Public Laws

Chapter 39

S.P. 640 - L.D. 1796

PART E

Sec. E-1. Authorization of bonds. The Treasurer of State is authorized, under the direction of the Governor, to issue bonds in the name and on behalf of the State in an amount not exceeding $35,500,000 for the purposes described in section 5 of this Part and to access at least $21,875,000 in matching contributions from public and private sources. The bonds are a pledge of the full faith and credit of the State. The bonds may not run for a period longer than 10 years from the date of the original issue of the bonds. At the discretion of the Treasurer of State, with the approval of the Governor, any issuance of bonds may contain a call feature.

Sec. E-2. Records of bonds issued kept by Treasurer of State. The Treasurer of State shall keep an account of each bond showing the number of the bond, the name of the successful bidder to whom sold, the amount received for the bond, the date of sale and the date when payable.

Sec. E-3. Sale; how negotiated; proceeds appropriated. The Treasurer of State may negotiate the sale of the bonds by direction of the Governor, but no bond may be loaned, pledged or hypothecated on behalf of the State. The proceeds of the sale of the bonds, which must be held by the Treasurer of State and paid by the Treasurer of State upon warrants drawn by the State Controller, are appropriated solely for the purposes set forth in this Part. Any unencumbered balances remaining at the completion of the project in this Part lapse to the debt service account established for the retirement of these bonds.

Sec. E-4. Interest and debt retirement. The Treasurer of State shall pay interest due or accruing on any bonds issued under this Part and all sums coming due for payment of bonds at maturity.

Sec. E-5. Disbursement of bond proceeds. The proceeds of the bonds must be expended as set out in this Part under the direction and supervision of the Executive Department, Land for Maine’s Future Board, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources, the Department of Conservation and the Department of Economic and Community Development. The proceeds of the bonds to be administered by the Land for Maine’s Future Board must be expended for acquisition of land and interest in land for conservation, water access, outdoor recreation, wildlife and fish habitat, farmland preservation in accordance with the provisions for such acquisitions under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, chapter 353 and working waterfront preservation in accordance with the terms of this Part, including all costs associated with such acquisitions, except that use of the proceeds of these bonds is subject to the following conditions and requirements.

1. Hunting, fishing, trapping and public access may not be prohibited on land acquired with bond proceeds, except to the extent of applicable state, local or federal laws and regulations and except for working waterfront projects and farmland protection projects.

2. Payment from bond proceeds for acquisitions of local or regional significance, as determined by the Land for Maine’s Future Board, may be made directly to cooperating entities as defined in Title 5, section 6201, subsection 2 for acquisition of land and interest in land by cooperating entities, subject to terms and conditions enforceable by the State to ensure its use for the purposes of this Part. In addition to the considerations required under Title 5, chapter 353, the board shall give a preference to acquisitions under this subsection that achieve benefits for multiple towns and that address regional conservation needs including public recreational access, wildlife, open space and farmland.

3. The bond funds expended for conservation, recreation, farmland and water access must be matched with at least $8,500,000 in public and private contributions. Seventy percent of that amount must be in the form of cash or other tangible assets, including the value of land and real property interest acquired by or contributed to cooperating entities when property interests have a direct relationship to the property proposed for protection, as determined by the Land for Maine’s Future Board. The remaining 30% may be matching contributions and may include the value of project-related, in-kind contributions of goods and services to and by cooperating entities as defined in Title 5, section 6201, subsection 2.

4. Of the bond proceeds allocated to the Land for Maine’s Future Board, $1,700,000 must be made available to acquire public access to water in accordance with Title 5, section 6203-A.

5. Of the bond proceeds allocated to the Land for Maine’s Future Board, $1,700,000 must be made available to protect farmland in accordance with Title 5, section 6207.

6. Of the bond proceeds allocated to the Land for Maine’s Future Board, $3,000,000 must be made available to protect working waterfront properties in accordance with Public Law 2005, chapter 462, Part B, section 6.

7. To the extent the purposes are consistent with the disbursement provisions in this Part, 100% of the bond proceeds may be considered as state match for any federal funding to be made available to the State.

Sec. E-6. Allocations from General Fund bond issue. The proceeds of the sale of the bonds authorized under this Part must be expended as designated in the following schedule.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND RURAL RESOURCES
Agricultural water source development grant program
Provides funds to assist farmers in the development of environmentally sound water sources to manage weather-related risk and to comply with in-stream flow rules that will leverage $375,000 in other funds.	$1,500,000
DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION
Bureau of Parks and Lands
Provides funds to make necessary capital improvements in the State's parks and historic sites.	$7,500,000
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Provides funds to make investments, under the Riverfront Community Development Program established in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, section 13083-T, in competitive river-based community and economic revitalization projects, which must be matched with at least $10,000,000.	$5,000,000
Provides funds so that an eligible municipality or group of municipalities may apply for a public service infrastructure grant or loan from the Municipal Investment Trust Fund.	$1,500,000
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
State Planning Office
Land for Maine's Future Board
Provides funds in order to leverage $8,500,000 in other funds to be used for the acquisition of land and interest in land for conservation; water access, which must receive $1,700,000; outdoor recreation; wildlife and fish habitat; and farmland preservation, which must receive $1,700,000.	$17,000,000
Provides funds to be used for working waterfront preservation in order to leverage $3,000,000 in other funds.	$3,000,000

Sec. E-7. Contingent upon ratification of bond issue. Sections 1 to 6 do not become effective unless the people of the State ratify the issuance of the bonds as set forth in this Part.

Sec. E-8. Appropriation balances at year-end. At the end of each fiscal year, all unencumbered appropriation balances representing state money carry forward. Bond proceeds that have not been expended within 10 years after the date of the sale of the bonds lapse to General Fund debt service.

Sec. E-9. Bonds authorized but not issued. Any bonds authorized but not issued, or for which bond anticipation notes are not issued within 5 years of ratification of this Part, are deauthorized and may not be issued, except that the Legislature may, within 2 years after the expiration of that 5-year period, extend the period for issuing any remaining unissued bonds or bond anticipation notes for an additional amount of time not to exceed 5 years.

Sec. E-10. Referendum for ratification; submission at election; form of question; effective date. This Part must be submitted to the legal voters of the State at a statewide election held in the month of November following the passage of this Act. The municipal officers of this State shall notify the inhabitants of their respective cities, towns and plantations to meet, in the manner prescribed by law for holding a statewide election, to vote on the acceptance or rejection of this Part by voting on the following question:

"Do you favor a $35,500,000 bond issue to invest in land conservation, water access, wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation opportunities, including hunting and fishing, farmland and working waterfront and to invest in state parks, historic sites and riverfront, community and farm infrastructure to be matched by at least $21,875,000 in private and public contributions?"

The legal voters of each city, town and plantation shall vote by ballot on this question and designate their choice by a cross or check mark placed within a corresponding square below the word "Yes" or "No." The ballots must be received, sorted, counted and declared in open ward, town and plantation meetings and returns made to the Secretary of State in the same manner as votes for members of the Legislature. The Governor shall review the returns. If a majority of the legal votes are cast in favor of this Part, the Governor shall proclaim the result without delay and this Part becomes effective 30 days after the date of the proclamation.

The Secretary of State shall prepare and furnish to each city, town and plantation all ballots, returns and copies of this Part necessary to carry out the purposes of this referendum.