LAW WITHOUT
GOVERNOR'S CHAPTER
SIGNATURE
670
APRIL 23, 2024 PUBLIC LAW
STATE OF MAINE
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IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FOUR
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H.P. 1305 - L.D. 2043
An Act to Add the State of Maine to the Compact for Licensing Physician
Assistants
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 32 MRSA c. 145-A is enacted to read:
CHAPTER 145-A
PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS LICENSURE COMPACT
§18531. Purpose
In order to strengthen access to medical services, and in recognition of the advances in
the delivery of medical services, the participating states of the Physician Assistants
Licensure Compact, referred to in this chapter as "the compact," have allied in common
purpose to develop a comprehensive process that complements the existing authority of
state licensing boards to license and discipline physician assistants and seeks to enhance
the portability of a license to practice as a physician assistant while safeguarding the safety
of patients. This compact allows medical services to be provided by physician assistants,
via the mutual recognition of the licensee's qualifying license by other participating states.
This compact also adopts the prevailing standard for physician assistant licensure and
affirms that the practice and delivery of medical services by a physician assistant occurs
where the patient is located at the time of the patient encounter and therefore requires the
physician assistant to be under the jurisdiction of the state licensing board where the patient
is located. State licensing boards that participate in this compact retain the jurisdiction to
impose adverse action against a compact privilege in that state issued to a physician
assistant through the procedures of this compact. The compact will alleviate burdens for
military families by allowing active duty military personnel and their spouses to obtain a
compact privilege based on having an unrestricted license in good standing from a
participating state.
§18532. Definitions
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 As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms
have the following meanings.
1. Adverse action. "Adverse action" means any administrative, civil, equitable or
criminal action permitted by a state's laws that is imposed by a licensing board or other
authority against a physician assistant's license, license application or privilege to practice,
such as license denial, censure, revocation, suspension, probation, monitoring of the
licensee or restriction on the licensee's practice.
2. Commission. "Commission" means the Physician Assistants Licensure Compact
Commission created pursuant to section 18537.
3. Compact privilege. "Compact privilege" means the authorization granted by a
remote state to allow a licensee from another participating state to practice as a physician
assistant to provide medical services and other licensed activity to a patient located in the
remote state under the remote state's laws and regulations.
4. Conviction. "Conviction" means a finding by a court that an individual is guilty of
a felony or misdemeanor offense through adjudication or entry of a plea of guilty or no
contest to the charge by the offender.
5. Criminal background check. "Criminal background check" means the submission
of fingerprints or other biometric-based information for a license applicant for the purpose
of obtaining that applicant's criminal history record information, as defined in 28 Code of
Federal Regulations, Section 20.3(d), from the state's criminal history record repository, as
defined in 28 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 20.3(f).
6. Data system. "Data system" means the repository of information about licensees,
including, but not limited to, license status and adverse actions, that is created and
administered under the terms of the compact.
7. Executive committee. "Executive committee" means a group of directors and ex
officio members elected or appointed pursuant to section 18537, subsection 6.
8. Investigative information. "Investigative information" means information, records
and documents received or generated by a licensing board pursuant to an investigation.
9. Jurisprudence requirement. "Jurisprudence requirement" means the assessment
of an individual's knowledge of the laws and rules governing the practice of a physician
assistant in a state.
10. License. "License" means the current authorization by a state, other than
authorization pursuant to a compact privilege, for a physician assistant to provide medical
services that would be unlawful without current authorization.
11. Licensee. "Licensee" means an individual who holds a license from a state to
provide medical services as a physician assistant.
12. Licensing board. "Licensing board" means any state entity authorized to license
and otherwise regulate physician assistants.
13. Medical services. "Medical services" means health care services provided for the
diagnosis, prevention, treatment, cure or relief of a health condition, injury or disease as
defined by a state's laws and regulations.
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 14. Model compact. "Model compact" means the model for the Physician Assistants
Licensure Compact on file with the Council of State Governments, or its successor
organization, or other entity designated by the commission.
15. Participating state. "Participating state" means a state that has enacted the
compact.
16. Physician assistant. "Physician assistant" means an individual who is licensed as
a physician assistant in a state. For purposes of this compact, any other title or status
adopted by a state to replace the term "physician assistant" is deemed synonymous with
"physician assistant" and confers the same rights and responsibilities to the licensee under
the provisions of this compact at the time of its enactment.
17. Qualifying license. "Qualifying license" means an unrestricted license issued by a
participating state to provide medical services as a physician assistant.
18. Remote state. "Remote state" means a participating state where a licensee who is
not licensed as a physician assistant is exercising or seeking to exercise the compact
privilege.
19. Rule. "Rule" means a regulation promulgated by an entity that has the force and
effect of law.
20. Significant investigative information. "Significant investigative information"
means investigative information that a licensing board, after an inquiry or investigation that
includes notification and an opportunity for the physician assistant to respond if required
by state law, has reason to believe is not groundless and, if proven true, would indicate
more than a minor infraction.
21. State. "State" means any state, commonwealth, district or territory of the United
States.
§18533. State participation in compact
1. Participation requirements. To participate in the compact, a state must:
A. License physician assistants;
B. Participate in the commission's data system;
C. Have a mechanism in place for receiving and investigating complaints against
licensees and license applicants;
D. Notify the commission, in compliance with the terms of this compact and
commission rules, of any adverse action against a licensee or license applicant and the
existence of significant investigative information regarding a licensee or license
applicant;
E. Fully implement, within a time frame established by commission rule, a criminal
background check requirement by its licensing board receiving the results of a criminal
background check and reporting to the commission whether the license applicant has
been granted a license;
F. Comply with the rules of the commission;
G. Use passage of a recognized national examination as a requirement for physician
assistant licensure; and
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 H. Grant the compact privilege to a holder of a qualifying license in a participating
state.
2. No prohibition on fee for compact privilege. Nothing in this compact prohibits a
participating state from charging a fee for granting the compact privilege.
§18534. Compact privilege
1. Requirements. To exercise the compact privilege, a licensee must:
A. Have graduated from a physician assistant program accredited by the Accreditation
Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, or its successor
organization, or other programs authorized by commission rule;
B. Hold a current certification from the National Commission on Certification of
Physician Assistants, or its successor organization;
C. Have no felony or misdemeanor conviction;
D. Have never had a controlled substance license, permit or registration suspended or
revoked by a state or by the United States Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement
Administration;
E. Have a unique identifier as determined by commission rule;
F. Hold a qualifying license;
G. Have not had a revocation of a license or a limitation or restriction on any license
currently held due to an adverse action. If a licensee has had a limitation or restriction
on a license or compact privilege due to an adverse action, 2 years must have elapsed
from the date on which the license or compact privilege is no longer limited or
restricted due to the adverse action. If a compact privilege has been revoked or is
limited or restricted in a participating state for conduct that would not be a basis for
disciplinary action in a participating state in which the licensee is practicing or applying
to practice under a compact privilege, that participating state has the discretion not to
consider such action as an adverse action requiring the denial or removal of a compact
privilege in that state;
H. Notify the commission that the licensee is seeking the compact privilege in a remote
state;
I. Meet any jurisprudence requirement of a remote state in which the licensee is seeking
to practice under the compact privilege and pay any fees applicable to satisfying the
jurisprudence requirement; and
J. Report to the commission any adverse action taken by a nonparticipating state within
30 days after the action is taken.
2. Validity. The compact privilege is valid until the expiration or revocation of the
qualifying license unless terminated pursuant to an adverse action. The licensee must
comply with all of the requirements of subsection 1 to maintain the compact privilege in a
remote state. If a participating state takes adverse action against a qualifying license, the
licensee loses the compact privilege in any remote state in which the licensee has a compact
privilege until all of the following occur:
A. The license is no longer limited or restricted; and
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 B. Two years have elapsed from the date on which the license is no longer limited or
restricted due to the adverse action.
3. Compact privilege; restricted or limited license. Once a restricted or limited
license satisfies the requirements of subsection 2, a licensee must meet the requirements of
subsection 1 to obtain a compact privilege in any remote state.
4. Authority to prescribe controlled substances. For each remote state in which a
physician assistant seeks authority to prescribe controlled substances, the physician
assistant must satisfy all requirements imposed by that state in granting or renewing that
authority.
§18535. Designation of state from which licensee is applying for compact privilege
Upon a licensee's application for a compact privilege, the licensee shall identify to the
commission the participating state from which the licensee is applying, in accordance with
applicable rules adopted by the commission and subject to the following requirements.
1. Primary residence. When applying for a compact privilege, the licensee shall
provide the commission with the address of the licensee's primary residence and thereafter
shall immediately report to the commission any change in the address of the licensee's
primary residence.
2. Consent to service of process. When applying for a compact privilege, the licensee
shall consent to accept service of process by mail at the licensee's primary residence on file
with the commission with respect to any action brought against the licensee by the
commission or a participating state, including a subpoena, related to any action brought or
investigation conducted by the commission or a participating state.
§18536. Adverse actions
1. Participating state authority. A participating state in which a licensee is licensed
has exclusive power to impose an adverse action against the qualifying license issued by
that participating state.
2. Remote state authority. In addition to the other powers conferred by state law, a
remote state has the authority, in accordance with existing state due process law, to:
A. Take adverse action against a physician assistant's compact privilege within that
state to remove a licensee's compact privilege or take any other action necessary under
applicable law to protect the health and safety of its citizens; and
B. Issue subpoenas for both hearings and investigations that require the attendance and
testimony of witnesses as well as the production of evidence. Subpoenas issued by a
licensing board in a participating state for the attendance and testimony of witnesses or
the production of evidence from another participating state must be enforced in the
other state by any court of competent jurisdiction, according to the practice and
procedure of that court applicable to subpoenas issued in proceedings pending before
it. The issuing authority shall pay any witness fees, travel expenses, mileage and other
fees required by the service statutes of the state in which the witnesses or evidence is
located.
3. Lawful conduct; subpoenas. Notwithstanding subsection 2, subpoenas may not be
issued by a participating state to gather evidence of conduct in another state that is lawful
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in that other state for the purpose of taking adverse action against a licensee's compact
privilege or application for a compact privilege in that participating state.
4. Lawful conduct; disciplinary action. Nothing in this compact authorizes a
participating state to impose discipline against a physician assistant's compact privilege or
to deny an application for a compact privilege in that participating state for the individual's
otherwise lawful practice in another state.
5. Reported conduct. For purposes of taking adverse action, the participating state
that issued the qualifying license shall give the same priority and effect to reported conduct
received from any other participating state as it would if the conduct had occurred within
the participating state that issued the qualifying license. In so doing, the participating state
shall apply its own state laws to determine appropriate action.
6. Recovery. A participating state, if otherwise permitted by state law, may recover
from the affected physician assistant the costs of investigations and dispositions of cases
resulting from any adverse action taken against that physician assistant.
7. Remote state findings. A participating state may take adverse action based on the
factual findings of a remote state as long as the participating state follows its own
procedures for taking the adverse action.
8. Joint investigations. In addition to the authority granted to a participating state by
its respective state physician assistant laws or regulations or other applicable state law, any
participating state may participate with other participating states in a joint investigation of
a licensee.
Participating states shall share any investigative, litigation or compliance materials in
furtherance of any joint or individual investigation initiated under the compact.
9. Deactivation. If adverse action is taken against a physician assistant's qualifying
license, the physician assistant's compact privilege in all remote states must be deactivated
until 2 years have elapsed after all restrictions have been removed from the state license.
All disciplinary orders by the participating state that has issued the physician assistant's
qualifying license that impose adverse action against the physician assistant's license must
include a statement that the physician assistant's compact privilege is deactivated in all
participating states during the pendency of the order.
10. Notification. If a participating state takes adverse action, it shall promptly notify
the administrator of the commission's data system.
§18537. Establishment of Physician Assistants Licensure Compact Commission
1. Commission established. The participating states hereby create and establish a
joint government agency and national administrative body known as the Physician
Assistants Licensure Compact Commission.
A. The commission is an instrumentality of the compact states acting jointly and is not
an instrumentality of any one state.
B. The commission comes into existence on or after the effective date of the compact
as set forth in section 18541.
2. Membership, voting and meetings. Membership, voting and meetings are
governed by this subsection.
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A. Each participating state has and is limited to one delegate selected by that