Buying a gun in Maine now requires a 72-hour waiting period before you can take it home. Providers of abortions and gender-affirming care are now protected from out-of-state legal action. And paramilitary activity is no longer allowed in Maine if it’s intended to cause civil disorder.

Dozens of new state laws are taking effect Friday, which marks 90 days after the Legislature adjourned on May 10. They range from controversial changes such as the new restrictions on gun purchases to many far more obscure reforms. Wakeboarding is no longer allowed close to lake shorelines. But it’s now legal in Maine to have your body composted after you die.

Also Friday, millions of dollars in state funds approved in April became available to spend on initiatives such as expanding mental health care, building more housing, providing rent relief and establishing an Office of New Americans. The funds were included in a supplemental budget that passed without the broad bipartisan support needed to take effect before the start of the fiscal year.

NEW RESTRICTIONS ON GUN PURCHASES

Gun safety was a major focus of this year’s legislative session following the mass shooting in Lewiston last October that left 18 people dead and 13 others injured.

The shooting prompted a flurry of firearms proposals, including L.D. 2238, which lawmakers approved to require a 72-hour waiting period on firearms purchases. Gov. Janet Mills allowed the bill to become law without her signature.

The Maine Department of Public Safety and the Office of the Maine Attorney General posted guidance this week about how to comply with the new law and how it will be enforced. A seller who violates the law faces a fine of $200 to $500 for a first offense, and $500 to $1,000 for subsequent violations.

Gun safety advocates argued the law will prevent someone who is in crisis from buying a gun to harm themselves or others. Opponents of the new law have said it will jeopardize the tradition of gun shows because customers would have to return to pick up their purchases three days later or pay for shipping.

Along with the waiting period, a second new law expands the requirement for background checks on firearms sales to include private, advertised sales.

“These new laws will certainly save lives, both here in Maine and throughout the nation,” said Nacole Palmer, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition. “We are incredibly grateful to Gov. (Janet) Mills, the Maine Legislature, and the thousands of Mainers who worked to bring about these life-saving measures.”

Laura Whitcomb, president of Gun Owners of Maine, said firearms dealers are trying to navigate questions such as what kinds of records they will need to keep to demonstrate compliance. Some are contemplating hiring attorneys to help them ensure compliance, she said.

Whitcomb said her group remains involved in an effort by opponents to file a legal challenge to the 72-hour law, but no lawsuit has been filed to date. “We are absolutely still working with our attorneys and will file when they say the time is right,” she said.

PROTECTION FOR ABORTION, GENDER CARE PROVIDERS

A bill to shield providers of legally protected abortion and gender-affirming care from hostile, out-of-state litigation was one of the most contentious proposals to work its way through the Legislature last session.

The bill, L.D. 227, drew significant debate among lawmakers and prompted a letter from 16 Republican attorneys general in other states who joined together to oppose it, calling it “constitutionally defective.”

Republican lawmakers in Maine opposed the bill, arguing that Maine would become a haven for abortions and gender care, and warning that young people could be brought to Maine against their will for gender-affirming care.

Democrats, however, stressed that the bill doesn’t erase the restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors and wouldn’t prohibit law enforcement from investigating suspected cases of trafficking or kidnapping.

Lisa Margulies, vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said the new law is needed in the wake of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and the decision by many states to restrict or ban access to abortion or gender care for their citizens.

“This is really about protecting providers given the hostile climate that exists out of state,” she said. “This is really about protecting providers and our health care infrastructure.”

SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET TAKES EFFECT

Some of the most significant initiatives going into effect Friday were included in the $430 million supplemental budget approved by lawmakers and Mills this spring.

The addition to the biennial budget includes $4.4 million to establish a network of crisis receiving centers to provide immediate, no-cost care to people experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, $5 million in one-time funding to create a Maine Mass Violence Care Fund and $6 million in one-time spending to address a federal shortfall in funding for victims’ services.

A wave of new investments in housing and rent relief also will become available, including $21 million to ensure that shelters and transitional housing programs can remain open, $30 million to build more housing through a variety of state programs and $18 million to establish a rent relief pilot program to provide eligible people with up to $800 per month in rental assistance.

The rent relief program, which has been named the Eviction Prevention Program and is being administered by MaineHousing, is expected to be open and running in October, said Scott Thistle, a spokesperson for MaineHousing.

Requests for proposals were issued Wednesday for two contracts for administering and processing applications and proposals are due back by Sept. 4, Thistle said. MaineHousing expects to award the contracts by Sept. 9.

The budget legislation also will bring a restructuring of Child Development Services, a state agency that has struggled to provide mandatory services for young children with disabilities, and money for the establishment of a state Office of New Americans to better track and oversee the integration of immigrants to Maine.

A spokesperson for the governor said the new office is expected to begin operating later this year.

PARAMILITARY TRAINING IS OUT

Another new law prohibits unauthorized paramilitary activity intended to cause civil disorder.

The bill was introduced in response to a planned neo-Nazi training camp in northern Maine. The plan was abandoned after The Portland Press Herald reported on it, but lawmakers decided there ought to be restrictions in case the idea resurfaces.

The law allows the attorney general’s office to file for a court injunction to stop such activity and penalize anyone breaking the law with a Class D crime, which carries fines of $500 to $1,000 and up to a year in jail.

WAKEBOARDING, HUMAN COMPOSTING AND OTHER NEW LAWS

Wakeboarders will have to follow new rules when riding waves behind speeding boats.

Beginning Friday, wakeboarding will be prohibited in water less than 15 feet deep or within 300 feet of the shoreline to protect shore vegetation and sensitive wildlife.

Maine people now have another option besides burial and cremation for their final resting place. A new law allows for human composting, or “natural organic reduction,” making Maine the seventh state to offer this environmentally friendly option.

The bill’s sponsors said the process takes about four weeks at a state licensed facility. Human remains are mixed with straw, woodchips, alfalfa and other natural materials and stored at a temperature of over 131 degrees, which is hot enough to kill viruses, pathogens and bacteria. The resulting soil – about 1 cubic yard – can be scattered or added to a garden.

Although the law takes effect Friday, it’s unclear when the service will be available, since the state would have to establish rules and license facilities.

Also taking effect Friday is legislation authorizing the state to sell three former courthouses in York County in hopes of repurposing them into housing, and a law that will make tax credits available to the Portland Sea Dogs for stadium renovations at Hadlock Field.

And Maine contractors will have one less worry for their construction sites.

A new law clarifies that portable toilets used on construction sites are absolutely not subject to local plumbing rules and licenses. The Associated General Contractors of Maine admitted that they haven’t heard about any issues associated with portable toilets, but they encouraged lawmakers to pass the bill anyway. And they did.

Staff Writer Randy Billings contributed to this story. 

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