AGO 06-1.

• Case Date: January 17, 2006
• Court: Maine

Maine Attorney General Opinions 2006. AGO 06-1. STATE OF MAINE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 6 STATE HOUSE STATION AUGUSTA, MAINE 04333-0006 January 17, 200606-1Senator Elizabeth Schneider, Senate ChairRepresentative Christopher Barstow, House ChairJoint Standing Committee on State and Local Government 100 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333-0003 RE: Proposed Committee Amendment to LD 1481Dear Senator Schneider and Representative Barstow: During the work session.on LD 1481 held on January 11, 2006, you asked for an opinion concerning a proposed Committee Amendment to the bill, a copy of which is attached. Specifically, you have asked whether the constitutional issue identified in our June 10, 2005 opinion has been resolved by the language of the Committee Amendment. LD 1481 contains provisions that would have prohibited a municipal initiative or referendum from having any retroactive effect on existing land use permits or approvals without imposing such a restriction directly upon municipalities. By doing so, as we stated in our opinion of June 10, 2005, the bill would have limited the subject matter of municipal ordinances that are subject to the municipal initiative and people's veto process in conflict with the requirements of Art. IV, Pt. 3, § 21 of the Maine Constitution. The proposed Committee mendment removes all the provisions of the bill that would have limited the scope of ordinances enacted by municipal initiative and referendum as distinct from other ordinances. Instead, the amendment imposes the retroactivity limitation directly upon municipalities, which we believe to be within the Legislature's authority. In doing so, the amendment eliminates the mstitutional issue we...