United States — Maine Act or statute

United States — Maine legislation

Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, § 4554: Construction, 1995

Source excerpt

employment accommodationsinsurance coveragepublic accommodations

Jurisdiction: United States — Maine
Structure: 1 provisions
Official identity: Year 1995
Dates: Enacted 1995 · Source version 1 Oct 2025

More statute details

Dates: Enacted 1995 · Source version 1 Oct 2025

On this page

Professional statute overview

Enactment structure, operative effect and source provenance

Official source

Purpose and legislative effect

“This section says the Act should not be read to narrow stronger state or local disability protections, stop smoking restrictions, interfere with certain insurance and employee benefit plan practices, require anyone to accept disability-related accommodations they do not want, or limit broad coverage interpretations.”

Use this record to locate individual provisions, understand the instrument’s recorded structure, and move from a research summary to the exact source text.

How the instrument operates

01
Start with the recorded version

Enacted 1995 · Source version 1 Oct 2025. The date shown identifies this source expression and should not be treated as proof that no later change exists.
02
Locate the controlling provision

Use the provision map, part headings and full-text filter to move from the broad subject to the exact legal language.
03
Read conditions and exceptions together

Keep subsections, definitions, provisos and cross-references in context before drawing a legal conclusion.
04
Verify currency and official wording

Confirm later legislation, commencement notices and corrections with the official publisher before advice, filing or reliance.

Research entry points

Selected provisions across the instrument. Open any row to continue with the exact stored text.

Construction

This section says the Act should not be read to narrow stronger state or local disability protections, stop smoking restrictions, interfere with certain insurance and employee benefit plan practices, require anyone to accept disability-related accommodations…

Section 4554

Source and current-law status

Source record view

Source record from legislature.maine.gov · Enacted 1995 · Source version 1 Oct 2025

Verify current force

The source record does not state a definitive current-law status. Check the official publisher and later amendments before relying on this text.

For advice, pleadings, or compliance decisions, retain the official source and confirm the current consolidated provision.

Official record

Source-indexed provision map

Sections and provisions

Search by section, heading, part or exact legal wording. Every result remains linked to the stored source record.

Search within this statute

Search all stored provisions in this version.

Showing 1 of 1 provisions

Interpretation

§ 4554ConstructionInterpretation

Source excerpt

1. Relationship to other laws. Nothing in this Act may be construed to invalidate or limit the remedies, rights and procedures of any law of any state or political subdivision of any state or jurisdiction that provides greater or equal protection for the rights of individuals with disabilities than are afforded by this Act. Nothing in this Act may be construed to preclude the prohibition of, or the imposition of restrictions on, smoking in places of employment covered by subchapter III or in transportation or places of public accommodation covered by subchapter V. [PL 1995, c. 393, §9 (NEW).] 2. Insurance. Subchapters III and V of this Act may not be construed to prohibit or restrict, with regard to individuals with disabilities: A. An insurer, hospital, medical service company, health maintenance organization or any agent or entity that administers benefit plans or similar organizations from underwriting risks, classifying risks or administering risks that are based on or not inconsistent with state law; [PL 1995, c. 393, §9 (NEW).] B. A person or organization covered by this Act from establishing, sponsoring, observing or administering the terms of a bona fide benefit plan that are based on underwriting risks, classifying risks or administering risks that are based on or not inconsistent with state law; or [PL 1995, c. 393, §9 (NEW).] C. A person or organization covered by this Act from establishing, sponsoring, observing or administering the terms of a bona fide employee benefit plan that is not subject to state laws that regulate insurance. [PL 1995, c. 393, §9 (NEW).] Paragraphs A, B and C may not be used as a subterfuge to evade the requirements of subchapters III and V. [PL 1995, c. 393, §9 (NEW).] 3. Accommodations and services. Nothing in this Act may be construed to require an individual with a disability to accept an accommodation, aid, service, opportunity or benefit that the individual chooses not to accept. [PL 1995, c. 393, §9 (NEW).] 4. Physical or mental disability. The definition of "physical or mental disability" in section 4553‑A is intended to be interpreted broadly to create greater coverage than under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. [PL 2007, c. 385, §4 (NEW).]

Section 4554Verify source

Legislative relationships

0 referenced instruments

Names are derived from the stored provision headings and citation-enrichment layer. Treat this as a research index and verify each relationship against the source text.

No structured legislative relationships were detected

The statute remains fully searchable by provision. Consult the source text for amendments and cross-references that have not yet been indexed.

Recorded versions and source checkpoint

1 version available in this collection

Current-law checkpoint

1 Oct 2025 · currentEnglish

This relationship view does not by itself establish whether another instrument remains in force.

Check official source

Source-linked research

Ask AI about this statute

The overview, provisions, and source records above are public. Continue in a separate conversation with this statute’s jurisdiction and source version attached.