PLEASE NOTE: Legislative Information cannot perform research, provide legal advice, or interpret Maine law. For legal assistance, please contact a qualified attorney.
Amend the amendment in Part C in section 1 in the 3rd line (page 6, line 4 in amendment) by striking out the following: "$43,500,000" and inserting the following: '$22,000,000'
Amend the amendment in Part C by striking out all of section 6 (page 6, lines 27 to 43 and page 7, lines 1 to 27 in amendment) and inserting the following:
‘Sec. C-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.
’
Amend the amendment in Part C in section 10 in the question in the first line (page 8, line 5 in amendment) by striking out the following: "$43,500,000" and inserting the following: '$22,000,000'
Amend the amendment in Part D in section 1 in the 3rd line (page 8, line 26 in amendment) by striking out the following: "$55,000,000" and inserting the following: '$50,000,000'
Amend the amendment in Part D by striking out all of section 6 (page 9, lines 8 to 44 and page 10, lines 1 and 2 in amendment) and inserting the following:
‘Sec. D-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.
’
Amend the amendment in Part D in section 10 in the question in the 2nd and 3rd lines (page 10, lines 24 and 25 in amendment) by striking out the following: "$5,000,000 in loans and grant funds and would provide"
Amend the amendment in Part E in section 1 in the 3rd line (page 11, line 4 in amendment) by striking out the following: "$35,500,000" and inserting the following: '$15,000,000'
Amend the amendment in Part E in section 1 in the 4th line (page 11, line 5 in amendment) by striking out the following: "$21,875,000" and inserting the following: '$7,500,000'
Amend the amendment in Part E by striking out all of section 5 (page 11, lines 24 to 43 and page 12, lines 1 to 25 in amendment) and inserting the following:
‘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 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 and farmland preservation in accordance with the provisions for such acquisitions under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, chapter 353, 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 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 $7,500,000 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. 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.’
Amend the amendment in Part E by striking out all of section 6 (page 12, lines 26 to 44 and page 13, lines 1 to 44 in amendment) and inserting the following:
‘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.
’
Amend the amendment in Part E in section 10 by striking out all of the question (page 14, lines 21 to 26 in amendment) and inserting the following:
 
‘
 
"Do you favor a $15,000,000 bond issue to invest in land conservation, water access, wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation opportunities, including hunting and fishing and farmland and to invest in state parks, historic sites and riverfront, community and farm infrastructure to be matched by at least $7,500,000 in private and public contributions?"
 
’
Amend the amendment by striking out all of Part F.
Amend the amendment in Part G in section 1 in the 3rd line (page 17, line 9 in amendment) by striking out the following: "$29,725,000" and inserting the following: '$76,725,000'
Amend the amendment in Part G by striking out all of section 6 (page 17, lines 32 to 39, page 18, lines 1 to 40 and page 19, lines 1 to 33 in amendment) and inserting the following:
‘Sec. G-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.
’
Amend the amendment in Part G in section 10 by striking out all of the question (page 20, lines 11 to 13 in amendment) and inserting the following:
 
‘
 
"Do you favor a $76,725,000 bond issue for natural resource, agricultural and transportation infrastructure that will leverage $110,080,000 in other funds?"
 
’
Amend the amendment by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
 
SUMMARY
This amendment increases the bond for the improvement of roads and bridges to be voted on in June 2008 by $50,000,000 to $60,000,000, but maintains the total amount of the bond package at $295,000,000 by:
1. Reducing the bond for the Executive Department, Land for Maine’s Future Board by $2,000,000 to $15,000,000 and the bond for University of Maine System infrastructure by $20,000,000 to $3,000,000;
2. Eliminating the proposed bonds of $1,500,000 for the Department of Education, School Revolving Renovation Fund;
3. Eliminating the proposed bonds of $1,500,000 for the Economic Recovery Loan Program, $1,000,000 for the Regional Economic Development Revolving Loan Program and $1,000,000 for the Agricultural Marketing Loan Fund, all in the Finance Authority of Maine;
4. Eliminating the proposed bonds of $1,500,000 for the Maine Rural Development Authority;
5. Eliminating the proposed bonds of $1,500,000 for the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources, agricultural water source development grant program;
6. Eliminating the proposed bonds of $7,500,000 for the Department of Conservation, Bureau of Parks and Lands for capital improvements;
7. Eliminating the proposed bonds of $5,000,000 and $1,500,000 to the Department of Economic and Community Development for investments under the Riverfront Community Development Program and for public service infrastructure grants and loans from the Municipal Investment Trust Fund, respectively;
8. Eliminating the proposed bonds of $3,000,000 for working waterfront preservation;
9. Eliminating the proposed bonds of $2,000,000 for upgrades to fish hatcheries; and
10. Eliminating the proposed bonds of $1,000,000 for funding of small community grants.
This amendment also eliminates the Riverfront Community Development Program established in Committee Amendment “A.”