LD 1825
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Page 1 of 2 An Act Providing Funding for the Office of the State Fire Marshal and to Increa... LD 1825 Title Page
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LR 2653
Item 1

 
Safety or the commissioner's designee shall inspect the building
or place of assembly to be used for theatrical or motion picture
purposes. . If the building complies with all laws and rules,
the commissioner shall issue a license to the person desiring to
operate the theatrical or motion picture production in that
building. The fee for a license is $37.50 $106. All theatrical
or motion picture licenses issued expire one year after date of
issue unless sooner revoked. The fees are credited to a special
revenue account to defray the expenses of the inspections. Any
balance of those fees does not lapse but must be carried forward
as a continuing account to be expended for the same purposes in
the following fiscal years.

 
Sec. 5. 25 MRSA §2476, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 652, §9, is
amended to read:

 
3. Inspection of storage magazines and vehicles used to
transport explosives. All storage magazines and vehicles used to
transport explosives in intrastate commerce must be inspected
prior to issuance of a permit. The cost of each fee for an
inspection of a storage magazine is $30 $78. The fee for the
inspection of a vehicle used to transport explosives is $83
except that the fee for the inspection of a vehicle used to
transport fireworks explosives is $98. Reinspection of storage
magazines and vehicles used to transport explosives must be
conducted upon renewal of a permit.

 
Sec. 6. PL 2001, c. 343 is repealed.

 
Sec. 7. Special assessment on fire risks. To provide funds for the State
Fire Marshal, every fire insurance company or association that
does business or collects premiums or assessments in the State
shall collect pursuant to this section a special assessment from
policyholders of insured fire risks located in the State.

 
1. Special assessment. The special assessment:

 
A. Must be collected on insured policies on all fire risks
located in the State issued or renewed on or after July 1,
2001 and prior to July 1, 2002;

 
B. Must be equal to 0.4% of the gross direct premiums for
fire risks written in the State, less the amount of all
direct return premiums thereon and all dividends paid to
policyholders on direct fire premiums;

 
C. Must be separately identified on all premium notices;

 
D. Is a part of the insurance premium only for purposes of
those portions of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 24-A,
including chapter 41, subchapter V, relating to cancellation
or nonrenewal of insurance coverage;

 
E. Except as provided in paragraph D but notwithstanding
any other provision of law, does not constitute and may not
be reported as a part of the premium as defined in Title 24-
A, section 2403; and

 
F. Must be paid as provided for insurance premium taxes as
specified in Title 36, section 2521-A, except that the
assessment must be paid on an estimated basis at the end of
each month, starting July 31, 2001 and ending June 30, 2002,
with each installment equal to at least 1/12 of the
estimated total assessment for the fiscal year that begins
July 1, 2001.

 
2. Fund. The State Tax Assessor shall pay over all receipts
from the special assessment to the Treasurer of State daily. The
Treasurer of State shall deposit all special assessments
collected pursuant to this section into a separate nonlapsing
fund that must be used solely to defray the expenses incurred by
the Commissioner of Public Safety in administering all fire
preventative and investigative laws and rules and in educating
the public in fire safety and to carry out the administration and
duties of the Office of the State Fire Marshal. All interest
earned on the fund must be paid to the fund.

 
Sec. 8. Retroactivity. This Act applies retroactively to June 1,
2001.

 
Sec. 9. Allocation. The following funds are allocated from Other
Special Revenue funds to carry out the purposes of this Act.

 
2001-022002-03

 
PUBLIC SAFETY, DEPARTMENT OF

 
Fire Marshal - Office of

 
Personal Services$202,675$202,675

 
All Other107,496124,861

 
Capital Expenditures240,000260,000

 
Allocates additional funds to
cover increased operating
costs.

 
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY________________

 
TOTAL$550,171$587,536

 
Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble,
this Act takes effect when approved.

 
FISCAL NOTE

 
This bill repeals and replaces Public Law 2001, chapter 343
which authorized certain fee increases that increased dedicated
revenue collected by the Department of Public Safety by $550,171
and $733,561 in fiscal years 2001-02 and 2002-03, respectively.
Public Law 2001, chapter 343 also included additional Other
Special Revenue funds allocations of $550,171 and $587,536 in
fiscal years 2001-02 and 2002-03, respectively.

 
Increasing fire investigation and prevention assessments and
fees in this bill will increase dedicated revenue collections.
The estimated increases of dedicated revenue to the Office of the
State Fire Marshal within the Department of Public Safety are
$550,171 and $733,561 in fiscal years 2001-02 and 2002-03,
respectively.

 
This bill also includes Other Special Revenue funds
allocations of $550,171 and $587,536 in fiscal years 2001-02 and
2002-03, respectively, for the Office of the State Fire Marshal
to cover increased operational costs.

 
SUMMARY

 
This emergency bill does the following.

 
1. It increases certain inspection and permit fees collected
by the Office of the State Fire Marshal to more accurately
reflect the costs associated with those inspections and permits.

 
2. It establishes a one-year special assessment to be
collected from policyholders of insured fire risks located in the
State. This special assessment is designed to provide operating
revenues for the Office of the State Fire Marshal for fiscal year
2002.

 
3. It allocates funds to cover increased operating costs in
the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

 
4. It repeals Public Law 2001, chapter 343 retroactively.


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