An Act To Amend the Laws Governing the Issuance of Burn Permits

Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §9321, sub-§3,  as enacted by PL 1979, c. 545, §3, is amended to read:

Sec. 2. 12 MRSA §9327  is enacted to read:

§ 9327.  Private party burn permit software

The director shall allow a municipality to use burn permit software purchased from a private party to establish a publicly accessible online system to issue a permit to burn pursuant to section 9325 if the issuance of a permit to burn using the burn permit software is in accordance with the criteria in section 9321. The director shall approve burn permit software within 10 business days after a town forest fire warden or deputy submits a request for review of the software to the director if the software submitted meets the requirements of this section. If the director does not approve or deny the burn permit software within 10 business days after a town forest fire warden or deputy submits a request for review, the municipality may use the burn permit software to issue permits to burn. If a person uses burn permit software to apply for a permit to burn, that person may not be charged a fee for the permit. A person may not be required to apply for a permit to burn using approved burn permit software, but may apply as otherwise provided in this article. The director may adopt rules relating to burn permit software requirements. Rules adopted pursuant to this section are major substantive rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.

SUMMARY

This bill requires the Director of the Bureau of Forestry within the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to allow municipalities to use burn permit software purchased from a private party to issue a permit to burn if issuance of the permit using the burn permit software meets certain statutory requirements. The bill provides that a person may not be charged a fee for a permit to burn issued using the burn permit software and that a person may apply for a permit to burn using the burn permit software or as otherwise provided in law. The bill requires the director to approve burn permit software within 10 days after a town forest fire warden or deputy submits a request for review to the director if the burn permit software meets the requirements for approval. The bill authorizes the director to adopt major substantive rules relating to burn permit software requirements.