An Act To Require All Lodging Places To Be Licensed by the State

Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §2501, first ¶,  as amended by PL 2011, c. 193, Pt. B, §10, is further amended to read:

Private homes are not deemed or considered lodging places and subject to a license when not more than 5 rooms are let; such private homes must post in a visible location in each rented room a card with the following statement in text that is easily readable in no less than 18-point boldface type of uniform font "This lodging place is not regulated by the State of Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention." The homes must provide guests upon check-in with a notice containing the same information. A license is not required from dormitories of charitable, educational or philanthropic institutions, fraternity and sorority houses affiliated with educational institutions , or from private homes used in emergencies for the accommodation of persons attending conventions, fairs or similar public gatherings, nor from temporary eating establishments and temporary lodging places for the same, nor from railroad dining or buffet cars, nor from construction camps, nor from boarding houses and camps conducted in connection with wood cutting and logging operations, nor from any boarding care facilities or children's homes that are licensed under section 7801.

Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §2501, 2nd ¶,  as amended by PL 2011, c. 193, Pt. B, §10, is repealed.

Sec. 3. 30-A MRSA §3801, sub-§3, ¶A,  as enacted by PL 1987, c. 737, Pt. A, §2 and Pt. C, §106 and amended by PL 1989, c. 6; c. 9, §2; and c. 104, Pt. C, §§8 and 10, is further amended to read:

Sec. 4. 30-A MRSA §3811, sub-§1,  as enacted by PL 1987, c. 737, Pt. A, §2 and Pt. C, §106 and amended by PL 1989, c. 6; c. 9, §2; and c. 104, Pt. C, §§8 and 10, is repealed.

SUMMARY

Current law requires lodging places to be licensed by the Department of Health and Human Services; lodging houses may be licensed by the municipality under the direction of state law. Private homes when not more than 5 rooms are let, rooms and cottages where not more than 3 rooms or cottages are let and fraternity and sorority houses affiliated with educational institutions are exempt from licensing by the State. Lodging houses with fewer than 5 lodgers are exempt from municipal licensing. The dormitories of charitable, educational or philanthropic institutions and houses used in emergency situations are exempt from both state and municipal licensing.

This bill removes the exemptions from state licensing of lodging places, private homes and inns, requiring them all to be licensed by the State, and repeals the authority of a municipality to license lodging houses since it will now be done by the State. Fraternity and sorority houses affiliated with educational institutions, dormitories of charitable, educational or philanthropic institutions and houses used in emergency situations remain exempt from state licensing.