129th MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 459		LR 937(01)
	An Act To Include Homelessness in the Laws Governing Emergency General Assistance
	Preliminary Fiscal Impact Statement for Original Bill
	Sponsor: Sen. Chipman of Cumberland
	Committee: Health and Human Services
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Preliminary Fiscal Impact Statement
Potential current biennium cost increase - General Fund
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	This bill defines homelessness and establishes it as an emergency for the purposes of being granted General Assistance (GA), assuming applicant is not otherwise ineligible or disqualified from receiving GA. By being deemed an emergency, municipalities would be allowed to go over the normal monthly cap on housing expenditures in GA. This will potentially increase assistance payments made by municipalities and increase amounts reimbursed to municipalities by the Department of Health and Human Services. A more precise estimate of the fiscal impact is not possible because recipient data related to number of months on assistance, amounts paid to each recipient, number of recipients who return and the frequency of emergency status resides at the municipal level and varies over time.