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An Act To Improve General Assistance Reimbursements
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §4307, sub-§2, as repealed and replaced by PL 1987, c. 349, Pt. H, §15, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:
 
2.  Municipal responsibility.     Except as provided in subsection 4, a municipality is responsible for the general assistance support of eligible persons as provided in this subsection.
 
A.  The municipality of record is responsible for the general assistance support of eligible persons. For the purposes of this subsection, "the municipality of record" is the municipality where the applicant was an occupant of a house, apartment or other dwelling unit immediately prior to applying for assistance, as verified by a lease, utility bill or other means that establishes the individual as maintaining a residence in that municipality.
 
B.  If an eligible person is not a resident of any municipality, the municipality to which that person first applies is responsible for support until a new residence is established.
 
C.  If a municipality of record cannot be established or verified pursuant to paragraph A, the municipality to which an eligible person applies is responsible for providing assistance if the eligible person is a resident of that municipality.
 
For the purposes of this section, "resident" means a person who is physically present in a municipality with the intention of remaining in that municipality to maintain or establish a home and who has no other residence.
Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §4307, sub-§4, ¶A, as corrected by RR 2009, c. 2, §58, is amended to read:
 
A. When an applicant or recipient requests relocationrelocates to another municipality and the overseers of a municipality assist that person to relocate to another municipality, the municipality from which that person is movingrelocating continues to be responsible for the support of the recipient for 30 days after relocation. As used in this paragraph, "assist" includes:
 
(1) Granting financial assistance to relocate; andor
 
(2) Making arrangements for a person to relocate.
 
SUMMARY
This bill amends the municipal general assistance laws to provide a different method of determining the residence of an applicant and the municipality responsible for providing general assistance to that applicant, including an applicant relocating from another municipality. The bill provides that the municipality of record, which is defined as the municipality in which the applicant resided immediately prior to applying for assistance, is the responsible municipality.