As the result of the Public Law 2021, Chapter 453, statutory changes were made regarding restraint and seclusion, which is necessitating revisions to the Chapter 33 rules. Following the review of all the comments received during the first comment period for the Chapter 33 Rule Governing Physical Restraint and Seclusion, the Department determined that three substantial changes needed to be made in definitions contained in the rule. Therefore, the Department is opening a second comment period for targeted rulemaking, limited to proposed definitions for the terms “protective physical interventions” and “voluntary” and a refined definition for “serious physical injury.”
There are margin comments that serve as reference flags for the three definition changes.
Timeline for Chapter 33 Rulemaking Second Comment Period
Filed: January 23, 2022
Posted: February 2, 2022
Comment Period End: March 4, 2022
The proposed rule changes to Chapter 33 can be found here: https://www.maine.gov/doe/about/laws/rulechanges
Please submit comments to the following: https://forms.office.com/g/a1sMNmBGAF
You may alternatively send your comments via email to: w.bear.shea@maine.gov . Please use the subject line: “Chapter 33 public comment.”