Sec. 3. 38 MRSA §1863, as amended by PL 2003, c. 414, Pt. B, §73 and affected by Pt. D, §7, is further amended to read:

§1863. Invasive Aquatic Plant and Nuisance Species Fund

The Invasive Aquatic Plant and Nuisance Species Fund, referred to in this section as the "fund," is created within the department as a nonlapsing fund. The fund is administered by the commissioner. The fund is funded from fees collected for lake and river protection stickers issued under Title 12, section 13058, subsection 3 and from other funds accepted for those purposes by the commissioner or allocated or appropriated by the Legislature. Money in the fund may be used only for costs related to conducting inspections under section sections 1862 and 1862-A, conducting invasive aquatic plant prevention, containment, eradication and management activities and reimbursing agencies as necessary for costs associated with conducting or enforcing the provisions of this chapter and chapter 20-B. The commissioner may also use funds to contract with municipalities or other entities to conduct inspection, prevention or eradication programs to protect the inland waters of the State from invasive aquatic plant and nuisance species.

SUMMARY

This bill requires the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to establish a program to monitor and inspect watercraft at public access points on lakes that have been identified by the State as having invasive aquatic plants. The departments are jointly required to set times when these public access sites would be open for public use and inspection and requires that these access sites be secured during closed periods to prevent access. Under this bill, a person who fails to comply with the inspection process or fails to remove an aquatic plant from that person's watercraft, watercraft trailer or outboard motor upon the oral or written request of the inspector must be denied access to the lake until that person complies with the inspector's request. The bill makes it a Class E crime to use a closed access point or to fail to remove a suspicious aquatic plant from that person's watercraft upon the oral or written request of an inspector. Funding for the program would come from revenues derived from lake and river protection stickers issued under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 12, section 13058.