Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §1890-I is enacted to read:

§1890-I.__Geographic Referencing Assistance Fund

1.__Establishment; purpose.__The Geographic Referencing Assistance Fund is established for the purpose of enhancing the ability of the office, State Planning Office and regional councils, as defined by Title 30-A, section 2302, or alternate service providers as identified in regional plans, to develop and use geographic information systems and other related geographic referencing tools for tracking patterns of development and associated land use planning and to assist municipalities with the use of these tools.__The administrator may accept monetary contributions to the fund from any public or private source and may spend or disburse those funds in a manner consistent with law for the purposes stated in this subsection.

2.__Report to Legislature.__The administrator shall submit a report to the joint standing committees of the Legislature having jurisdiction over state and local government matters and taxation matters by January 15, 2003, and every 2 years thereafter.__The report must cover the 2 prior fiscal years of the department and identify the amount of revenues that have been credited to the Geographic Referencing Assistance Fund and the manner in which those funds have been used.

Sec. 2. 33 MRSA §753 is enacted to read:

§753.__Geographic referencing surcharge

1.__Surcharge.__When any deed subject to taxation pursuant to Title 36, section 4641-B is offered for recordation, a register of deeds shall collect a surcharge of $15 in addition to any other fees required by law.__The responsibility for the payment of the surcharge must be divided equally between the grantor and the grantee.

2.__Collection; transfer to Treasurer of State.__Each register of deeds shall, on or before the 10th day of each month, pay to the Treasurer of State 25% of the surcharge revenue collected during the previous month pursuant to subsection 1.__If the surcharge revenue collected is not paid by the 10th day of the month, the Treasurer of State may impose interest at the rate established pursuant to Title 36, section 186.__Ten percent of the surcharge revenue collected may be retained for the county by the register of deeds and accounted for to the county treasurer as reimbursement for services rendered by the county in collecting the surcharge.__The remaining 65% of surcharge revenue