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An Act To Allow Municipalities To Opt Not To Enforce the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  10 MRSA §9721, sub-§1-B  is enacted to read:
 
1-B.  Code.     "Code" means the Maine Uniform Building Code, the Maine Uniform Energy Code or the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code.
Sec. 2. 10 MRSA §9724, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2011, c. 408, §4, is further amended to read:
 
1. Limitations on home rule authority; adoption of building code.   This chapter provides express limitations on municipal home rule authority. The Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code must be enforced in a municipality that has more than 4,000 residents and that has adopted any building code by August 1, 2008. Beginning July 1, 2012, the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code must be enforced in a municipality that has more than 4,000 residents and that has not adopted any building code by August 1, 2008.Beginning January 1, 2018, a municipality that has more than 4,000 residents must enforce either the Maine Uniform Building Code, the Maine Uniform Energy Code or the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code. The Maine Uniform Building and Energy Codecode adopted by that municipality must be enforced through inspections that comply with Title 25, section 2373.
Sec. 3. 10 MRSA §9724, sub-§1-B, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 505, §1, is amended to read:
 
1-B. Residents.   For the purposes of subsections 1 and, 1-A and 1-C, "residents" does not include persons held at a correctional facility, as defined in Title 34-A, section 1001, subsection 6, within the municipality.
Sec. 4.  10 MRSA §9724, sub-§1-C  is enacted to read:
 
1-C.  Municipalities that have more than 4,000 residents.     A municipality that has more than 4,000 residents may not adopt or enforce a building code other than the Maine Uniform Building Code, the Maine Uniform Energy Code or the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter or Title 25, chapter 314, the provisions of the codes do not apply in a municipality that has more than 4,000 residents except to the extent the municipality has adopted one or more of these codes pursuant to this subsection. The codes must be enforced through inspections that comply with Title 25, section 2373.
Sec. 5. 25 MRSA §2371, sub-§4, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 699, §11, is amended to read:
 
4. Code.   "Code" means the Maine Uniform Building Code, the Maine Uniform Energy Code or the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code adopted pursuant to Title 10, chapter 1103.
Sec. 6. 25 MRSA §2373, first ¶, as amended by PL 2011, c. 408, §6, is further amended to read:
TheA code must be enforced in a municipality that has more than 4,000 residents and that has adopted any building code by August 1, 2008. Beginning July 1, 2012, the code must be enforced in a municipality that has more than 4,000 residents and that has not adopted any building code by August 1, 2008. The code adopted by the municipality  must be enforced through inspections that comply with the code through any of the following means:
 
SUMMARY
Under current law, all municipalities that have more than 4,000 residents must enforce the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code.
This bill requires a municipality that has more than 4,000 residents to adopt and enforce either the Maine Uniform Building Code, the Maine Uniform Energy Code or the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code.