Ok, are you ready for a shock? Here it is, I actually agreed with Maine’s Civil Liberty Union. What you ask? Let me explain.

During last year’s session there was a proposed law before us which would not allow Game Wardens to stop an ATV operator without “reasonable and articuable” suspicion that a law had been violated. The old law was not clear, which led to unnecessary stops by wardens.

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures. The amendment specifically also requires search and arrest warrants be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause. It was adopted as a response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, which is a type of general search warrant, in the American Revolution. Search and arrest should be limited in scope according to specific information supplied to the issuing court, usually by a law enforcement officer, who has sworn by it. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

The key words are “no unreasonable search and seizures.”

This year, after a Maine Law Court decision allowing stops without “reasonable and articuable suspicion,” legislation was introduced to change the law to allow the unjustified stops. My friends from the Farm Bureau and Small Woodlot Owners Association of Maine supported this change and rightfully so. ATVs, miss-operated can do tremendous damage to the land and frighten livestock. Unfortunately, the proposed law infringed on the constitution. The bill came to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote and was defeated. (Roll Call vote #279.) The bill was then tabled to see if the constitutional question could be answered.

When the bill failed (I did vote against it) I began to reflect how we got to this dilemma. My good friend Paul Ripa called me and helped jog my memory. (Thanks Paul.) I remembered in 2002 my first session in the legislature, there was real anger against ATV operators. Landowners were threatening to post their land for all use by the public if something was not done.

The Governor quickly assembled a stakeholder group and asked them to come to some resolution. This resolution was the basis for the law that allowed for the random stops. In fact the resulting law required written permission from farmers before one could drive ATVs on the farmer’s land.

In the hearing this session, both FB and SWOAMA suggested that ATVs be treated the same as snowmobiles. So, I used the snowmobile law and wrote an amendment to the ATV law to do exactly that. I added a statement “the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife are to establish policies for stopping ATV operators.” The policies needed to be presented to the Fish and Wildlife Joint Standing Committee with oversight responsibility for review and concurrence. This language addition would have helped address the constitutional question, as the reasons for stopping ATVs would now be defined. Both the FB and SWOMA supported my amendment. So did the IF&W and Game Wardens.

The amendment passed in the House (RC# 310) and was sent to the Senate for its vote. Unfortunately the senate, particularly Senator Bruce Bryant did not agree with the amendment. He tried to add a meaningless amendment.

The vote was on party lines with the majority party carrying the day (RC# 397). Unfortunately the law passed last year stands which prevents stops of ATVs. Perhaps it is a constitutional victory, but perhaps a major loss in land owner rights and ultimately the public, if in fact the private land gets posted.

Thank you for the pleasure of serving you. If you have questions about this or anything else please call me at 645-3420 or email me at drtom16@hotmail. com.

Tom Saviello of Wilton represents House District 90: the towns of Avon, New Vineyard, Phillips, Strong, Temple and Wilton, plus the unorganized territories of East Central Franklin and Perkins and Washington townships.