Municipal authority to hold federal government harmless; emergency shoreline protection project

MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE The following document is provided by the LAW AND LEGISLATIVE DIGITAL LIBRARY at the Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library http://legislature.maine.gov/lawlib Reproduced from scanned originals with text recognition applied (searchable text may contain some errors and/or omissions) RlCHARD S. COHEN ATTORNEY GENERAL STEPHEN L. DIAMOND JOHN S. GLEASON JOHN M. R. PATERSON ROBERT J. STOLT STATE OF MAIN£ DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AUGUSTA. MAINE 04333 February 28, 1979 Honorable Joseph E. Brennan Governor of Maine State House Augusta, Maine 04333 DEPUTY ATTORNEYS GENERAL Re: Municipal Authority to Hold Federal Government Harmless; Emergency Shoreline Protection Project. Dear Governor Brennan: You have asked whether a municipality has the authority to provide a "hold-harmless" assurance to the United States if required by the Corps of Engineers for federal funding of an emergency shoreline protection project. Our answer is that a municipality has such authoritv. The Legislature has provided broad "home-rule" powers to municipalities pursuant to 30 M.R.S.A. § 1917, which provides, in pertinent part: "Any municipality may, by the adoption, amendment or repeal of ordinances and bylaws, exercise any power or function which the Legislature has power to confer on it, which is not denied either expressly or by clear implication .... " The Corps of Engineers has questioned whether 30 M.R.S.A. § 3553, which grants authority to the ~overnor to make a hold-harmless agreement with the United States with regard to Governor-approved flood control projects, constitutes a denial of municipal authority "expressly or by clear implica- tion." Section 3553 is enabling legislation enacted prior to § 1917, and should not be construed to prohibit a municipality from entering into a hold-harmless agreement. Page 2 If you have any further questions, please contact me at any time. PA/ec cc: Raymond C. McCulloch, Esquire Corps of Engineers Ver~ truly yo~rs, / ~ )1. 1} l1// I .• {.u_.-l/.: 1 : Vv'-,_. '-''-_) PHILIP '.AHRENS Assistant Attorney General