Ch. 6: Petition for Agency Rulemaking

1. FORMS

A. Petition shall be made on forms developed by the Secretary of State and adopted by the Department, which forms shall be supplied by the Department in sufficient number to any person requesting them.

NOTE: A copy of the petition form(s) now in use is attached hereto.

B. It is anticipated that multiple petition forms may be circulated as part of any one petition. The petitioner shall complete page one of the petition form and attach it to each petition copy before circulating for signatures.

2. CERTIFICATION OF PETITIONS.

The petition must be verified and certified according to procedures defined by Title 21, Section 494, sub-section 7, prior to presentation to the Department.

3. SUBMISSION OF PETITION AND TEXT OF PROPOSED RULE

Petitions shall be submitted to: Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Augusta, Maine 04333. All petition forms which are part of any one petition shall be submitted simultaneously.

4. ACTION ON PETITION

A petition may be submitted with or without accompanying signatures.

A. If the petition is submitted containing less than 150 signatures, and is in accordance with paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 herein, the Department may initiate appropriate rule-making proceedings but is not required to do so. If the Department does initiate appropriate rule-making proceedings, it shall send a copy of the notice of rulemaking to the person designated as the petitioners' representative. If the Department declines to initiate appropriate rule-making proceedings, it shall notify the designee, in writing, of its denial and state the reasons therefor. The Department shall initiate appropriate rule-making proceedings or send its written notice of denial, as the case may be, within 60 days after receipt of the petition.

B. If a petition is submitted containing 150 or more signatures in accordance with paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 herein, the Department shall initiate appropriate rule-making proceedings within 60 days after receipt of the petition

or. The Department shall initiate appropriate rule-making proceedings or send its written notice of denial, as the case may be, within 60 days after receipt of the petition.

B. If a petition is submitted containing 150 or more signatures in accordance with paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 herein, the Department shall initiate appropriate rule-making proceedings within 60 days after receipt of the petition. The Department shall send a copy of the notice of rule-making hearing to the designee of the petitioner(s) and any other person having requested such notice.