Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §7369, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1989, c. 883, §11, is further amended to read:

2. Allocation required; affiliated outfitters restricted. Except as provided in subsection 10, operation of a commercial whitewater trip on the Kennebec River between Harris Station and West Forks or on the West Branch Penobscot River between McKay Station and Pockwockamus Falls without an allocation or in excess of an allocation is prohibited. An allocation is not required for other rivers or for other stretches of those rivers. Not Except as provided under subsection 13, not more than one member of an affiliated group may conduct whitewater trips on any river or stretch of river for which a specific allocation is required, even on days for which an allocation is not required.

Three or more years after the period of affiliation, the department may, in its discretion, consider requests by any former member of an affiliated group to run passengers on allocated rivers. The burden rests on the former member of an affiliated group to demonstrate that the reasons for any finding of affiliation have been so diminished in effect that the public interest will be served by considering the former member's request to run passengers on an allocated river.

Sec. 2. 12 MRSA §7369, sub-§13 is enacted to read:

13.__Exception; affiliated outfitters.__The affiliated outfitters in an affiliated group may operate whitewater trips on the same river or stretch of river for which specific allocations are required if:

A.__The number of affiliated outfitters in the affiliated group does not exceed 2;

B.__A person with majority ownership in one affiliated outfitter in the affiliated group does not hold a majority ownership in the 2nd affiliated outfitter in the affiliated group; and

C.__The affiliated outfitters in the affiliated group are issued allocations for the river or stretch of river.

An affiliated outfitter to which this exception applies may be issued the maximum number of allocations permitted for that river or stretch of river.