Sec. 21. PL 1991, c. 817, §30, as amended by PL 1997, c. 374, §16, is further amended to read:

Sec. 30. Effective date. That section of this Act that amends the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 38, section 570, first paragraph, as amended by Public Law 1989, chapter 865, section 17 and affected by sections 24 and 25, is repealed December 31, 2005 2010.

SUMMARY

This bill corrects an inadvertent error and inconsistency created last session when the open burning statute was amended.

It increases the cap on allocations for the Board of Environmental Protection Fund within the Department of Environmental Protection from $250,000 annually to $325,000 annually to meet rising personnel salary and benefit costs for the next several years, including the filling of the Executive Analyst position in the past biennium, and a rise in operating costs, due to a modest increase in general workload from broader public involvement in the licensing and appeal processes, which has resulted in more frequent meetings of the board. The last increase in the allocation cap was in 1997.

It clarifies the statute governing the Department of Environmental Protection's enforcement authority. The Maine Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 80K allows the department and municipalities to prosecute environmental violations in District Court. Municipalities consistently have 80K actions commenced by both certified nonlawyer code enforcement officers and town attorneys. The department has historically not had employees who are also licensed active members of the bar file cases on the department's behalf since the rule is ambiguous as to whether such a practice is appropriate. This change in the law makes clear that a department practice consistent with current municipal practices is appropriate.

It repeals the enabling language for the requirement of priority studies because the tasks described in the statute have been completed and the project is no longer active.

It clarifies that an action in court can not be determined to start at any point prior to compliance with court rules. The