An Act Concerning Caller Access to E-9-1-1 Call Recordings
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 25 MRSA §2929, sub-§4, ¶B-1 is enacted to read:
B-1. Directly to the clerk's office of a court presiding over a protection from abuse or protection from harassment action if a party in the action made one or more E-9-1-1 calls relevant to the action and that party, or that party's attorney, contacts the custodian of the audio recordings of the call or calls and requests that the recordings be forwarded to that clerk's office for use in a hearing on the complaint for protection from abuse or complaint for protection from harassment. At its discretion, the court presiding over the action may permit the parties to the action, and their attorneys if the parties are represented, to access the recordings and, on a finding of good cause, may permit copies of the recordings to be provided to the parties and their attorneys if the parties are represented. In making a request for recordings pursuant to this paragraph, the party making the request, or that party's attorney, shall provide to the custodian of the audio recordings the names of the parties to the protection from abuse or protection from harassment action, the name of the court presiding over the action and the docket number of the action. The request must be made in writing, including, but not limited to, by electronic mail, and must be made so as to provide a reasonable amount of time for the custodian to search for, retrieve and send the recordings to the clerk's office of the presiding court. The recordings must be sent in a format used by the custodian of the recordings and the courts;
Effective 90 days following adjournment of the 129th Legislature, First Regular Session, unless otherwise indicated.