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An Act To Increase Local Responsibility for General Assistance
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §4311, sub-§1, as amended by PL 1993, c. 410, Pt. AAA, §7 and PL 2003, c. 689, Pt. B, §6, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:
 
1.  Departmental reimbursement.     The department shall reimburse a municipality or Indian tribe for 50% of the municipality's or Indian tribe's net general assistance costs when the department finds that the municipality or Indian tribe has been in compliance with all requirements of this chapter. For the purposes of this subsection, "Indian tribe" has the same meaning as in section 411, subsection 8-A.
Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §4311, sub-§1-B, as amended by PL 1991, c. 9, Pt. U, §8, is repealed.
Sec. 3. 22 MRSA §4311, sub-§1-C, as enacted by PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. OO, §10, is repealed.
Sec. 4. 22 MRSA §4311, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2013, c. 368, Pt. OO, §11, is further amended to read:
 
2. Submission of reports.   Municipalities and Indian tribes shall submit reports as followsmonthly on forms provided by the department.
 
A.  For purposes of this section, those municipalities that received reimbursement at 90% during the previous fiscal year of the State and those municipalities that expect to receive reimbursement at 90% during the current fiscal year of the State must submit monthly reports on forms provided by the department.
 
B.  Those municipalities that did not receive reimbursement at 90% during the previous fiscal year and do not expect to receive reimbursement at 90% for the current fiscal year must submit quarterly or semiannual reports on forms provided by the department.
 
Indian tribes must submit monthly reports on forms provided by the department.
Sec. 5. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 2015.
 
SUMMARY
This bill, beginning July 1, 2015, changes the formula for determining the rate of reimbursement paid by the State to municipalities and Indian tribes under the general assistance program to 50% of the municipalities' and Indian tribes' net general assistance costs. This bill also requires all municipalities to submit reports to the Department of Health and Human Services on a monthly basis.
This bill repeals the requirement that the State reimburse municipalities and Indian tribes for a portion of the costs incurred in paying benefits through the municipality's or Indian tribe's general assistance program.