Title 5, Title 5

Any licensing decision not involving an adjudicatory proceeding, as defined in section 8002, subsection 1, shall be made in writing and shall be made only on the basis of evidence relevant to the case. When the requested license is denied, or only conditionally approved, the deci…

1. Jurisdiction. Except as provided in section 10004; Title 8, section 279‑B; Title 10, section 8003; Title 20‑A, sections 10712 and 10713; Title 29‑A; Title 32, chapters 2‑B, 62, 114 and 135; and Title 38, section 342, the District Court has exclusive jurisdiction upon complaint…

1. Agency action. Except where a statute provides for direct review or review of a pro forma judicial decree by the Supreme Judicial Court or where judicial review is specifically precluded or the issues therein limited by statute, any person who is aggrieved by final agency acti…

1. Proceedings instituted. Proceedings for judicial review of final agency action or the failure or refusal of an agency to act shall be instituted by filing a petition for review in the Superior Court for the county where: A. One or more of the petitioners reside or have their p…

1. Petition served. The petition for review shall be served by certified mail, return receipt requested, upon: A. The agency; [PL 1977, c. 551, §3 (NEW).] B. All parties to the agency proceeding; and [PL 1977, c. 551, §3 (NEW).] C. The Attorney General. [PL 1977, c. 551, §3 (NEW)…

The filing of a petition for review shall not operate as a stay of the final agency action pending judicial review. Application for a stay of an agency decision shall ordinarily be made first to the agency, which may issue a stay upon a showing of irreparable injury to the petiti…

No responsive pleading need be filed unless required by order of the reviewing court. The agency shall file in the reviewing court within 30 days after the petition for review is filed, or within such shorter or longer time as the court may allow on motion, the original or a cert…

1. Review. Judicial review shall be confined to the record upon which the agency decision was based, except as otherwise provided by this section. A. In the case of the failure or refusal of an agency to act or of alleged irregularities in procedure before the agency which are no…

1. Schedule. The court, upon request or its own motion, shall set a schedule for the filing of briefs by the parties and for oral argument. 2. Review by court. Except where otherwise provided by statute or constitutional right, review shall be conducted by the court without a jur…

1. Appeal. Any party to the review proceeding in the Superior Court under this subchapter may obtain review by appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the law court. The appeal shall be taken as in other civil cases. 2. Supreme Judicial Court. The Supreme Judicial Court s…

This chapter is known and may be cited as the "Maine Administrative Procedure Act."

As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings. [PL 1977, c. 694, §29-B (AMD).] 1. Adjudicatory proceeding. "Adjudicatory proceeding" means any proceeding before an agency in which the legal rights, d…

Except where expressly authorized by statute, any statutory provision now existing or hereafter adopted which is inconsistent with the express provisions of the Maine Administrative Procedure Act shall yield and the applicable provisions of this Act shall govern in its stead.

The Maine Administrative Procedure Act shall not apply to: [PL 1977, c. 694, §34 (NEW).] 1. Adjudicatory proceedings. Adjudicatory proceedings commenced by filing of an application, request for a hearing, agency notice of a hearing or otherwise in accordance with preexisting law,…

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the provisions of this subchapter and subchapters 2 and 2‑A apply to rulemaking by the Governor's Office of Health Policy and Finance or its successor agency.

In addition to other rule-making requirements imposed by law, each agency shall adopt rules of practice governing the conduct of adjudicatory proceedings, licensing proceedings and the rendering of advisory rulings, except to the extent that such rules are provided by law. The fi…

The commissioner or director of each state agency shall designate a person to serve as a liaison between the agency and the general public, the Legislature, the Secretary of State and the office of the Attorney General with respect to rulemaking. The liaison shall serve as a repr…

1. Agency authority. An agency may voluntarily engage in a consensus-based rule development process. An agency that develops a draft rule through a consensus-based rule development process retains the sole discretion over whether to submit the rule as a proposed rule and as to th…

1. Notice; public hearing. Prior to the adoption of any rule, the agency shall give notice as provided in section 8053 and may hold a public hearing, except that a public hearing must be held if otherwise required by statute or requested by any 5 interested persons or if the rule…

1. Notice of rulemaking without hearing. At least 17 days prior to the comment deadline of any proposed rule for which a public hearing will not be held, the agency shall send an electronic notice or paper notice to: A. Any person specified by the statute authorizing the rulemaki…

1. Proposed rules. At the time of giving notice of rulemaking under section 8053 or within 10 days following the adoption of an emergency rule, the agency shall provide to the Legislature, in accordance with subsection 3, a fact sheet providing the information as described in sec…

1. Emergency. If the agency finds that immediate adoption of a rule by procedures other than those set forth in sections 8052 and 8053 is necessary to avoid an immediate threat to public health, safety or general welfare, it may modify those procedures to the minimum extent requi…

1. Petition. Any person may petition an agency for the adoption or modification of any rule. 2. Form designated. Each agency shall designate the form for such petitions and the procedure for their submission, consideration and disposition. 3. Receipt of petition. Within 60 days a…

1. Requirements. With respect to every rule adopted or, in the case of a major substantive rule, finally adopted, an agency shall: A. Submit the rule to the Attorney General for approval as to form and legality; [PL 1977, c. 551, §3 (NEW).] B. After the rule is approved by the At…

1. Checklist. The Secretary of State shall establish and implement a checklist that must be completed by agencies and attached to adopted rules filed with the Secretary of State after December 31, 1989. The checklist must include the timing of filing and notices as well as other …

1. Rules; exception. Rules adopted in a manner other than that prescribed by section 8052, subsections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5‑A and 7 and by sections 8053 and 8054 are void and of no legal effect, except that insubstantial deviations from the requirements of section 8053 do not invalidate…

In preparing and adopting rules, each agency shall strive to the greatest possible extent to follow the procedure defined in this section. [PL 1989, c. 574, §7 (NEW).] 1. Preparation of rules. At the time that an agency is preparing a rule, the agency shall consider the goals and…

1. Judicial review. Judicial review of an agency rule, or of an agency's refusal or failure to adopt a rule where the adoption of a rule is required by law, may be had by any person who is aggrieved in an action for declaratory judgment in the Superior Court conducted pursuant to…

When 2 rules are inconsistent or in conflict with one another, so that compliance with both is impossible, then compliance with either rule shall be deemed to be compliance with the other.

Each agency with the authority to adopt rules shall issue to the appropriate joint standing committee or committees of the Legislature and to the Secretary of State an agency regulatory agenda as provided in this section. [PL 1989, c. 547, §8 (NEW).] 1. Contents of agenda. Each a…

All rules and any other materials required by this subchapter to be provided to the public or to the Legislature shall, to the maximum extent feasible, use plain and clear English, which can readily be understood by the general public. The use of technical language shall be avoid…

When legislation authorizing any regulated activity requires that certain criteria be met in order that any license, permit, authorization or certification to undertake the regulated activity be granted and when an agency determines that performance standards will assist regulate…

Every rule proposed by an agency must contain a fiscal impact note as part of the filing. [PL 2025, c. 384, §21 (AMD).] This section does not apply to emergency rules.

In addition to the economic impact statement required under section 8052, subsection 5‑A and the fiscal impact note required under section 8063, an agency may, within existing budgeted resources and in instances in which the consideration of costs is permitted, conduct an analysi…

For every rule proposed by an agency, except for emergency rules, the agency shall file with the Secretary of State citations for up to 3 primary sources of information relied upon by the agency in developing the proposed rule. The agency shall include that information with a cop…

Except for emergency rules as provided in section 8060, subsection 6, an agency may not adopt any rule unless the agency has complied with the provisions in sections 8053‑A and 8060, which include legislative review of the rule. When an agency proposes a rule not in its current r…

Except as otherwise provided in this subchapter, rules adopted pursuant to rule-making authorization delegated to an agency after January 1, 1996 are subject to the procedures of this subchapter and subchapter II. [PL 1995, c. 463, §2 (NEW).] 1. Legislative action. All new rules …

As used in this subchapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. [PL 2011, c. 244, §3 (NEW).] 1. Legislative review session. "Legislative review session" means the regular session of the Legislature convening after the beginning…

As provided in section 8071, major substantive rules are subject to an increased level of rule-making requirements. The rule-making requirements of subchapter II for routine technical rules apply to the adoption of major substantive rules, except that the 120-day period for adopt…

Major substantive rules are subject to the emergency rule-making procedures required under subchapter II, except that a major substantive rule adopted on an emergency basis after the deadline for submission to the Legislature for review under section 8072 may be effective for up …

1. Written request. Upon written request of any interested person, an agency may make an advisory ruling with respect to the applicability of any statute or rule administered by that agency to the person or the person's property or actual state of facts. 2. Rules written. All adv…

1. Adjudicatory proceeding. In any adjudicatory proceedings, except those proceedings involving correctional facilities, the Workers' Compensation Board, the Maine Motor Vehicle Franchise Board or the State Parole Board, the procedures of this subchapter apply. 2. Hearing. Unless…

Whenever adjudicatory hearings are held by the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Board of Pesticides Control, the hearings shall be held in accordance with the provisions of this section. [PL 1987, c. 653, §1 …

1. Notice of hearing. When the applicable statute or constitutional law requires that an opportunity for hearing shall be provided, notice shall be given as follows: A. To the person or persons whose legal rights, duties or privileges are at issue, by regular mail, sufficiently i…

Whenever an agency, including environmental agencies, holds a hearing pursuant to this subchapter, the agency shall strive to hold a hearing in the area or areas of the State which are significantly affected by the license application or which are concerned about the issue.

Unless otherwise provided by law, agencies may: [PL 1977, c. 551, §3 (NEW).] 1. Responsibility. Place on any party the responsibility of requesting a hearing if the agency notifies the party in writing of the party's right to a hearing, and of the party's responsibility to reques…