Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §4307, sub-§1, as repealed and replaced by PL 1987, c. 349, Pt. H, §15, is amended to read:

1. General assistance required. Municipalities shall provide general assistance to all eligible persons at the expense of that municipality, except as provided in this section and section 4311.

A municipality shall may not move or transport a person into another municipality to avoid responsibility for general assistance support for that person. Any municipality which that illegally moves or transports a person, or illegally denies assistance to a person which that results in his that person's relocation, in addition to the other penalties provided in this chapter, shall reimburse twice the amount of assistance to the municipality which that provided the assistance to that person. That reimbursement shall must be made in accordance with subsection 5.

Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §4307, sub-§4, ¶B, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 349, Pt. H, §15, is amended to read:

B. If an applicant is in a group home, shelter, rehabilitation center, nursing home, hospital or other institution at the time of application and has either been in that institution for 6 months or less, or had a residence immediately prior to entering the institution which he that the applicant had maintained and to which he the applicant intends to return, the municipality of responsibility shall be is the municipality where the applicant was a resident immediately prior to entering the institution. This paragraph applies to institutions that do not, as a primary function, provide shelter or services to homeless persons. For the purpose of this paragraph, a hotel, motel or similar place of temporary lodging is considered an institution when a municipality:

(1) Grants financial assistance for a person to move to or stay in temporary lodging;

(2) Makes arrangements for a person to stay in temporary lodging;

(3) Advises or encourages a person to stay in temporary lodging; or

(4) Illegally denies housing assistance and, as a result of that denial, the person stays in temporary lodging.