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An Act To Enhance Funding Opportunities for the Youth Conservation Corps
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  38 MRSA §480-II  is enacted to read:
§ 480-II. Program to reduce erosion and protect lake water quality
 
1.  Program.     The commissioner shall contract with a private organization to establish and administer a program to reduce shoreline erosion and protect lake water quality, as described in subsections 2 and 3, as long as the commissioner determines that there are sufficient funds available to support the program and that a suitable private organization is available to establish and administer the program.
 
2.  Informational material to be provided.     The program established pursuant to this section may provide for the distribution of informational material on erosion control measures, including planting shrubs, bushes and other vegetation near the shoreline, spreading mulch on bare soil, placing rock riprap along shorelines and building infiltration steps and trenches to direct water into the ground or woods or away from the shoreline.
 
3.  Erosion control measures to be implemented.     The program established pursuant to this section must facilitate the performance of necessary erosion control measures on or near the shoreline of a lake, pond or great pond.
 
4.  Program funding.     The program established pursuant to this section is funded by sums that are appropriated by the Legislature or transferred from time to time by the State Controller.
Sec. 2. Department of Environmental Protection to contract with private organization in 2016 and 2017. For the years 2016 and 2017, the Department of Environmental Protection shall distribute the funds appropriated in section 3 through a competitive bid process to a private organization to establish and administer the program to reduce erosion and protect lake water quality under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 38, section 480-II. The department shall ensure that any contract entered into with a private organization under this section requires that:
1. The erosion control measures described in Title 38, section 480-II, subsection 3 be performed in the summers of 2016 and 2017 with labor provided by a youth conservation corps organized or based in the State;
2. No more than 10% of the funds appropriated by the Legislature for the program in section 3 or received by the contracted organization as matching funding is used for the administration of the program by the contracted organization;
3. The scope of the program as implemented by the contracted organization is determined by the amount of funds appropriated in section 3; and
4. The contracted organization disburses to a youth conservation corps no more than $1 from the funds appropriated for the program in section 3 for every $2 in matching funds contributed to the program by that youth conservation corps. Federal and state funds may not be considered matching funds under the program.
Sec. 3. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.
 
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF
 
Land and Water Quality 0248
 
Initiative: Provides ongoing funding to contract with a private organization to reduce shoreline erosion and protect lake water quality.

GENERAL FUND	2015-16	2016-17	
All Other	$20,000	$20,000	
			
GENERAL FUND TOTAL	$20,000	$20,000	

Effective 90 days following adjournment of the 127th Legislature, First Regular Session, unless otherwise indicated.