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An Act To Amend and Clarify the Laws Governing the Brunswick Naval Air Station Job Increment Financing Fund
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §13083-S-1, sub-§3, ¶B, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 641, §9, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:
 
B.  Subject to the provisions of paragraph E, payments allocated to the college must be used solely to fund the following costs, as long as those costs are incurred for educational programs or employment services directly related to support of the target business sectors in the base area:
 
(1) Higher education services, including, but not limited to, faculty and staff salaries and instruction; and
 
(2) Operations, equipment, maintenance and financing costs, including, but not limited to, closing costs, issuance costs and interest paid to holders of evidences of indebtedness issued to pay for project costs and any premium paid over the principal amount of that indebtedness because of the redemption of the obligations before maturity.
 
As used in this paragraph, "target business sectors" means businesses engaged in the aerospace or aviation, biotechnology, composites and advanced materials, renewable energy or information technology industry.
 
Beginning November 15, 2016, the authority and the college jointly shall provide an annual report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over economic development matters detailing the amounts of the payments allocated to the college from the fund and the manner in which those payments have been used during the prior fiscal year.
 
SUMMARY
Current law provides that the state income tax withholding attributable to employees at the Brunswick Naval Air Station is placed into a fund and distributed equally to the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority and Southern Maine Community College.
This bill clarifies that the funds distributed to Southern Maine Community College must be used for the support of educational programs or employment services directly related to target business sector businesses at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station. This bill also requires the authority and the college jointly to report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over economic development matters annually regarding the use of the funds allocated to the college.