Amend the amendment by striking out all of subsections 2 and 3 (page 1, lines 16 to 36 in amendment) and inserting the following:
Amend the bill in section 4 in §151-B by renumbering the subsections to read consecutively.
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Amend the amendment on page 2 by striking out all of subsection 1 (page 2, lines 15 and 16 in amendment) and inserting the following:
Amend the amendment on page 2 by inserting after subsection 1 the following:
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Amend the bill in section 8 in paragraph RR by striking out all of the last sentence (page 5, lines 28 to 30 in L.D.) and inserting the following: ' A person requesting the production of any such document shall pay, at the time the request is made, all direct and indirect costs associated with the redacting of information from which the taxpayer or other interested party may be identified, plus an additional fee of $100 per request; and'
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Amend the amendment on page 2 by striking out all of the 7th and 8th indented paragraphs (page 2, lines 17 to 22 in amendment) and inserting the following:
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Amend the bill in section 10 in subsection 2 in the first line (page 6, line 5 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "State Tax Assessor shall appoint" and inserting the following: 'Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services shall hire'
Amend the bill in section 10 in subsection 2 in the 3rd line (page 6, line 7 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "appointed" and inserting the following: 'hired'
Amend the bill in section 11 in subsection 1 in the first line (page 6, line 31 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "assessor shall appoint" and inserting the following: 'Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services shall hire'
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Amend the amendment by striking out all of section 12 and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 12. Cost administration. The Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services, the State Tax Assessor and the Chief Appeals Officer pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 36, section 151-B, subsection 2 shall manage the implementation of this Act to ensure that this Act is implemented within existing resources. The following principles govern costs associated with this Act.
1. The Independent Appeals Office established in Title 36, section 151-B may have no greater cost than the appellate division of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of Revenue Services prior to enactment of this Act and all positions within the Independent Appeals Office must have equivalent salary ranges as the positions in the appellate division prior to enactment of this Act. The Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services shall take any steps necessary to ensure that the total costs associated with the Independent Appeals Office are no greater than the costs that would have been associated with the appellate division prior to enactment of this Act.
2. The funding associated with the current taxpayer advocate of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of Revenue Services must be used to fund the new taxpayer advocate hired by the Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services and the new taxpayer advocate must have the same salary range as the current taxpayer advocate. The commissioner shall take any steps necessary to ensure that the costs associated with the new taxpayer advocate do not exceed the costs associated with the current taxpayer advocate prior to enactment of this Act.
3. No additional positions within the Department of the Attorney General or the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of Revenue Services may be created as a result of this Act.’
Amend the amendment in section 13 in the 2nd line (page 4, line 7 in amendment) by striking out the following: "appoint" and inserting the following: 'hire'
Amend the amendment by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
summary
This amendment makes several changes to maintain costs within existing resources. It requires that the Chief Appeals Officer and the taxpayer advocate be hired by the Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services rather than appointed. It specifies that the taxpayer advocate need not be an attorney. It specifies that the number of positions and salary ranges of the Independent Appeals Office and taxpayer advocate may not exceed the positions and salary ranges of the current appellate division and taxpayer advocate. It also specifies that the Department of the Attorney General is not authorized to add any positions as a result of this amendment, and it provides that the commissioner, the State Tax Assessor and the Chief Appeals Officer shall manage the implementation of this Act to maintain costs within existing resources.