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An Act To Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue To Create Access to Dental Care throughout the State
Preamble.  Two thirds of both Houses of the Legislature deeming it necessary in accordance with the Constitution of Maine, Article IX, Section 14 to authorize the issuance of bonds on behalf of the State of Maine to provide funds as described in this Act,
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
PART A
Sec. A-1. Authorization of bonds. The Treasurer of State is authorized, under the direction of the Governor, to issue bonds in the name and on behalf of the State in an amount not exceeding $7,000,000 for the purposes described in section 6 of this Part. The bonds are a pledge of the full faith and credit of the State. The bonds may not run for a period longer than 10 years from the date of the original issue of the bonds. At the discretion of the Treasurer of State, with the approval of the Governor, any issuance of bonds may contain a call feature. The bonds may not be issued before July 1, 2011.
Sec. A-2. Records of bonds issued kept by Treasurer of State. The Treasurer of State shall keep an account of each bond showing the number of the bond, the name of the successful bidder to whom sold, the amount received for the bond, the date of sale and the date when payable.
Sec. A-3. Sale; how negotiated; proceeds appropriated. The Treasurer of State may negotiate the sale of the bonds by direction of the Governor, but no bond may be loaned, pledged or hypothecated on behalf of the State. The proceeds of the sale of the bonds, which must be held by the Treasurer of State and paid by the Treasurer of State upon warrants drawn by the State Controller, are appropriated solely for the purposes set forth in this Part. Any unencumbered balances remaining at the completion of the project in this Part lapse to the debt service account established for the retirement of these bonds.
Sec. A-4. Interest and debt retirement. The Treasurer of State shall pay interest due or accruing on any bonds issued under this Part and all sums coming due for payment of bonds at maturity.
Sec. A-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 Department of Health and Human Services.
Sec. A-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.
Sec. A-7. Contingent upon ratification of bond issue. Sections 1 to 6 do not become effective unless the people of the State ratify the issuance of the bonds as set forth in this Part.
Sec. A-8. Appropriation balances at year-end. At the end of each fiscal year, all unencumbered appropriation balances representing state money carry forward. Bond proceeds that have not been expended within 10 years after the date of the sale of the bonds lapse to General Fund debt service.
Sec. A-9. Bonds authorized but not issued. Any bonds authorized but not issued, or for which bond anticipation notes are not issued within 5 years of ratification of this Part, are deauthorized and may not be issued, except that the Legislature may, within 2 years after the expiration of that 5-year period, extend the period for issuing any remaining unissued bonds or bond anticipation notes for an additional amount of time not to exceed 5 years.
Sec. A-10. Referendum for ratification; submission at election; form of question; effective date. This Part must be submitted to the legal voters of the State at a statewide election held in the month of November following passage of this Act. The municipal officers of this State shall notify the inhabitants of their respective cities, towns and plantations to meet, in the manner prescribed by law for holding a statewide election, to vote on the acceptance or rejection of this Part by voting on the following question:
The legal voters of each city, town and plantation shall vote by ballot on this question and designate their choice by a cross or check mark placed within a corresponding square below the word "Yes" or "No." The ballots must be received, sorted, counted and declared in open ward, town and plantation meetings and returns made to the Secretary of State in the same manner as votes for members of the Legislature. The Governor shall review the returns. If a majority of the legal votes are cast in favor of this Part, the Governor shall proclaim the result without delay and this Part becomes effective 30 days after the date of the proclamation.
The Secretary of State shall prepare and furnish to each city, town and plantation all ballots, returns and copies of this Part necessary to carry out the purposes of this referendum.
PART B
Sec. B-1.  22 MRSA §2127, sub-§6-A  is enacted to read:
 
6-A.  Monitoring of grants.   The program director or chief executive officer under subsection 2, paragraph C, subparagraph (3) shall monitor contracts resulting from grant awards established by the department concerning community-based dental clinics affiliated with or operated by a school of dentistry.
PART C
Sec. C-1. Oral Health Advisory Committee. The Department of Health and Human Services shall establish the Oral Health Advisory Committee, referred to in this Part as “the committee,” to award a $5,000,000 grant to create a teaching dental clinic pursuant to subsections 3 and 4 and to award $2,000,000 in grants pursuant to subsection 5 subject to the passage of the referendum set out in Part A.
1. Membership. The program manager of the oral health care program within the Department of Health and Human Services, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is designated the chair of the committee and shall appoint the following 6 members:
A. A representative of a group representing individuals licensed to practice dentistry in this State;
B. A representative of a statewide organization representing low-income individuals;
C. A representative of an organization representing community-based health care clinics;
D. An individual representing community-based dental clinics;
E. A representative of a foundation based in this State committed to improving the health of citizens in this State who has experience funding direct service for dental care; and
F. An individual representing Maine veterans of the United States Armed Forces and the Maine National Guard who has experience with dental care.
2. Appointments. The committee must be appointed and convene within 30 days of the passage of the referendum set out in Part A.
3. Duties. The committee shall create an application for the grant for interested parties within 60 days of passage of the referendum in Part A. The committee shall hold a bidders conference within 7 days following issuance of the applications, after which an applicant has 18 days to complete the application. The committee shall award the grant before March 1, 2011.
4. Grant criteria. The committee shall use the following criteria in awarding the grant:
A. The recipient must:
(1) Be a postsecondary institution with its primary campus located in the State;
(2) Be accredited by a regional accrediting agency approved by the United States Department of Education;
(3) Have a board of trustees that has previously approved a doctor of dental medicine, or DMD, or doctor of dental surgery, or DDS, degree-granting program;
(4) Have health professions education programs that are academically and clinically based; and
(5) Offer a degree in public health;
B. The recipient must demonstrate financial capacity to start and sustain an accredited program in dental medicine that supports long-term access to dental care in the State; and
C. The recipient must demonstrate an ability to match state funding on a one-to-one basis.
5. Distribution of balance of bond. Following the award of the grant under subsections 3 and 4, the recipient shall identify 2 members of its organization to join the committee to establish an application process for the $2,000,000 in clinic grants under Part A. A recipient of a grant under this subsection must:
A. Be from an underserved community that has a demonstrated need for dental care;
B. Be a qualified health care provider, including, but not limited to: federally qualified health care centers, veterans health care facilities, health care facilities established by the United States Department of Defense serving active duty military personnel, Maine-based nonprofit health care centers and municipally supported health clinics; and
C. Demonstrate a capacity to accommodate dental students.
6. Completion date. The awards under subsection 5 must be completed by December 1, 2011, and following disbursement of these grants the committee terminates.
PART D
Sec. D-1. Contingent effective date. Parts B and C take effect only if the General Fund bond issue proposed in Part A is approved by the voters of the State.
 
SUMMARY
The funds provided by the bond issue in Part A, in the amount of $7,000,000, will be awarded on a competitive basis, $5,000,000 to be used for a community-based teaching clinic affiliated with or operated by a college of dental medicine and $2,000,000 to be used to upgrade community-based health care clinics across the State to increase their capacity.
Part B establishes a regular monitoring requirement regarding grant recipients.
Part C establishes a committee to award the funds.
Part D makes Part B and Part C contingent on passage of the General Fund bond issue.