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Committee backs amended penalties process for weights and measures, exempts firewood measurement
Summary
The committee voted to recommend passage of an amendment establishing an administrative penalty process for violations of the Maine Weights and Measures law while explicitly exempting certain firewood sale and wood‑measurement provisions from that administrative penalty framework.
The Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry voted to recommend passage, as amended, of LD 88, an act revising penalties under the Maine Weights and Measures law (Title 12). The amendment establishes an administrative penalty process for violations of Chapter 501 of Title 12 except where a specific civil penalty is already prescribed.
The amendment retains civil penalties specifically for subchapters covering measurement of wood and the sale of firewood; it therefore carves those issues out of the new administrative penalty framework. The amendment also preserves existing civil penalties for certain weighmaster and dealer provisions.
The sponsor and Department staff told the committee the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry worked with the bill sponsor and that the change was intended to create a more consistent administrative penalty process for weights and measures enforcement while preserving specific civil remedies where the statute already prescribes them. The committee briefly reviewed the amendment language, including the explicit exclusions for firewood measurement and sale.
A motion to recommend passage as amended carried on a roll‑call vote recorded as nine members voting in favor and three members absent. The committee clerk will prepare the committee report and forward the amended bill language for further legislative consideration.
