federal 
Regulations, Section, 258.74(g); or
L.  A local government guarantee that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of Federal 
Regulations, Section 258.74(h).
1-A.  Substitute requirements.  The department may substitute part of the acceptable 
forms of financial assurance under subsection 1 with one or more of the following 
requirements:
A.  A current rating for its senior unsubordinated debt of AAA, AA, A or BBB as issued 
by Standard and Poor's Corporation or Aaa, Aa, A or Baa as issued by Moody's 
Investors Services, Inc.;
B.  A ratio of less than 1.5 comparing total liabilities to net worth; or
C.  A ratio of greater than 0.10 comparing the sum of net income plus depreciation, 
depletion and amortization, minus $10,000,000, to total liabilities.
2.  Report.  An owner or operator of a solid waste processing facility that processes 
plastic waste through chemical plastic processing or of a solid waste disposal facility shall 
annually prepare a report containing a sworn statement providing the year-end balance or 
value of any escrow, trust or reserve account form of financial assurance established under 
this section.  That report must be submitted to the commissioner by March 31st of each 
year or such other date as the commissioner may designate.
SUMMARY
This bill, which is reported out by the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and 
Natural Resources pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 38, section 2124-A, 
subsection 2, implements recommendations of the Department of Environmental 
Protection included in the department's annual report regarding solid waste generation and 
disposal capacity.  The bill amends financial assurance requirements for certain solid waste 
processing facilities and solid waste disposal facilities to align those requirements with 
federal regulations governing financial assurance criteria for solid waste facilities adopted 
by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
The committee has not taken a position on the substance of the bill and 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 obtaining a printed bill that can be referred to the committee for a public hearing 
and subsequent committee action in the normal course.