Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §2502 is enacted to read:

§2502.__Caloric information

Beginning January 1, 2006, a restaurant, which for the purposes of this section means a restaurant licensed as an eating establishment under this chapter, that is identified with a restaurant chain having 20 or more locations under the same name nationally, regardless of the type of ownership of the restaurant locations, shall provide caloric information for all food and drink items sold in the restaurant as described under this section.__As used in this section, "caloric information" for a food or drink item means the number of calories contained in the item as prepared in accordance with the standard recipe and standard formulation of that item.

1.__Menu boards.__Caloric information must be provided on menu boards in restaurants in which menu boards are displayed. The typeface of the caloric information must be at least 2/3 as large as other menu board information.__The caloric information must be displayed adjacent to the listing of the food item.

2.__Menus.__Caloric information must be provided on menus in restaurants in which menus are used.__The typeface of the caloric information must be at least 2/3 as large as other menu information.__The caloric information must be displayed adjacent to the listing of the food item.

3.__Restaurants without menus.__Restaurants without menus must display caloric information on menu boards on the walls, with at least one menu board 12 feet from each public entrance that can be read at a distance of 12 feet. The menu board must meet the requirements of subsection 1.

4.__Telephone orders exempt.__This section does not apply to orders received orally by telephone.

5.__Reasonable variation.__A restaurant is not out of compliance with this section for the sole reason that the actual number of calories contained in a food or drink item as served at that restaurant varies from the caloric information provided due to assembly of the item by hand or changes or substitutions made at the request of the customer.

Sec. 2. Rules regarding nutrition information. By December 31, 2005, the Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Health shall adopt rules regarding the provision of caloric information required by the State in restaurants. Rules adopted