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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST REGULAR SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 453
S.P. 186 In Senate, February 11, 2025
An Act to Require the State to Pay 90 Percent of All General
Assistance Expenses of Municipalities and Indian Tribes
Received by the Secretary of the Senate on February 5, 2025. Referred to the Committee
on Health and Human Services pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator BALDACCI of Penobscot.
Page 1 - 132LR0681(01)
1Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §4311, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2015, c. 267, Pt. SSSS, §1, is
3 further amended to read:
41. Departmental reimbursement. When a municipality incurs net general assistance
5 costs in any fiscal year prior to July 1, 2015 in excess of .0003 of that municipality's most
6 recent state valuation relative to the state fiscal year for which reimbursement is being
7 issued, as determined by the State Tax Assessor in the statement filed as provided in Title
8 36, section 381, the Department of Health and Human Services shall reimburse the
9 municipality for 90% of the amount in excess of these expenditures when the department
10 finds that the municipality has been in compliance with all requirements of this chapter. If
11 a municipality elects to determine need without consideration of funds distributed from any
12 municipally-controlled municipally controlled trust fund that must otherwise be considered
13 for purposes of this chapter, the department shall reimburse the municipality for 66 2/3%
14 of the amount in excess of such expenditures when the department finds that the
15 municipality has otherwise been in compliance with all requirements of this chapter.
16 The department shall reimburse each municipality and each Indian tribe 70% of the direct
17 costs incurred by that municipality or tribe on or after July 1, 2015 and prior to January 1,
18 2026 for the general assistance program granted by that municipality or tribe. For the
19 purposes of this subsection, "Indian tribe" has the same meaning as in section 411,
20 subsection 8‑A.
21 Beginning January 1, 2026, the department shall reimburse each municipality and each
22 Indian tribe 90% of the direct costs incurred by that municipality or tribe for the general
23 assistance program granted by that municipality or tribe.
24 For the purposes of this subsection, "Indian tribe" has the same meaning as in section 411,
25 subsection 8‑A.
26SUMMARY
27 This bill increases from 70% to 90% the amount of state reimbursement for the costs
28 of general assistance incurred by each municipality and Indian tribe.
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