The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Maine
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Me. Const. art. IV; police power of the State; P.L. 1989, c. 487, sec. 11 (chapter enacted); P.L. 2001, c. 694 (extreme public health emergency subchapter)
- Issued
- 2020-03-18 Mar. 18, 2020
- Effective
- standing; the chapter was in force in the text then current throughout March 2020 to September 2021; the Governor's Proclamation of Mar. 15, 2020 (Ex. ME-001) declared the emergency under secs. 801(4-A) and 802(2-A) and authorized DHHS 'to exercise emergency powers pursuant to 22 M.R.S. sec. 820' (read as 2020-03-15)
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing since Mar. 15, 2020 (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Emergency declarationBusiness closureHealth care ordersQuarantine and isolationStanding duty
- Addressees
- persons generally ('any person who neglects, violates or refuses to obey the rules'); owners or persons in control of premises and property (secs. 802(2)(B), 803, 810); health care providers, pharmacists and laboratories (secs. 820(1)(A), 822); schools and day care facilities (sec. 806)
- Character
- statutory authority
- Collection
- Standing duties: Maine DUT-ME
Operative words
In the event of an actual or threatened epidemic or public health threat, the department may declare that a health emergency exists and may adopt emergency rules for the protection of the public health relating to: A. Procedures for the isolation and placement of infected persons...; B. Procedures for the disinfection, seizure or destruction of contaminated property
Penalty
sec. 804(2): written cease-and-desist order; fine of not less than $250 nor more than $1,000 for each violation, each day uncorrected a separate offense; District Court injunction or civil fine not to exceed $1,500, or both; sec. 810: ex parte emergency custody of 'the person or property' on clear and convincing evidence; sec. 812: court-ordered public health measures including commitment to a facility for isolation up to 30 days; sec. 820(1)(B): custody and prescribed care without court order where delay 'would pose an imminent risk'; sec. 825: civil violation up to $250 for failing to report a notifiable disease; sec. 804(3) (added 2021): immediate license suspension
What it required
Every person to obey the Department's communicable-disease rules and orders on pain of a cease-and-desist order, administrative fines of $250 to $1,000 per violation counted daily, District Court injunction and civil fine, and emergency custody of the person or the property that poses 'a clear and immediate public health threat' (sec. 810), with 'agents of the department, local health officers, sheriffs, state and local law enforcement officers' all authorized to enforce (sec. 804(1)), and every owner of property exposed to disinfection, seizure or destruction of contaminated property under emergency rules (sec. 802(2)(B)). Character as recorded: statutory_authority (enabling power; binds through the orders issued under it).
Retrieval noteThe whole chapter as compiled by the Revisor of Statutes (generated Jan. 5, 2026), whose section-history notes date every amendment. The text of secs. 801, 803, 805, 807, 808, 810, 811, 812, 816, 820, 821 and 825 carries no amendment after 2005 and is the text in force in 2020-2021. Secs. 802 and 804 were amended by P.L. 2021, c. 349 after the period: the history notes attribute to that law sec. 802(1)(C) and (D) as amended, (1)(E) as new, (2)(B) and (C) as amended, (2)(D) as new, sec. 804(2) as amended and 804(3) as new; the quotation above is taken from sec. 802(2)(A)-(B), whose operative words (health emergency declaration; emergency rules on isolation, placement and disinfection, seizure or destruction of contaminated property) predate 2021 (P.L. 1989, c. 487; the 2021 amendment of (2)(B) is stylistic per the history note), and the clause 'closure of a business or entity when that business or entity directly and repeatedly violates public health control measures during an extreme public health emergency' in sec. 802(1)(D) and the license-suspension sanction of secs. 802(2)(D) and 804(3) are pleaded as the Legislature's 2021 confirmation of the regime, not as text in force in 2020. Attempts to save the Oct. 2020 Wayback captures of secs. 802 and 804 (reserved as DUT-ME-002 and DUT-ME-003) failed because the Internet Archive was offline during this session; Sec. 801(10): 'Public health threat' means any condition or behavior that can reasonably be expected to place others at significant risk of exposure to a toxic agent or environmental hazard or infection with a notifiable disease or condition.' Sec. 816(1) immunizes a private institution only for acts 'in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and Title 37-B, chapter 13, subchapter 2' (compliance-conditioned). The Maine CDC's Aug. 12, 2021 emergency rule 10-144 C.M.R. ch. 264 (Ex. ME-061) rests on sec. 802.