HP0755
LD 1019
First Regular Session - 125th Maine Legislature
 
LR 1460
Item 1
Bill Tracking, Additional Documents Chamber Status

An Act To Make Changes to the Allocation of Revenue from Watercraft Registration

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §10206, sub-§3,  as amended by PL 2009, c. 652, Pt. A, §15, is further amended to read:

3. Watercraft revenues.   Except as provided in subsection subsections 6 and 11, all revenues collected under the provisions of this Part relating to watercraft, including chapter 935, are disposed of as follows.
A. All fees collected for certificates, licenses and permits by the commissioner are paid daily to the Treasurer of State and accrue as undedicated revenue to the General Fund and as dedicated revenue to the Department of Marine Resources in accordance with paragraph C.
B. Each court shall pay all fines, forfeitures and penalties collected for violations of the provisions of this Part relating to watercraft, including chapter 935, and all officers' costs collected for either coastal wardens or game wardens to the Treasurer of State, monthly, and that money accrues as undedicated revenue to the General Fund, except that all fines, forfeitures and penalties collected as a result of the efforts of municipal law enforcement officers or harbor masters enforcing the provisions of this Part relating to watercraft, including chapter 935, in their respective jurisdictions are paid to that municipality for the local enforcement efforts. The department shall record as dedicated revenue to the Department of Marine Resources that portion of fines, forfeitures and penalties allocable to the Department of Marine Resources in accordance with paragraph C.
C. All revenues collected under the provisions of this Part relating to watercraft, including chapter 935, including fines, fees and other available money deposited with the Treasurer of State, must be distributed as undedicated revenue to the General Fund and the Department of Marine Resources according to an allocation rate that directly relates to the administrative costs of the Division of Licensing, Registration and Engineering. Eight dollars of each motorized watercraft registration is dedicated to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and is not subject to the split with another agency as required under this paragraph. The Legislature shall appropriate to the department in each fiscal year an amount equal to the administrative costs incurred by the department in collecting revenue under this subsection. Those costs must be verified by the Department of Marine Resources and the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. The allocation rate must also allow for any necessary year-end reconciliation and accounting distribution. The allocation rate must be jointly agreed to by the department and the Department of Marine Resources and approved by the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of the Budget.

The fees outlined in section 13056, subsection 8, paragraphs A and B for watercraft operating on inland waters of the State each include a $10 fee for invasive species prevention and control. This fee is disposed of as follows:

(1) Sixty percent of the fee must be credited to the Invasive Aquatic Plant and Nuisance Species Fund established within the Department of Environmental Protection under Title 38, section 1863; and

(2) Forty percent of the fee must be credited to the Lake and River Protection Fund established within the department under section 10257.

Sec. 2. 12 MRSA §10206, sub-§11  is enacted to read:

11 Increase in watercraft revenues.   Five dollars of the fees collected by the commissioner for certificates as set out in section 13056, subsection 8, paragraphs A and B for watercraft operating on inland waters of the State must be paid daily to the Treasurer of State and credited evenly between the department and the Department of Marine Resources.

summary

This bill requires that the money collected from the increase in fees pursuant to Public Law 2009, chapter 213, Part OO, sections 14 and 15 for certificates for watercraft must be credited evenly between the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Department of Marine Resources.


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