Maine Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Maine, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can a church claim a Maine property tax exemption for the remote mountain site where it keeps its radio station antenna, on the theory that the broadcast is an extension of its ministry?
No. Assistant AG Diane E. Doyen concluded that 36 M.R.S.A. § 652(1)(G) exempts only houses of religious worship (church edifices and parsonages), not radio transmitter sites. Maine and parallel Massac…
When the Maine Governor fills a vacancy in a county Register of Deeds office by appointment, does the appointee have to be from the same political party as the vacating officer?
No. AG Tierney concluded 33 M.R.S.A. § 601, which governs Register of Deeds vacancies, is silent on political party. The Governor may appoint a person of any political party. In contrast, the County C…
Does the Baxter State Park Authority have to get the Maine Bureau of Purchases to sign off before buying equipment or hiring contractors for the park?
No. The AG memo concluded the Park Authority is an independent trust authority, not a state department or agency, so the central purchasing approval rule in 5 M.R.S.A. § 1816 does not reach it. The Pa…
Can the same person serve as both Supervisor of the Group Life Insurance Division of the Maine State Retirement System and as an elected employee Trustee of the Maine State Retirement System?
No. AG Tierney concluded the two offices were incompatible at common law. The Supervisor reported to the Executive Director who serves at the pleasure of the Board, so the Supervisor would be both the…
Which version of Maine's Site Location Law definition of 'subdivision' should the Department of Environmental Protection use when the supplement prints two competing texts?
Use the version on page 242 of the 1988 Supplementary Pamphlet, the one enacted by P.L. 1987, c. 812, § 7. The earlier P.L. 1987, c. 737 amendment, which only updated a cross-reference to the recodifi…
When someone asks a Maine town clerk or the state Bureau of Vital Records for a death certificate, can they see the cause of death, or is that confidential?
Confidential. AG Tierney's 1989 clarification explained that the last sentence of 22 M.R.S.A. § 2706(4), added by P.L. 1973 ch. 121, makes the cause of death (and all details other than name, age, dat…
How was Maine's child protection system functioning in late 1988 when the state ran out of safe foster home placements for the children it had to remove from abusive or neglectful homes?
Badly. The Child Welfare AAGs for York and Cumberland counties reported to AG Tierney that the foster care shortage was forcing them and Department caseworkers to redefine 'jeopardy' downward in the f…
Can the Maine Legislature raise the Governor's salary in the middle of his first term, with the raise taking effect at the start of his second term, while he is still in office?
No. Deputy AG Cabanne Howard concluded that the Maine Constitution's phrase 'continuance in office' (Art. V, Pt. 1, § 6) blocks any salary increase that would apply to a sitting Governor for as long a…
Are portable classrooms that a Maine school district leases instead of owning subject to municipal property tax, and if not, does the town get reimbursed for the lost revenue?
No tax, no reimbursement. Deputy AG Crombie Garrett concluded that 20-A M.R.S.A. § 4001(3)(C) exempts property leased by school administrative units, including portable classrooms. Because the statute…
When the Governor appoints someone from the State Board of Education or the University of Maine System Board of Trustees to also serve on the Maine Vocational-Technical Board, does that person have to step down from the Voc-Tech Board if they lose their seat on the original board, or do they keep their four-year term?
They keep the full four-year term. AG Tierney concluded that 20-A M.R.S.A. § 12705 contemplated a fresh four-year appointment confirmed by the Legislature for each Voc-Tech trustee, including those dr…
If someone wins election as a Maine Probate Judge while also serving as a member of the Maine Labor Relations Board, can they hold both positions at once?
No. AG Tierney concluded that Article VI, Section 5 of the Maine Constitution bars 'any Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court or any other court' from holding office under the United States or any oth…
Did the Maine State Board of Education have legal authority to require previously certified veteran teachers to earn three credits in special-education training, raise major and minor credit-hour requirements, and apply these new rules without violating teachers' due process rights or the Interstate Compact on Qualifications of Educational Personnel?
Yes. AG Tierney concluded that 20-A M.R.S.A. ch. 502's rulemaking grant in § 13011(1) covered the State Board's exceptionality requirement and the new credit-hour standards, both of which apply only o…
Does the State of Maine guarantee the obligations of the SEED Plan to pay college tuition for plan beneficiaries, and if so, does that guarantee fit within the Maine Constitution's $2,000,000 limit on unbonded long-term debt?
Half yes, half no. Asst. AG Jeffrey Frankel concluded that 20-A M.R.S.A. § 12604 made the State a contractual party to each advance tuition payment contract. But once the cumulative value of those con…
How does the Maine Tort Claims Act, state purchasing law, and corporate-formality framework apply to Maine's new Student Educational Enhancement Deposit (SEED) prepaid-tuition plan and its directors?
Asst. AG Jeffrey Frankel advised: (1) the SEED Plan is a state instrumentality whose directors and officers are very likely covered by Tort Claims Act immunity (14 M.R.S.A. § 8111(1)), with personal l…
When an electric utility wants to install a new line through Maine's unorganized territories (the area regulated by LURC), does the utility need a Land Use Regulation Commission permit?
It depends on whether the line follows a public way. Asst. AG Jeffrey Pidot concluded that a major new utility installation generally needs a LURC permit, but 35-A M.R.S.A. §§ 2502-2503 give utilities…
Can a Maine regional planning commission's executive board include members who weren't appointed by a member municipality?
No, based on this opinion. While a regional planning commission may create a smaller subordinate executive board to handle day-to-day operations, every member of that board must also be a member of th…
Does Baxter State Park have to get state procurement approval before making purchases, like other Maine state agencies?
No, based on this memo. Because Baxter State Park was created by Governor Percival Baxter's deeds of trust and is managed by an independent Authority funded from its own trust account rather than as a…
Could a Maine law requiring pension trustees to divest from companies in Northern Ireland override their fiduciary duty to invest prudently?
No, based on this opinion. LD 2008 required the Maine State Retirement System's trustees to encourage MacBride Principles compliance and, after mid-1992, prefer divestment from noncompliant Northern I…
Could Maine require a 150-foot buffer zone around farmland where pesticides are used without it being an unconstitutional taking?
Probably not unconstitutional, according to this opinion. The Attorney General concluded that a proposed bill creating a 150-foot setback around registered farmland using agricultural chemicals was li…
What does this Maine AG opinion (1988-02-23) say about Prescription, fitting, dispensing and replacement of contact lenses?
Maine AG opinion (1988-02-23): Prescription, fitting, dispensing and replacement of contact lenses.
Could Penobscot Nation members use gill nets to catch Atlantic salmon for personal food within the reservation?
Yes, on the facts presented in 1988. The AG concluded that Penobscot Nation members could use gill nets within the reservation to take about twenty Atlantic salmon for their own consumption.
Could Maine condemn an unsafe or unreliable private rail line and transfer its operation to another railroad?
The AG found no general federal constitutional barrier to Maine condemning an unsafe, unreliable, or inefficient rail line. To reduce Fifth Amendment public-use concerns, the opinion suggested that th…
Must a proposed Maine Public Utilities Commission member recuse from cases in which he previously worked as a utility consultant?
Yes, for proceedings tied directly to his prior consulting work. The AG concluded that the proposed commissioner had to recuse from the pending Hydro-Quebec and telephone-cost matters, plus certain re…
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Attorney general opinions in Maine are written by the Maine Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.