Sec. 1. 23 MRSA §651, first ¶, as amended by PL 1971, c. 593, §22, is further amended to read:

The department may alter, widen or change the grade of any state or state aid highway whenever in its judgment the public exigency may require, and may lay out, establish and open a new highway as a state highway, and upon appropriate petition from municipal officers may lay out, establish and open a new highway as a state aid highway. It may discontinue a highway, or a portion thereof, as a state or state aid highway and the same shall must be thereafter maintained by the town or county originally liable therefor except as otherwise provided. All costs of the construction, maintenance and repair of state or state aid highways are the responsibility of the department and may not be passed on to a local unit of government except with the agreement of the legislative body of that local unit.

SUMMARY

This bill clarifies that all costs of the construction, maintenance and repair of state or state aid highways are the responsibility of the Department of Transportation and may not be passed on to a local unit of government except with the agreement of the legislative body of that local unit.