Whereas, paper companies have been selling and offering to sell their Maine assets and have been closing or limiting production at their paper production facilities in the State; and

Whereas, the employees of one paper production facility in the State have been conducting negotiations with the owner to purchase the facility; and

Whereas, it is essential to the continued success of the negotiations that the State demonstrate immediately that the State will make available under certain conditions financial assistance for employee buyouts of paper production facilities in the State; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

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

Sec. 1. 10 MRSA §963-A, sub-§10, ¶P, as amended by PL 1997, c. 500, §3, is further amended to read:

P. Any workers' compensation residual market mechanism project; and

Sec. 2. 10 MRSA §963-A, sub-§10, ¶Q, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 500, §4, is amended to read:

Q. Any clean fuel vehicle project.; and

Sec. 3. 10 MRSA §963-A, sub-§10, ¶R is enacted to read:

R.__Any paper industry job retention project.

Sec. 4. 10 MRSA §963-A, sub-§42-C is enacted to read:

42-C.__Paper industry job retention project.__"Paper industry job retention project" means the acquisition and improvement of a paper production facility in the State that is projected to retain as an operating business a facility that, at the time of application for financial assistance, employs at least 500 persons.

Sec. 5. 10 MRSA §1043, sub-§2, ¶I, as amended by PL 1995, c. 4, §6, is further amended to read: