PUBLIC Law, Chapter 378, An Act Concerning Fees for Users of County Registries of Deeds

An Act Concerning Fees for Users of County Registries of Deeds

Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and

Whereas, the registry of deeds offices provide a valuable public service in recording and maintaining the land records of the State; and

Whereas, current law allows the county commissioners to set fees for copying at only the cost of providing the copies; and

Whereas, the cost to the counties to maintain the information and to make it accessible cannot be adequately reimbursed by fees defined by copying cost; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 33 MRSA §751, sub-§14, as amended by PL 2009, c. 575, §2, is repealed.

Sec. 2. 33 MRSA §751, sub-§§14-B and 14-C are enacted to read:

14-B. Abstracts and copies. Making abstracts and copies of records at the office of the register of deeds as follows:

A. Five dollars per page for paper abstracts and copies of plans;

B. One dollar per page for other paper abstracts and copies; and

C. Fifty cents per page for digital abstracts and copies, except that the fee is 5¢ per page for copies of 1,000 or more digital abstracts and copies of consecutive records.

This subsection is repealed July 31, 2012;

14-C. Abstracts and copies. Beginning August 1, 2012, making abstracts and copies from the records, a reasonable fee as determined by the county commissioners for each category of abstracts and copies, such as paper copies, attested copies, copies obtained online and bulk transfers of copies. In setting a reasonable fee for each category of abstracts and copies, the commissioners shall consider factors relating to the cost of producing and making copies available, which may include, but are not limited to: the cost of depleted supplies; records storage media costs; actual mailing and alternative delivery costs or other transmitting costs; amortized infrastructure costs; any direct equipment operating and maintenance costs; costs associated with media processing time; personnel costs, including actual costs paid to private contractors for copying services; contract and contractor costs for database maintenance and for online provision and bulk transfer of copies in a manner that protects the security and integrity of registry documents; and a reasonable rate for the time a computer server is dedicated to fulfilling the request; and

Sec. 3. Legislative intent; retroactivity. The Legislature finds that the following fees charged by an office of a register of deeds for making abstracts and copies from records, whether in paper or digital form, including for bulk copies or transfers of such copies, between September 1, 2009 and the effective date of this Act are reasonable and in accordance with the legislative intent of Public Law 2009, chapter 575, section 2 and are expressly authorized: a fee of up to $1.50 per page for paper copies and a fee of up to $1.50 per page for digital copies. Nothing in this section may be interpreted as a legislative finding that a higher fee charged by an office of a register of deeds between September 1, 2009 and the effective date of this Act to persons who were not subscribers to the online services of a register of deeds is unreasonable. Notwithstanding the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 1, section 302, this section applies retroactively to September 1, 2009.

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

Effective 90 days following adjournment of the 125th Legislature, First Regular Session, unless otherwise indicated.

HP1100 LD 1499	PUBLIC Law, Chapter 378 Emergency Signed on 2011-06-16 00:00:00.0 - First Regular Session - 125th Maine Legislature
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