§1023-N. Potato Marketing Improvement Fund

There is created a fund known as the Potato Marketing Improvement Fund, referred to in this section as the "fund." The fund must be deposited with and maintained by the authority, to be used solely for investment in the Maine potato industry. The fund must be administered by the Commissioner of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources Maine Potato Board in accordance with Title 7, chapter 103, subchapter X 10. All money received by the authority from any source for the development and implementation of an improved storage, packing and, marketing and infrastructure development program must be credited to the fund. Any money credited to the fund from the issuance of bonds on behalf of the State for agricultural development may be used only for the purposes of state loans as prescribed by Title 7, section 974-A to provide assistance to potato farmers for the design, construction, improvement, support and operation of storage, packing and marketing facilities and infrastructure development and to pay the administrative costs of processing loan applications and servicing and administering the fund and loans and grants made therein, to the extent that the costs exceed the fee for administrative costs established by Title 7, section 974- A, subsection 2. Repayment of these loans and interest on the loans must be credited to the fund to be available for making additional state loans for the same purposes, except that any interest earned on the cash balance of the fund may be used for the grants authorized by Title 7, section 975-A. In order to provide additional amounts for loans, the Commissioner of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources Maine Potato Board, at the commissioner's its discretion, may take such actions and enter into such agreements as may be necessary to sell or assign up to $2,000,000 in the aggregate principal amount of loans and undivided interests in a pool of loans and assign or pledge any mortgage or other security to the authority, under the terms and conditions the commissioner Maine Potato Board considers advisable. The assignment and related transactions may not result in indebtedness of the State. The proceeds of the sale or assignment must be credited to the fund and used for the purposes authorized in this section.

A purchaser of a modern storage facility or other infrastructure that was previously financed with a state loan from the fund may receive a loan under the conditions of this section. Mortgages obtained from the fund may be assumed by subsequent purchasers of the property. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources Maine Potato Board shall adopt rules concerning the purchase of existing buildings.