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Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘An Act To Make Damaging a Public Easement with a Motor Vehicle a Class E Crime’
Amend the bill by striking out all of section 2 and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 2.  17 MRSA §3853-D, sub-§2, ¶A-3  is enacted to read:
 
A-3.  "Emergency responder" means a person providing firefighting, rescue or emergency medical services.
Sec. 3.  17 MRSA §3853-D, sub-§2, ¶C  is enacted to read:
 
C. "Public easement" has the same meaning as in Title 23, section 3021, subsection 2.’
Amend the bill by striking out all of section 3 and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 3. 17 MRSA §3853-D, sub-§3, ¶¶C and D, as amended by PL 1995, c. 539, §1, are further amended to read:
 
C. An agent or employee of a landowner who operates a motor vehicle on farmland or forest land owned by that landowner in the scope of that agent's or employee's agency or employment; or
 
D. A law enforcement officer who, in an emergency and in the scope of that law enforcement officer's employment, operates a motor vehicle on farmland or forest land owned by another.or on a public easement; or
Sec. 4.  17 MRSA §3853-D, sub-§3, ¶E  is enacted to read:
 
E. An emergency responder who, in an emergency and in performing the duties of the emergency responder, operates a motor vehicle on farmland or forest land owned by another or on a public easement.’
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
 
SUMMARY
This amendment is the majority report of the committee. The amendment strikes from the bill the definition of "public easement" and defines that term instead by reference to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 23, section 3021, subsection 2 and provides a definition of "emergency responder." The amendment provides an exception for an emergency responder that is similar to the exception in current law for a law enforcement officer.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)