An Act To Amend the Charter of the Somerset Woods Trustees
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1117
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: MILLS

Legislative Document 
No.1l17 
S.P.369 
March 6, 2007 
An Act To Amend the Charter of the Somerset Woods Trustees 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed. 
JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Presented by Senator MILLS of Somerset. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. P&SL 1927, c. 109, §1 is amended to read: 
Sec. 1. Corporators; corporate name; powers; purposes. Louise H. Coburn, 
George Otis Smith, William Philbrick, Francis H. Friend, Gertrude S. Weston and Ernest 
C. Butler all of Skowhegan in the county of Somerset and state State of Maine and Joseph 
C. Smith of Waterville in the county of Kennebec and state State of Maine, their 
associates, successors and assigns, be and they hereby are constituted a body, politic and 
corporate, by the name of Somerset Woods Trustees, with power to fill vacancies in their 
numbers and to increase their number by election of a majority thereof by ballot of other 
members not to exceed tweJ.v.e .u in all for the purpose of acquiring, holding, managing, 
arranging, maintaining and where practicable, opening to the public under suitable 
regulations to be established by said the corporation, such tract or tracts of land, 
easements, licenses or other rights in land, as said the corporation may be able to acquire, 
whether alone or in common or jointly with others, or to join by corporate action or 
donations or both with other organizations with purposes consistent with the purposes of 
this corporation in cooperative ventures for the acquisition of land, easements, licenses or 
other rights in land, within the county of Somerset, with the right and power to hold such 
personal property as may be necessary or convenient in the managing of said the tract or 
tracts of land acquired and held as aforesaid, with the powers and privileges and subject 
to the duties set forth in chapter fifty one of the revised statutes of the state of Maine the 
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, chapter 37, and in such other general laws as now are 
or hereafter may be in force relating to such corporations, pro't'iding, howe-..'er, except that 
said the corporation shall ha .... e no may not have capital stock nor shall it may the 
corporation pay any compensation to any of its members in lieu of salary or wages. 
Sec. 2. P&SL 1927, c. 109, §2, as amended by P&SL 1995, c. 24, §1, is further 
amended to read: 
Sec. 2. Authority to hold property; limit. Said The corporation may acquire 
and hold by gift, barter, grant, devise or purchase, real estate, such as it the corporation 
may deem determine worthy of preservation for the enjoyment of the public directly or 
indirectly, with the right to sell, barter and convey any part of said the real estate, if in the 
changing conditions it seems advisable to sell any part thereof and hold by gift, barter, 
grant, devise or purchase, such other property, both real and personal, as may be 
necessary or proper to support or promote the objects of the corporation. 
Sec. 3. P&SL 1927, c. 109, §4, as amended by P&SL 1995, c. 66, § 1, is further 
amended to read: 
Sec. 4. Dividends prohibited; income, how expended. The corporation may 
not make a dividend or division of or from its property or income among its members, but 
the net income and proceeds from any part of its property must be expended for public 
benefits, not supported by taxation, in the to'Nn where the land from 'Nhich the income or 
proceeds are deri .... ed is located. A member, trustee, director or officer of the corporation 
may not receive any portion of the net earnings or assets of the corporation, and a private 
individual may not receive any of these earnings or assets except as reasonable 
Page) - 123LR1414(Ol)-1 
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compensation for services rendered. In the event of dissolution, all of the remaining net 
assets of the corporation must be distributed to a governmental entity or to another 
corporation exempt from federal income taxation under the Internal Revenue Code, 
Section 501(c)(3). 
SUMMARY 
This bill clarifies that the Somerset Woods Trustees corporation has the right to sell, 
barter and convey any real estate it may hold in the corporation's name. The bill also 
removes the limitation as to where the corporation may use the proceeds derived from 
property owned by the corporation.