Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1. 22 MRSA c. 249 is enacted to read:
CHAPTER 249
MANAGEMENT OF HARMFUL PESTS
The department shall adopt routine technical rules pursuant to Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A necessary to administer and enforce this chapter, including rules to establish the criteria for determining the severity of harmful pests and the threat to public health.
Sec. 2. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF
Maine Harmful Pest Management Fund N236
Initiative: Provides one-time funding to the Maine Harmful Pest Management Fund within the Department of Health and Human Services, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Public Health and Emergency Preparedness to be used in mitigating infestations of harmful pests, such as browntail moth caterpillars and ticks.
| GENERAL FUND |
2019-20 |
2020-21 |
|
All Other
|
$500,000 |
$0 |
|
 |
|
| GENERAL FUND TOTAL |
$500,000 |
$0 |
’
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
SUMMARY
This amendment, which is the minority report, requires the Commissioner of Health and Human Services instead of the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, in consultation with the State Entomologist, to identify pests, such as browntail moths and ticks, in this State that pose a risk of significant harm to human health, and to undertake measures to manage those pests. It also changes the percentage of funds used for mitigation of infestation in residential properties to be the same as is used for mitigation of infestation in publicly owned properties.
The amendment also establishes the Maine Harmful Pest Management Fund within the Department of Health and Human Services, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Public Health and Emergency Preparedness to provide funds to municipalities severely infested with harmful pests, to be used in mitigating the infestations.
The amendment specifies that a municipality is required to use 50% of the funding, rather than 75 percent as proposed in the bill, to mitigate infestation of residential properties in the municipality where persons with health conditions that can be exacerbated by the infestation reside and who are unable to pay for treatment of the infestation. The amendment also specifies that a municipality is required to use the other 50% of the funding, rather than 25% as proposed in the bill, to mitigate infestation of publicly owned properties in the municipality.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)