An Act To Electronically Issue Permits for Burning

Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §9326,  as enacted by PL 2005, c. 12, Pt. U, §2 and amended by PL 2011, c. 657, Pt. W, §7, is further amended to read:

§ 9326. Electronic issuance of permits

The Director of the Division of Forestry shall develop or cause to be developed a system to electronically issue permits for burning in all areas of the State using a publicly accessible site on the Internet. Beginning July 1, 2005, the director may issue permits electronically for burning within the unorganized territory and within the southernmost region of the 3 geographic regions of the State established in accordance with section 8906. For the purposes of this section, the unorganized territory and the southernmost region are referred to as "the pilot region."

The system developed under this section for electronically issuing permits must provide a fire warden with the ability to change the criteria for issuing a permit in a municipality except for times when the director imposes more restrictive criteria or a ban on the issuance of permits.

Beginning July 1, 2005, a A person may apply for a permit to burn within the pilot region using the Internet or as otherwise provided in this article. When a person applies for and is issued a permit electronically using the Internet, a fee of $7 must be paid. From the $7 fee, $6 $4 must be deposited in the General Fund , $2 must be transferred to the municipality in which the permit is issued and the remainder of $1 must be used to cover administrative costs. For a permit issued in the unorganized and deorganized areas, from the $7 fee, $6 must be deposited in the General Fund and the remainder of $1 must be used to cover administrative costs.