AUGUSTA, Maine Laws setting a minimum age to operate personal watercraft and additional curbs on mercury emissions are among the new state laws that take effect Jan. 1. The watercraft bill won't have any practical effect until the weather warms up in the spring and boaters start hitting the lakes and rivers.
It bars 16- and 17-years-olds from operating personal watercraft, popularly known as Jet Skis, unless they're accompanied by someone at least 18 or they can show that they've completed a boater safety course. Youths under 16 may not operate them at all. The law's sponsor, Rep.
Thomas Watson, said the bill originally sought to require all recreational boaters to have some basic boater safety course before operating watercraft. But the idea of "licensing" recreational boaters ran into early resistance in the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, so the bill was amended, said Watson, D-Bath. He noted the amended bill had the strong support of the personal watercraft industry.
The mercury emission curbs seek to bring Maine closer to removing the hazardous heavy metal entirely from the environment, said the sponsor, former Sen. Scott Cowger. Maine has already banned sales of products that contain mercury and set up programs to recycle mercury switches.
The latest law, submitted by Gov. John Baldacci, applies to the handful of trash-to-energy plants whose emissions include mercury. It reduces the mercury-emission limit from 50 pounds a year to 35 pounds per year.
The standard will be further reduced to 25 pounds in 2010. The law puts Maine among the states leading the nation in controlling mercury air emissions, said Cowger. A law that changes the inspection regulations for child care facilities and nursery schools is designed to add flexibility for state license inspectors, who sometimes are overwhelmed by backlogs of mandatory annual inspections, said the sponsor, Rep.
Brian Duprey, R-Hampden. Under the new law, licenses will be issued for two years instead of one. Department of Health and Human Services inspectors will continue to make an annual visit, but during the second year will make an unannounced visit.
Duprey, who owns six day-care centers, said not knowing when an inspector will arrive for the second visit will force the owners to make sure their facilities are always in top order. "For them to come in without us knowing they're coming in," he said, "it's probably the best thing they can do." Besides giving inspectors more flexibility, the new law cuts administrative costs, Duprey added.
The law also sets a two-year license fee of $160 rather than separate one-year fees, but the total amount operators must pay remains the same. Another law requires all aboveground motor-fuel storage tanks that have underground piping to be registered with the state Department of Environmental Protection as of Jan. 1.
Those facilities are required to submit inspection results annually, beginning July 1. The law does not apply to tanks that hold diesel fuel until July 2009. The law makes regulations applying to underground tanks parallel with aboveground tanks.
The new year will bring some changes to Maine's tax laws. A tax deduction for contributions to qualified tuition investment plans will take effect. Income tax forms will have a checkoff for the new Maine Asthma and Lung Disease Research Fund.
A sales and use tax reimbursement program for equipment used for telecommunications infrastructure in "Connect Maine" zones where wireless and broadband access is lacking takes effect. The laws taking effect on the first day of 2007 were enacted by the previous Legislature, but most of the bills they passed took effect last Aug. 23, which marked the 90th day after the 2006 session's close.
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