1. Whether Maine's lobster license laws might be subject to a constitutional challenge similar to that raised in Volovar, et al. v. Cahill, et al., Docket #01-7325;

2. Liability issues, including whether the individual state officials charged with upholding Maine's current lobster licensing laws are vulnerable to lawsuit in their personal capacities for purposes of monetary damages; and

3. The ramifications of extending lobster licenses to nonresidents and methods by which to mitigate any adverse impact of such a change in the law.

Sec. 2. Recommendations; report. Resolved: That no later than November 3, 2004 the Commissioner of Marine Resources shall submit the commissioner's report and recommendations, together with any necessary implementing legislation, for consideration by the First Regular Session of the 122nd Legislature. The commissioner is authorized to introduce a bill related to the report to the First Regular Session of the 122nd Legislature.

SUMMARY

The United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit recently found that New York's nonresident lobster law, which restricted the areas in which nonresidents could take and land lobsters, discriminated against nonresidents and violated the privileges and immunities clause of Article IV of the United States Constitution. The court then enjoined enforcement of that New York law and considered whether to uphold the lower court's finding that individual New York state officials who were charged with upholding the law were personally liable for purposes of obtaining monetary damages.

This resolve directs the Commissioner of Marine Resources to review the issues concerning the issuance of nonresident lobster licenses in light of that finding and to specifically consider whether Maine's lobster license laws might be subject to a