‘Sec. 4. Duties. Resolved: That the commission shall consider the governance of land use planning in the unorganized territory and make recommendations to the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. The commission shall:

1. Review options for improving land use planning and regulation for the unorganized territory, with the goal of advancing the public welfare, balancing competing interests and providing efficient and effective decisions on proposals to develop, utilize and conserve resources within the unorganized territory;

2. Consider the role of state and local governments. The commission shall review the permitting and appeals process, seek opportunities for improved attention to local needs and priorities and increase predictability while still achieving the purpose of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 12, chapter 206-A;

3. Consider options for reforming the governance of land use planning in the unorganized territory;

4. Review the historical permitting data of the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, referred to in this resolve as "LURC," to assess LURC's performance in processing permit applications and identify and propose process improvements, including suggestions to improve permit processing timelines;

5. Consider ways to create, implement and enforce uniform standards across the unorganized territory for timber harvesting activities and forest management, wildlife habitat protection and issues under the jurisdiction of the Natural Resources Protection Act;

6. Recommend ways in which LURC can better receive and incorporate local community input;

7. Explore the desirability of establishing an ombudsman position at LURC to assist applicants in the permit application process;

8. Review LURC's regulations and guidance documents to identify opportunities to make them clearer, more business-friendly and more efficient for applicants;

9. Determine whether any permitting activities currently performed by LURC should be transferred to the Department of Environmental Protection;

10. Consider ways to ensure that, as LURC reviews an application, LURC has the benefit of the expertise of the agency responsible for economic development in the county in which the project or project for which the application is sought is located;

11. Suggest one or more regions that should be priorities for prospective zoning by LURC;

12. Compare LURC's rules with ordinances and rules with similar objectives administered by municipalities and the Department of Environmental Protection to determine whether more consistency between the rules is desirable and, if so, advise ways to make them more consistent; and

13. Review the current and historical membership of LURC to determine whether there is adequate representation of residents of the unorganized townships and adjacent service centers to ensure a broad diversity of representation of the counties in which unorganized territories are located; and be it further’