What the board keeps

The law is not a surrender of control, and the final text is considerably more balanced than the bill as introduced. The firm Marcus Errico Emmer & Brooks recorded that the original version “fell short of balancing the interests and concerns of associations” and that, partly through the advocacy of the Community Associations Institute's Maine Legislative Action Committee, the enacted law came out “very similar to ‘right-to-charge’ laws adopted in other states.” It was carried over within the 132nd Legislature and amended by Committee Amendment “A” (S-257) before passing both chambers.

The retained powers are set out expressly:

“5. Association authority. An association of unit owners may: A. Install an electric vehicle charging station in the common elements… B. Create a new parking space where one did not previously exist to facilitate the installation of an electric vehicle charging station; C. Require a unit owner to remove the unit owner's electric vehicle charging station prior to the unit owner's sale of the property unless the purchaser… agrees to take ownership…”

The board may also still run the charger application through its ordinary addition-alteration-improvement process — the statute says so in terms. What it may not do is say no on principle.

Who pays, and the insurance condition nobody reads

Cost responsibility sits entirely with the installing owner, and the statute itemises it:

“(3) Pay for the costs associated with the installation… including, but not limited to, increased master insurance policy premiums, attorney's fees incurred by the association of unit owners, engineering fees, professional fees, permits and applicable zoning compliance costs…”

There is also a hard, short deadline running the other way, against the owner:

“(2) Provide a certificate of insurance, within 14 days of approval, that demonstrates insurance coverage in amounts determined sufficient by the executive board;”

Fourteen days from approval, in an amount the board determines. A board that has never stated a number will be setting one under time pressure, after it has already approved. Set it in the rules now.

And the assessment power is unusually explicit about deductibles:

“D. Assess the unit owner for any uninsured portion of a loss associated with an electric vehicle charging station, whether resulting from a deductible or otherwise, regardless of whether the association of unit owners submits an insurance claim.”

That matters more in Maine every year. For loan applications dated on or after 1 July 2026, Fannie Mae Lender Letter LL-2026-03 caps a master policy's per-unit deductible at a flat $50,000. A charger-related water or fire loss under that deductible is the owner's, and § 576-A says the association need not even file a claim first.

The fee-shifting provision

The prevailing party in an enforcement action under § 576-A recovers attorney's fees. That cuts both ways and changes the arithmetic of a marginal denial: a board that denies on a restriction a court later reads as “unreasonable” within the statutory definition is paying for the owner's lawyer as well as its own.

It is worth reading that alongside two recent Law Court decisions tightening the screws on association fee awards — footnote 3 of Maples v. Compass Harbor, 2025 ME 19, and the court's refusal in Tidewater Loft Condominium Ass'n v. Moskal-Kanz, 2026 ME 46, to endorse a $36,962.09 award that appeared to include a separate Human Rights Commission matter. Maine courts are looking at these bills.

The five things to have in place

1. A written intake that date-stamps receipt. Every deadline in § 576-A runs from the date of receipt of the application. If you cannot prove that date, you cannot prove you met the deadline.
2. A calendared 30-day acknowledgment and 60-day decision. Both must be in writing. A verbal no is not a denial.
3. A stated minimum insurance amount, so the 14-day certificate requirement is a form to return rather than a negotiation.
4. A scrub of the declaration and bylaws for provisions now void, and reasonable restrictions in their place — mounting standards, licensed-electrician requirements, metering, responsibility on resale, removal obligations.
5. A resale-disclosure line. The statute requires an owner to disclose the charger to buyers; the association's resale packet under 33 M.R.S. § 1604-108 is where that surfaces in practice.

What to watch next

No published Law Court decision interprets § 576-A, which is unsurprising given the January 2026 effective date. The phrase that will be litigated first is “significantly increases the cost… or significantly decreases its efficiency” — the line between a reasonable engineering condition and a void restriction. Maine has no intermediate appellate court, so the first answer will come from the Law Court directly. No bill to amend § 576-A was identified in the 132nd Legislature, which adjourned sine die on 29 April 2026.