The Secretary of State shall prepare and furnish to each city, town and plantation all ballots, returns and copies of this Part necessary to carry out the purposes of this referendum.

PART B

Sec. B-1. 5 MRSA §6207, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2001, c. 466, §2, is further amended to read:

3. Priorities. Whenever possible, the Land for Maine's Future Fund and the Public Access to Maine Waters Fund must be used for land acquisition projects when matching funds are available from cooperating entities, provided that the proposed acquisition meets all other criteria set forth in this chapter. For acquisitions funded by the Land for Maine's Future Fund, the board shall give priority to projects that conserve lands with multiple outstanding resource or recreation values or a single exceptional value, support the land conservation needs of service center communities, as defined in Title 30-A, section 4301, subsection 14-A, provide geographic representation and build upon or connect existing holdings.

When acquiring land or interest in land, the board shall examine public vehicular access rights to the land and, whenever possible and appropriate, acquire guaranteed public vehicular access as part of the acquisition.

Sec. B-2. Application; contingent on bond issue. This Part takes effect only if the bond issue proposed in Part A is approved by voters of this State.

SUMMARY

Part A of this bill authorizes a bond issue to recapitalize the Land for Maine's Future program with $50,000,000 to continue the State's land conservation efforts, to be matched by at least $25,000,000 in private and public funds.

Part B of this bill amends the land acquisition priorities of the Land for Maine's Future program to include service center communities.