It's
the right of a town or city to
enact laws that are municipal
in nature and that do not
frustrate or run counter
to a state law and/or which
the state has not prohibited
it from passing.
The
concept of home rule is very
important to local government
because without home rule authority,
cities and towns would depend
for their governing authority
on specific acts of the State
Legislature.
Maine
has been considered a strong "home
rule" state
since November 1969, when an
amendment to the state constitution
delegated broad "home
rule" ordinance
powers to cities and towns.
Such ordinances range from ones
controlling the barking of dogs,
to the regulation of adult businesses,
to the regulation of signs,
to the control of a town's growth, to
the review of real estate development
projects, to the banning of herbicide
spraying, to the regulation
of local timber harvesting.
Below
are links to Maine municipal ordinances
online. Please report broken or
changed links to the Resource
Center.
