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PUBLIC LAWS
Second Regular Session of the 122nd

CHAPTER 599
H.P. 1371 - L.D. 1957

An Act To Establish the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority

     Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts of the Legislature do not become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and

     Whereas, the United States Government has announced its intention to close Brunswick Naval Air Station in Cumberland County; and

     Whereas, a legal entity needs to be created to accept the assets of the facility and manage a locally driven process for its readjustment and reuse; and

     Whereas, it is critical to implement a reuse and readjustment strategy for the facility to preserve the local economies of the affected communities; and

     Whereas, the United States Government is planning to transfer the assets for their reuse; and

     Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

     Sec. 1. 5 MRSA c. 383, sub-c. 3, art. 2-B is enacted to read:

Article 2-B
MIDCOAST REGIONAL REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

§13083-G.      Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority established

     The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority is established to carry out the purposes of this article. The authority is entrusted with acquiring and managing the properties within the geographic boundaries of Brunswick Naval Air Station.

§13083-H. Definitions

     As used in this article, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.

     1. Authority. "Authority" means the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority established in section 13083-G.

     2. Base area. "Base area" means the area within the geographic boundaries of Brunswick Naval Air Station.

     3. Bond. "Bond" means a bond or note or other evidence of indebtedness authorized under this article, whether issued under or pursuant to a bond resolution, trust indenture, loan or other security agreement.

     4. Brunswick Naval Air Station. "Brunswick Naval Air Station" or "base" means those properties and facilities within the geographic boundaries of the United States Department of Defense naval air station at Brunswick existing on the effective date of this section. "Base" also includes other geographically separate property that the authority determines should be part of the base if the municipality in which the property is located has chosen not to accept the property and use it for other purposes.

     5. Operating revenues. "Operating revenues" means funds available to the authority from fees, fares, rental or sale of property and miscellaneous revenue and interest not otherwise pledged or dedicated.

     6. Primary impact community. "Primary impact community" means the municipalities of Bath, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Brunswick, Freeport, Harpswell, Lisbon Falls and Topsham and Androscoggin County, Cumberland County and Sagadahoc County.

     7. Readjustment or reuse. "Readjustment" or "reuse" means an alternative use of the base facility from its use as a military installation.

     8. Real or personal property. "Real or personal property" means those properties and assets transferred by the United States Government or the United States Navy after the closure of Brunswick Naval Air Station.

     9. Reconstruct or reconstruction. "Reconstruct" or "reconstruction" means any activities undertaken to maintain the properties of Brunswick Naval Air Station, or any part of those properties, as a modern, safe and efficient facility and includes, but is not limited to, any rebuilding, redesign, improvement or enlargement of the real properties or environmental mitigation activities on base properties.

§13083-I.      Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority; powers; membership; obligations

     1. Powers. The authority is a public municipal corporation and may:

     2. Membership; appointment. The authority is governed by a board of trustees composed of 11 voting members appointed by the Governor and subject to review by the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over economic development matters and to confirmation by the Senate.

     3. Quorum. Six members constitute a quorum. Six affirmative votes are required for the board of trustees to take action.

     4. Liability. The liability of the authority is governed by the Maine Tort Claims Act.

     5. Expenses. A trustee is not entitled to receive compensation for services to the authority but is entitled to receive reimbursement for necessary expenditures, including travel expenses, incurred in carrying out those services.

     6. Officers; employees. The board of trustees shall elect a chair and vice-chair from among its members. The authority may employ an executive director, technical experts and other agents and employees, permanent and temporary, that it requires and may determine their qualifications, duties and compensation. For required legal services, the authority may employ or retain its own counsel and legal staff.

§13083-J. Use of operating revenues

     1. Principal use of revenue. Operating revenue must be used principally to reinvest in the properties held by the authority.

     2. Permitted liability limited. All expenses incurred in carrying out this article must be paid solely from funds provided under the authority of this article, and liability or obligation may not be incurred under this article beyond the extent to which money has been provided under the authority of this article.

     3. Equal opportunity employers. Contractors and subcontractors on authority construction and reconstruction projects must be equal opportunity employers and, for contracts in excess of $250,000, shall pursue in good faith affirmative action programs as defined in section 782. The authority may by rule provide for the enforcement of this requirement.

§13083-K. Property of authority

     The authority shall hold and acquire property as follows.

     1. Lease or sale. Properties may be leased or sold to accomplish the readjustment or reuse of the base facilities as determined appropriate by the authority. Resources acquired as a result of the lease or sale of these properties become operating revenues or assets of the authority.

     2. Entry upon lands. The authority and its authorized agents and employees may enter upon lands, waters and premises in the State for the purpose of making surveys, soundings, drillings and examinations the authority determines necessary or convenient for the purposes of this article. The entry is not a trespass, but the authority is liable for damages its entry creates.

     3. Authority for transfers of interest in land to the authority. Notwithstanding any contrary provisions of law, upon the authority's request, on reasonable and fair terms and conditions and without the necessity for advertisement, order of court or action or formality other than the regular and formal action of the authorities concerned, counties, municipalities, public agencies or instrumentalities of the State, public service corporations and special districts may lease, lend, grant or convey to the authority real or personal property or rights in that property that may be necessary or convenient for the effectuation of the authorized purposes of the authority, including real and personal property or rights in that property already devoted to public use. As used in this subsection, the term "public service corporation" includes a public utility as defined in Title 35-A, section 102, subsection 13 and a corporation referred to in Title 13-C.

§13083-L. Special utility districts

     The authority may form special utility districts and provide municipal utility services within its jurisdiction. The board of trustees of the authority has the authority of a municipal legislative body for these purposes.

     1. Sewer services. The authority may provide sewer services as a sanitary district under Title 38, chapter 11, subchapters 3 and 4. The authority may establish a board of trustees for the sanitary district and appoint the members of the board of trustees or may act as the board of trustees of the district.

     2. Solid waste disposal. The authority may provide solid waste disposal services as a refuse disposal district under Title 38, chapter 17. The authority may establish a board of trustees for the refuse disposal district and appoint the members of the board of trustees or may act as the board of trustees of the district.

     3. Water. The authority may provide water as a water district under Title 35-A, Part 6. The authority may establish a board of trustees for the water district and appoint the members of the board of trustees or may act as the board of trustees of the district.

     4. Revenue-producing services. The authority has all the powers of a municipality to provide services under Title 30-A, chapter 213.

§13083-M. Other municipal powers

     1. Traffic ordinances. The authority has the power to enact traffic ordinances and regulate the operation of motor vehicles under Title 30-A, section 3009 to the extent that power is not inconsistent with other validly enacted municipal ordinances.

     2. Operating expenses. The authority has all the powers of a municipality to raise and appropriate money under Title 30-A, sections 5722 and 5723.

     3. Zoning. The authority may not adopt zoning or land-use ordinances but may coordinate zoning and land-use regulation with interested primary impact communities.

     4. Highway maintenance. The authority may maintain, repair, plow and control public ways as a municipality under Title 23, Part 3. The authority shall consult and coordinate with the appropriate primary impact community in appointing a road commissioner.

§13083-N. Bonds

     1. Hearing required. The authority may issue bonds to finance its activities only after giving notice of the proposed issuance and its terms at least twice in a newspaper of general circulation in the appropriate counties and holding a duly advertised public hearing on the issuance.

     2. Authority. The authority may issue bonds from time to time in its discretion to finance the undertaking of an authorized activity under this article, including but not limited to the payment of principal and interest upon advances for surveys and plans, and may issue refunding bonds for the payment or retirement of bonds previously issued.

     3. General characteristics. Bonds authorized under this section may be issued in one or more series. The resolution, trust indenture or mortgage under which the bonds are issued may include the following:

     4. Price sold. The bonds may be:

     5. Signatures of outgoing officers; negotiability. If an official of the authority whose signature appears on a bond or coupon issued under this article ceases to be an official before the bond is delivered, the signature is nevertheless valid for all purposes as if the official had remained in office until the delivery. Notwithstanding contrary provisions of law, bonds issued under this article are fully negotiable.

     6. Bond recitation; conclusive presumptions. In actions or proceedings involving the validity or enforceability of a bond issued under this article or the security for that bond, a bond reciting in substance that it has been issued by the authority in connection with an activity is conclusively deemed to have been issued for that purpose and the activity is conclusively deemed to have been planned, located and carried out in accordance with this article.

     7. No personal liability; not debt of State or municipality. Neither the trustees of the authority nor the person executing the bonds is liable personally on the bonds by reason of the issuance of the bonds. The bonds and other obligations of the authority must have stated on their face that they are not a debt of the State and that the State is not liable on the bonds. The bonds or obligations may not be payable out of funds or properties other than those of the authority acquired for the purposes of this article.

     8. Bonds as legal investments. Public officers, municipal corporations, political subdivisions and public bodies; banks, trust companies, bankers, savings banks and institutions, building and loan associations, savings and loan associations, investment companies and other persons carrying on a banking business; insurance companies, insurance associations and other persons carrying on an insurance business; and executors, administrators, curators, trustees and other fiduciaries may legally invest sinking funds, money or other funds belonging to them or within their control in bonds or other obligations issued by the authority under this article. These bonds or other obligations are authorized security for all public deposits. It is the purpose of this section to authorize persons, political subdivisions and officers, public or private, to use funds owned or controlled by them for the purchase of these bonds or other obligations. This section does not relieve a person of any duty or of exercising reasonable care in selecting securities.

     9. Investment of funds; redemption of bonds. The authority may:

§13083-O.       Interest of public officials, trustees or employees

     1. Acquisition of interest. A public official, trustee or employee of the authority may not acquire or hold a direct or an indirect financial or personal interest in:

When an acquisition is involuntary, the interest acquired must be disclosed immediately in writing to the board of trustees of the authority, and the disclosure must be entered in the board's minutes.

     2. Present or past interest in property. If a public official, trustee or employee of the authority presently owns or controls, or owned or controlled within the preceding 2 years, a direct or an indirect interest in property known to be included or planned to be included in an authority activity, that public official, trustee or employee must disclose this fact immediately in writing to the authority and the disclosure must be entered in the authority's minutes.

     3. Recusal. The public official, trustee or employee of the authority with an interest may not participate in an action by the authority affecting that property.

     4. Violation. A violation of this section is a Class E crime.

§13083-P. Exemption from execution

     1. Property exempt from execution. The property, including funds, of the authority is exempt from levy and sale by virtue of an execution. An execution or other judicial process may not be issued against the authority's property, and a judgment against the authority may not be a charge or lien upon its property.

     2. Construction; limitation of application. This section does not:

§13083-Q.      Designation as port of entry, international airport, foreign trade zone and free port area

     1. Port of entry. The authority may apply to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States for the purpose of having Brunswick Naval Air Station or a portion of the base designated, established or constituted as a port of entry or an international airport pursuant to the federal Customs Reorganization Act, 19 United States Code, Section 1, as amended, and Section 58b, as amended, and regulations of the United States Customs Service, including 19 Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 101.0 and 122.1, as amended.

     2. Foreign trade zone. The authority may apply to the Secretary of Commerce of the United States for the purpose of establishing, operating and maintaining foreign trade zones at Brunswick Naval Air Station pursuant to the federal Foreign Trade Zones Act, 19 United States Code, Section 81a-81u, as amended, providing for the establishment, operation and maintenance of foreign trade zones in or adjacent to ports of entry of the United States for expediting and encouraging foreign commerce and for other purposes.

     3. Other tax-free provisions. The authority may establish a free port area at Brunswick Naval Air Station in which personal property in transit is exempt from the provisions of the stock-in-trade tax and other taxes and customs normally levied in a port of entry. For the purposes of this section, personal property in transit through the free port area established by the authority includes goods, wares and merchandise that:

§13083-R. Termination of the authority

     The authority is not dissolved until:

     1. Legislature provides for termination. It is terminated by the Legislature; and

     2. Payment of bonds, premiums and interest. The bonds, premium, if any, and interest have been paid or a sufficient amount for the payment of the bonds and interest to maturity or a prior redemption date have been irrevocably set aside in trust for the benefit of the bondholders.

§13083-S. Annual report

     1. Annual financial report. The authority shall submit annually to the Governor, the Executive Director of the Legislative Council and the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over housing and economic development matters, not later than 120 days after the close of the authority's fiscal year, a complete report on the activities of the authority. The report may also be provided to any other member of the Legislature and to any other person. The report must include all of the following for the previous year:

     Sec. 2. Initial appointments; inform joint standing committee. The Governor shall inform the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over economic development matters, no later than March 15, 2007, of the initial appointments to the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, section 13083-I, subsection 2.

     Sec. 3. Report to development authority. The municipalities of Topsham and Brunswick or any entity under their purview with responsibility over matters regarding the future use of Brunswick Naval Air Station shall report on its findings and recommendations to the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority no later than July 1, 2007.

     Sec. 4. Report to committee; 2nd regular session. The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority shall report the status of the establishment of the authority to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over economic development matters during the Second Regular Session of the 123rd Legislature no later than January 15, 2008.

     Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this Act takes effect when approved.

Effective April 27, 2006.

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