Committee opens review of bill to move Maine Natural Areas Program; AG warns about rulemaking authority shift

The committee opened a work session on LD 21 18, a departmental bill that would repeal the Maine Natural Areas Program statutes in the Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry (DACF) and reassign responsibilities and the Natural Areas Conservation Fund to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W).

Karen Nadeau, committee analyst, summarized the bill as largely similar to a prior proposal (LD 402) that died between bodies and said the fiscal note would likely mirror that earlier analysis. She highlighted section 32 (which creates a new subchapter moving MNAP into IF&W) and noted drafting differences carried over from the reviser’s language.

Assistant Attorney General Lauren Parker told the committee that IF&W has a broad statutory grant of rulemaking authority (citing Title 12 MRS §10104), while the statutes that currently govern the Maine Natural Areas Program (for example, 12 MRS §544 and related sections) do not include an explicit grant of rulemaking power for MNAP. That, Parker said, informed the departments’ concern and the committee’s need to decide whether moving the program should also move the authority to adopt program rules.

Parker recommended several drafting approaches for clarity, including adding unallocated language in the bill to specify which department is assigned implementation and enforcement responsibilities or explicitly limiting rulemaking authority in the transferred statute if that was the committee’s intent.

Committee members pressed for clarity about consequences. Representative Jim Dill asked whether IF&W would automatically obtain rulemaking authority if the program moved; Parker said if MNAP were moved to IF&W, IF&W could rely on its Title 12 rulemaking grant to adopt rules unless the statute explicitly constrained that power. Chief Camuso, Commissioner of IF&W, later told the committee the department did not want rulemaking authority for the program.

Because several members left and quorum was lost, the committee deferred further testimony and votes to a future meeting and asked staff to circulate the AG’s citations and supporting statutory texts ahead of the next session.