Sec. 3. 5 MRSA §194-A, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 344, §1 and affected by §10, is amended to read:

2. Charitable status of organization. Any nonprofit hospital and medical service organization is a charitable and benevolent institution and a public charity and its assets are held for the purpose of fulfilling the charitable purposes of the organization. The charitable purposes may include, but are not limited to, the following: providing access to medical care through affordable health insurance and affordable managed care products for persons of all incomes; identifying and addressing the State's unmet health care needs, particularly with regard to medically uninsured and underserved populations; making services and care available through participating providers; and improving the quality of care for medically uninsured and underserved populations. The following ownership interests apply in any proceeding in court or before the superintendent in which the ownership of the organization is at issue or is relevant.

A. If the organization materially changes its form on or before December 31, 2000 and the ownership of an organization is at issue or is relevant in any proceeding in court or before the superintendent, then 100% of the fair market value of the organization as of the date of the material change in form is must be owned by the charitable trust upon the approval or approval with modifications of the charitable trust plan or modified charitable trust plan by the court pursuant to subsection 5 or 6 and must be dedicated to the fulfillment of the charitable trust.

B. If the organization materially changes its form after December 31, 2000 and on or before December 31, 2005, then 95% of the fair market value of the organization as of the date of the material change in form is owned by the charitable trust upon the approval or approval with modifications of the charitable trust plan or modified charitable trust plan by the court pursuant to subsection 5 or 6 and must be dedicated to the fulfillment of the charitable trust; and the remaining 5% is owned by subscribers in aggregate. For purposes of this paragraph, subscribers include only those persons who were subscribers on any date in the 3-year period immediately prior to the material change in form, if in each case the person was a subscriber for period of no less than 3 consecutive months.