Sec. 1. 10 MRSA §1023-J, first ¶, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 658, §2, is amended to read:

The Agricultural Marketing Loan Fund, referred to in this section as the "fund," is created. The fund must be deposited with and maintained by the Finance Authority of Maine. The fund must be administered by the Commissioner of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources in accordance with Title 7, chapter 101, subchapter I-D. All money received by the Finance Authority of Maine from any source for the development and implementation of an improved agricultural marketing loan program must be credited to the fund. Any money credited to the fund from the issuance of bonds on behalf of the State for financing loans for agricultural enterprises may be used only for the following purposes: to provide assistance to agricultural enterprises in this State for the design, construction or improvement of commodity and storage buildings and packing and marketing facilities; or for the purchase, construction, or renovation or acquisition of land, of buildings, equipment, docks, wharves, piers or vessels used in connection with a commercial agricultural enterprise; for the purchase of land in connection with development of new cranberry acreage or irrigation reservoirs or to provide direct access to water for irrigation; for the purchase of land necessary for the start-up of a new agricultural enterprise; or for the expansion of an existing agricultural enterprise when the acquisition is necessary to comply with land use regulations. Repayment of these loans and interest on these loans must be credited to the fund and must be available for making additional loans for the same purposes, except that interest may be used for the purposes stated in Title 7, section 436. Interest earned on money in the fund and interest earned on loans made from the fund may be used to pay the administrative costs of processing loan applications, to the extent that these costs exceed the fee for administrative costs established by Title 7, section 435, subsection 4.

SUMMARY

This bill adds the purchase of new cranberry acreage, the purchase of land to provide direct access to water for irrigation, the purchase of land for start-up of a new agricultural enterprise and the expansion of an existing agricultural enterprise when the purchase is necessary to comply with land use regulations to the type of land purchases that are eligible for a loan under the Agricultural Marketing Loan Fund.