When a Maine state hospital replaces a predecessor facility, can it use the new legislatively chosen name and take over the old statute's functions even before the statutes are formally rewritten?

Plain-English summary

The Augusta Mental Health Institute (AMHI) was the State's mental health facility serving the southern part of Maine. By the early 2000s the Legislature had decided to replace it with a new facility on the AMHI grounds. Construction of the new hospital was underway when Acting Commissioner Sabra Burdick of the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services wrote to AG G. Steven Rowe with two questions. First, could the Department use the new name "Riverview Psychiatric Center" for the facility under construction? Second, could Riverview, once open, perform the statutory functions Maine law had assigned to AMHI?

The AG's answer to both questions was yes.

On the name, Resolves 2001, ch. 79 had taken effect on July 25, 2002. The resolve read in full: "Sec. 1. Name for psychiatric center. Resolved: That the new psychiatric treatment center located in Augusta be named Riverview Psychiatric Center." Maine legislative resolves have the force of law. Moulton v. Scully, 111 Me. 428, 448 (1914). With a clear directive in a binding instrument, the Department had express legislative authority to use "Riverview Psychiatric Center" for the new facility.

On statutory succession, the question was harder because no statute expressly said "Riverview Psychiatric Center replaces AMHI as the entity referenced in 34-B M.R.S.A. § 3201." The AG looked for legislative intent in two ways. First, the Augusta State Facilities Master Plan (August 29, 2000) was approved by the Legislature in 2001 Resolves, Ch. 34, describing renovation of the AMHI campus buildings for office use once the new hospital was operating. That approval presupposed Riverview replacing AMHI. Second, both the Maine Psychiatric Initiative final report (February 29, 2000) and the Certificate of Need application for the new center indicated AMHI would cease to operate when Riverview opened. The AG concluded the cumulative legislative and administrative history was sufficient to treat Riverview as the legal successor to AMHI for the statutory functions under 34-B M.R.S.A. § 3201 (the requirement that the Department maintain a facility for the mentally ill in Augusta) and § 3202 (the superintendent's authority over that facility).

The opinion did sound one note of caution: a clean transition would still benefit from express statutory conforming amendments, replacing "Augusta Mental Health Institute" with "Riverview Psychiatric Center" in the relevant statutes. The AG flagged this as good practice to "alleviate confusion as well as minimize the potential for legal challenges," not as a constitutional requirement.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: What is a "legislative resolve" and how is it different from a regular Maine statute?
A: A Maine legislative resolve is a formal action of the Legislature that addresses a specific matter (often naming a facility, recognizing an event, or directing a one-time action) without amending the general body of statute law. Resolves are codified in the annual session-law series under a separate "Resolves" chapter rather than in the M.R.S.A. Despite the lighter form, the Maine Law Court held over a century ago that legislative resolves have "the force of law." Moulton v. Scully, 111 Me. 428, 448 (1914). The AG relied on Moulton for the proposition that Resolves 2001, ch. 79 was an enforceable directive.

Q: Could a court have decided the other way and held that Riverview was not AMHI's statutory successor?
A: Possibly. The AG was working with an absence of express conforming legislation, which left some ambiguity. The doctrine the AG applied (cumulative legislative-and-administrative-history sufficient to imply succession) is well-established but not automatic, and a determined challenger could have argued that 34-B M.R.S.A. §§ 3201 and 3202 still meant AMHI specifically. The AG himself recommended that the Legislature lock the answer down with conforming amendments to forestall the challenge.

Q: Why did the Department ask for this opinion rather than just rename the facility internally?
A: Maine state agencies are bound by their statutes. Even something as administrative-sounding as a facility name carries legal weight: hospital admissions, civil commitments, court orders to a named facility, and patient records all turn on the legal identity of the facility receiving the patient. If the Department had just renamed AMHI to Riverview without legislative backing, every existing legal document referring to AMHI could have been argued to no longer apply. The Department wanted the AG's blessing before walking into that risk.

Q: At the time of this opinion, did anything signal the Legislature would close AMHI or just rename it?
A: The legislative and administrative record signaled closure rather than rename. The Augusta State Facilities Master Plan, approved by Resolves 2001, ch. 34, described renovation of "the core AMHI campus buildings for office space once the new treatment facility is in operation." The Certificate of Need application for Riverview indicated AMHI would cease operation. So the AG read the Legislature as intending Riverview to be a successor facility, not a renamed AMHI.

Background and statutory framework

The state's institutional mental health system in 2003 was governed by 34-B M.R.S.A. ch. 3. Section 3201 required the Department to maintain a facility for the mentally ill in Augusta called the Augusta Mental Health Institute. Section 3202 gave the Augusta facility's superintendent authority to run the facility and to receive patients legally committed there. The statutes were drafted around AMHI as a named, operating institution.

The Maine Psychiatric Initiative: Civil & Forensic, dated February 29, 2000, was the foundational planning document for Riverview. It recommended a new state-operated inpatient psychiatric facility to replace AMHI. The Augusta State Facilities Master Plan (August 29, 2000), approved through Resolves 2001, ch. 34, set the broader campus plan: renovate the AMHI buildings for state office space once Riverview opened. Resolves 2001, ch. 79 (effective July 25, 2002) provided the formal name for the new facility.

This opinion thus sits at the intersection of facility naming, statutory succession, and administrative law: a long-anticipated, fully planned institutional transition the Legislature had structured in pieces over several sessions without ever writing a single bill that said "AMHI becomes Riverview." The AG's job was to read those pieces together and confirm the Department could proceed.

Citations

• 34-B M.R.S.A. § 3201 (state mental health facility in Augusta)
• 34-B M.R.S.A. § 3202 (superintendent authority)
• Resolves 2001, ch. 79 (naming Riverview Psychiatric Center)
• Resolves 2001, ch. 34 (Augusta State Facilities Master Plan approval)
• Moulton v. Scully, 111 Me. 428 (1914) (legislative resolves have force of law)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.maine.gov/legis/lawlib/lldl/agops/agops.htm
• Original PDF: https://lldc.mainelegislature.org/Open/AG/Opinions/2003/ag_20030711.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

STATE OF MAINE
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
G. STEVEN ROWE, ATTORNEY GENERAL
6 STATE HOUSE STATION
AUGUSTA, MAINE 04333-0006

July 11, 2003

Sabra Burdick, Acting Commissioner
Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services
40 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333

Dear Acting Commissioner Burdick:

In a letter dated June 3, 2003, you asked for a formal opinion from this office related to the name of the psychiatric facility under construction on the grounds of the Augusta Mental Health Institute ("AMHI"). Specifically, you asked whether the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services ("the Department") can rely on last year's legislative resolve to use the name Riverview Psychiatric Center for the new facility and whether that resolve allows the statutory functions assigned to AMHI to be performed by the Riverview Psychiatric Center when it opens. Our response follows.

Question 1: Can the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services name the new facility on the AMHI grounds the Riverview Psychiatric Center?

Answer 1: Yes. As you know, on July 25, 2002, a legislative resolve to name the new psychiatric treatment center in Augusta went into effect. The entire text of the resolve is "Sec. 1. Name for psychiatric center. Resolved: That the new psychiatric treatment center located in Augusta be named Riverview Psychiatric Center." Resolves 2001, ch. 79. There is little question, based on the plain language of this resolve, that the Legislature intended the new center to be named Riverview Psychiatric Center. Legislative resolves have the force of law. Moulton v. Scully, 111 Me. 428, 448, 89 A. 944, 953 (1914). Given the express language of the resolve, the Department may appropriately rely on that Legislative directive and name the new center the Riverview Psychiatric Center.

Question 2: Can the Riverview Psychiatric Center undertake the obligations and functions statutorily assigned to the Augusta Mental Health Institute?

Answer 2: Yes. There are a number of statutes that refer to governmental functions to be undertaken specifically by AMHI. For example, under existing statutes, the Department is to maintain a facility for the mentally ill in Augusta called the Augusta Mental Health Institute. 34-B M.R.S.A. § 3201. A superintendent appointed specifically for AMHI has the statutory authority to run that facility and receive patients legally sent there. 34-B M.R.S.A. § 3202. Neither the legislative resolve cited above nor any other legislative enactment we are aware of has expressly stated that the new psychiatric facility is intended to assume the statutory functions of AMHI. However, many steps taken over the past several years in the legislative and administrative arenas, as well as in the public debate, have presupposed that the new psychiatric center would replace AMHI.

An overview of the history of AMHI, the State's provision of inpatient mental health services, and the development of the plan to build a new psychiatric treatment center replacing AMHI in Augusta is provided in several key documents. In 2000, the Legislature received the final report of The Maine Psychiatric Initiative: Civil & Forensic, which presented a needs assessment and recommended the construction of the new center to cover the need for state-operated inpatient psychiatric beds. That report, dated February 29, 2000 and prepared by SMRT, Inc., Pulitzer/Bogard & Associates, L.L.C., and Architecture+, still serves as the basic plan for the center. Second, the Augusta State Facilities Master Plan, dated August 29, 2000 and approved by the Legislature in 2001 Resolves, Chapter 34, describes plans for renovation of the core AMHI campus buildings for office space once the new treatment facility is in operation. Finally, the Department's application for a Certificate of Need (CON) for the new center, and the CON that was issued indicate that AMHI will cease to operate once the new center is up and running.

This history of legislative and administrative actions is sufficient to support the conclusion that the new hospital facility, named the Riverview Psychiatric Center by legislative resolve, is the legal successor to AMHI as the State mental health facility serving the southern part of the State. Indeed, if the lack of statutory transition language is fatal to the use of the new facility once it is built, the Legislature's intent will be frustrated rather than effected.

This is not to say that a transition provision is unnecessary. By conforming the name of the center in the statutes, the Legislature could alleviate confusion as well as minimize the potential for legal challenges. In the meantime, the name "Riverview Psychiatric Center" should be used for the new hospital facility under construction on the AMHI grounds, and upon its completion it may legally assume the role in the State's mental health system performed by AMHI pursuant to statute.

Sincerely,

G. STEVEN ROWE
Attorney General