PLEASE NOTE: Legislative Information cannot perform research, provide legal advice, or interpret Maine law. For legal assistance, please contact a qualified attorney.
An Act To Modify the Tax Increment Financing Laws
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §5225, sub-§1, ¶C, as amended by PL 2013, c. 184, §4, is further amended to read:
 
C. Costs related to economic development, environmental improvements, fisheries and wildlife or marine resources projects, recreational trails or employment training within the municipality or plantation, including, but not limited to:
 
(1) Costs of funding economic development programs or events developed by the municipality or plantation or funding the marketing of the municipality or plantation as a business or arts location;
 
(2) Costs of funding environmental improvement projects developed by the municipality or plantation for commercial or arts district use or related to such activities;
 
(3) Funding to establish permanent economic development revolving loan funds, investment funds and grants;
 
(4) Costs of services and equipment to provide skills development and training, including scholarships to in-state educational institutions or to online learning entities when in-state options are not available, for jobs created or retained in the municipality or plantation. These costs must be designated as training funds in the development program and may not exceed 20% of total project costs. Funding priority must be given to services and equipment to provide skills development and training for jobs created or retained in the municipality, plantation or, pursuant to section 5235, unorganized territory;
 
(5) Quality child care costs, including finance costs and construction, staffing, training, certification and accreditation costs related to child care;
 
(6) Costs associated with new or existing recreational trails determined by the department to have significant potential to promote economic development, including, but not limited to, costs for multiple projects and project phases that may include planning, design, construction, maintenance, grooming and improvements with respect to new or existing recreational trails, which may include bridges that are part of the trail corridor, used all or in part for all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, hiking, bicycling, cross-country skiing or other related multiple uses;
 
(7) Costs associated with a new or expanded transit service, limited to:
 
(a) Transit service capital costs, including but not limited to: transit vehicles such as buses, ferries, vans, rail conveyances and related equipment; bus shelters and other transit-related structures; and benches, signs and other transit-related infrastructure; and
 
(b) In the case of transit-oriented development districts, ongoing costs of adding to an existing transit system or creating a new transit service and limited strictly to transit operator salaries, transit vehicle fuel and transit vehicle parts replacements; and
 
(8) Costs associated with the development of fisheries and wildlife or marine resources projects; and
 
SUMMARY
This bill amends the development district law by capping project costs for services and equipment to provide skills development and training at 20% of total project costs and by requiring funding priority to be given to services, equipment and training for jobs created or retained in the municipality, plantation or unorganized territory.