April 24, 2019

WEEKLY NOTICES OF STATE RULEMAKING
Public Input for Proposed and Adopted Rules

Notices are published each Wednesday to alert the public regarding state agency rulemaking. You may obtain a copy of any rule by notifying the agency contact person. You may also comment on the rule, and/or attend the public hearing. If no hearing is scheduled, you may request one -- the agency may then schedule a hearing, and must do so if 5 or more persons request it. If you are disabled or need special services to attend a hearing, please notify the agency contact person at least 7 days prior to it. Petitions: you can petition an agency to adopt, amend, or repeal any rule; the agency must provide you with petition forms, and must respond to your petition within 60 days. The agency must enter rulemaking if the petition is signed by 150 or more registered voters, and may begin rulemaking if there are fewer. You can also petition the Legislature to review a rule; the Executive Director of the Legislative Council (115 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333, phone (207) 287-1615) will provide you with the necessary petition forms. The appropriate legislative committee will review a rule upon receipt of a petition from 100 or more registered voters, or from "...any person who may be directly, substantially and adversely affected by the application of a rule..." (Title 5 Section 11112). World-Wide Web: Copies of the weekly notices and the full texts of adopted rule chapters may be found on the internet at: http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/rules. There is also a list of rulemaking liaisons, who are single points of contact for each agency.

PROPOSALS : no proposals this week

 

ADOPTIONS

AGENCY: 94-411 - Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MainePERS)
CHAPTER NUMBER AND TITLE: Ch. 414, Required Minimum Distributions
ADOPTED RULE NUMBER: 2019-065 (Emergency)
CONCISE SUMMARY: This rule establishes the date when a member must begin to receive a service retirement benefit or withdraw accumulated contributions under a retirement program pursuant to Internal Revenue Code. The current rule establishes April l of the year in which the required beginning date occurs as the effective date of a service retirement benefit. The amendment changes the effective date to be no later than April 1 of the year in which the required beginning date occurs.
EFFECTIVE DATE: April 17, 2019
AGENCY CONTACT PERSON: Kathy J. Morin, Manager, Actuarial and Legislative Affairs, Maine Public Employees Retirement System, P.O. Box 349, Augusta, ME 04332-0349. Telephone: 1-800-451-9800 or (207) 512-3190. Email: Kathy.Morin@MainePERS.org .
WEBSITE: http://www.mainepers.org/ .

AGENCY: 65-407 – Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC)
CHAPTER NUMBER AND TITLE: Ch. 313, Customer Net Energy Billing
ADOPTED RULE NUMBER: 2019 066 (Emergency)
CONCISE SUMMARY: On April 2, 2019, the Governor signed into law PL 2019 ch. 16, "An Act To Eliminate Gross Metering" (Act). The Act directs the Commission to amend its NEB rules to be substantively equivalent to the rules in effect on January 1, 2017, and, further, that the amended rules must apply retroactively to all NEB customers that entered into a net energy billing arrangement between March 29, 2017 and the effective date of the rules adopted pursuant to the Act.
The Act will not become effective until 90 days after the end of the current legislative session. However, because the reductions in nettable energy pursuant to the rule were to be phased-in gradually over time, in the initial few years of the phase-in period, the costs to ratepayers for the second meter would be likely to exceed the cost reduction benefits ratepayers would realize through the reductions in nettable energy.
Accordingly, the Commission finds that the continued operation of Ch. 313 in its current form creates an immediate threat to the general welfare that allows the Commission to proceed pursuant to the emergency rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 MRS §8054.
EFFECTIVE DATE: April 22, 2019
MPUC CONTACT PERSON / RULEMAKING LIAISON: Jamie Waterbury, Maine Public Utilities Commission, 18 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333. Telephone: (207) 287-1360. Email: Jamie.A.Waterbury@Maine.gov .
MPUC WEBSITE: http://www.maine.gov/mpuc/ .