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Aletheca

Maine

Maine Freedom of Access Act

1 M.R.S. § 400 et seq.

Public records law for Maine. Covers state agencies, counties, municipalities, school districts, and special districts.

The clock

5 business days

5 business days to acknowledge; reasonable time to produce (30 days typical).

Statutory: 5 business days to acknowledge; reasonable time to produce (30 days typical).. Actual medians vary widely by agency and request complexity; simple requests often 7-30 days, complex 60-300+.

Reading the statute itself

The text of this one is not reproduced here. The United States Code carries no copyright, so federal FOIA is printed on this site in full; the fifty state codes are published by fifty legislatures under their own claims of compilation copyright, so they are linked instead. Everything on this page — the deadline, the appeal path, the fee-waiver standard — is Aletheca’s summary of that text, and the official source is one click away.

If they refuse

Appeal deadline
Not specified
Appeal route
Appeal to superior court; can request AG or Public Access Ombudsman review.
Litigation
Not specified

Fees and expedition

Quirks worth knowing

Public Access Ombudsman mediates; relatively cooperative.