130th MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 213		LR 148(02)
	An Act To Require Coverage for Female Firefighters Facing Reproductive System Cancer
	Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment " "
	Committee: Labor and Housing
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Fiscal Note
Local government costs - potential state mandate
State Mandates
	Required Activity				Unit Affected	Local Cost
	Shifting the burden of proof that a municipal firefighter or volunteer firefighter contracted gynecologic cancer as a result of employment as a firefighter from the claimant to the employer and/or the employer's insurer may necessitate a more vigorous and costly legal defense by municipalities and increase the number of cases lost.				Municipality	Significant statewide
	The required local activities in this bill may represent a state mandate pursuant to the Constitution of Maine. If the bill does require a local unit of government to expand or modify its activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenue, the state mandate provisions of the Constitution of Maine require either: (1) General Fund appropriations be provided to fund at least 90% of any additional necessitated local costs of the mandate; or (2) a Mandate Preamble be added to the bill and two-thirds of the members of each House vote to exempt the mandate from the funding requirement. If the bill does represent a state mandate and neither one of these actions occurs, the local units of government will not be required to implement the mandated activities.
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	This legislation will increase costs to local governments in the form of both higher premiums for workers' compensation insurance and increased legal costs.  The impact to individual municipalities can not be determined and will depend on actual experience.