An Act To Expand the Availability of Natural Gas to Maine Residents
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 1644
Committee Amendment CA_A_S461 (Senate)
Amends: 10 MRSA §963-A, 10 MRSA §1043, 10 MRSA §1044, 10 MRSA §1053

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" 1\ " to S.P. 543, L.D. 1644, Bill, "An Act To 
Expand the Availability of Natural Gas to Maine Residents" 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the title and before the summary and 
inserting the following: 
'Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not 
become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and 
Whereas, there are energy distribution system proj ects that will likely move forward 
within the next 6 months to take advantage of the smmner and fall construction seasons; 
and 
Whereas, the Finance Authority of Maine will need to implement the provisions of 
this Act prior to June 2012 to facilitate financing support for energy distribution system 
projects in 2012; and 
Whereas, without immediate enactment, this legislation may not take effect in time 
to affect this year's construction season; and 
Whereas, the availability of natural gas to large users and other consumers will 
potentially save tens of millions of dollars per year and losing a construction season and 
delaying projects will result in a significant lost opportunity; and 
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within 
the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as 
immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, 
therefore, 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 10 MRS A §962, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1985, c. 344, §5, is further 
amended to read: 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to S.P. 543, L.D. 1644 
2. Revenue obligation securities. Issue revenue obligation securities to finance 
eligible projects, except that revenue obligation securities may not be issued for energy 
distribution system projects after January 1, 2018 pursuant to section 1044, subsection 13; 
Sec. 2. 10 MRSA §963-A, sub-§12, as amended by PL 2011, c. 261, §1, is 
further amended to read: 
12. 
Energy distribution system project. 
"Energy distribution system project" 
means an energy distribution system owned, in whole or in part, by an individual, 
municipality, corporation or other governmental entity or business association and that 
uses biomass, peat, solar, waste, water and related dams, wind, wood, or coal or that 
distributes or transmits oil, biofuels, propane, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural 
gas or natural gas or that distributes or transmits natural gas. 
Sec. 3. 10 MRSA §1043, sub-§2, ~O, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 261, §4, is 
amended to read: 
O. 
In the case of an energy distribution system project regulated by the Public 
Utilities Commission with respect to rates or tenns of service or that requires, for 
construction or operation, authorization or certification from the commission, the 
following conditions are met. 
(1) The energy distribution system project has received all authorizations or 
certifications from the Public Utilities Commission necessary for construction 
and operation of the project. The authority may issue a certificate of approval for 
a project that has received conditional approvals or certifications from the 
commission, except that the authority'S certificate becomes legally effective only 
upon fulfillment of the conditional provisions of the commission's certificates or 
approvals. If the commission has approved rates to be charged by the project or 
has issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the project, the 
authority shall take into consideration any findings and conclusions of law of the 
commission, including any findings and conclusions pertaining to the need for 
the project and the financial viability of the project. 
(2) The authority has reviewed and considered any comments provided by the 
Director of the Governor's Office of Energy Independence and Security and the 
Public Advocate. 
(3) The authority has determined that the applicant is creditworthy and that there 
is a reasonable likelihood that the revenue obligation securities will be repaid 
through the revenues of the project and any other sources of revenues and 
collateral pledged to the repayment of those securities. In order to make these 
determinations, the authority shall consider such factors as it considers necessary 
and appropriate in light of the special purpose or other nature of the business 
entity owning the project and the specific purposes of the project to measure and 
evaluate the project and the sufficiency of the pledged revenues to repay the 
obligations, including, but not limited to: 
(a) Whether the individuals or entities obligated to repay the obligations 
have demonstrated sufficient revenues from the project or from other sources 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to S,P. 543, L.D. 1644 
to repay the obligations and a reasonable probability that those revenues will 
continue to be available for the tenn of the revenue obligation securities; 
(b) Whether the applicant demonstrates a reasonable probability that the 
project will continue to operate and provide the public benefits projected to 
be created for the tenn of the revenue obligation securities; 
(c) Whether the applicant's creditworthiness is demonstrated by factors such 
as its historical financial performance, management ability, plan for 
marketing its product or service and ability to access conventional financing; 
(d) 
Whether the applicant meets or exceeds industry average financial 
perfonnance ratios commonly accepted in detennining creditworthiness in 
that industry; 
(e) Whether the applicant demonstrates that the need for authority assistance 
is due to the reduced cost and increased flexibility of the financing for the 
project that result from authority assistance and not from an inability to 
obtain necessary financing without the capital reserve fund security provided 
by the authority; 
(f) 
Whether collateral securing the repayment obligation is reasonably 
sufficient under the circumstances; 
(g) Whether the proposed project enhances the opportunities for economic 
development; 
(h) The effect that the proposed project financing has on the authority's 
financial resources; 
(i) The financial perfonnance of similar projects; 
(j) 
The need for the project, as detennined by the Public Utilities 
Commission and as indicated by any comments provided by the Director of 
the Governor's Office of Energy Independence and Security, other public 
officials and members of the public; 
(k) The nature and extent of customer commitment to use the project or the 
fuel or energy the project distributes or transmits; aOO 
(1) The cost advantages to end users of the fuel or energy to be distributed or 
transmitted by the project, to the extent those advantages may affect market 
penetration by the project~; and 
(m) The nature and extent of the applicant's equity contribution to payment 
of the costs of the project; such a contribution may not be less than 25% of 
the expected cost of the project. 
This paragraph is repealed January 1, 2018. 
Sec. 4. 10 MRSA §1044, sub-§13 is enacted to read: 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to S.P. 543, L.D. 1644 
13. Limitation. The authority may not issue revenue obligation securities for energy 
distribution system projects unless the authority issued a certificate of approval for the 
energy distribution system project before January 1, 2018. 
Notwithstanding this 
subsection, revenue refunding securities may be issued to refund any outstanding revenue 
obligation securities. 
Sec. 5. 10 MRSA §1053, sub-§6, ~A, as amended by PL 2011, c. 261, §6, is 
further amended to read: 
A. 
The sum of $330,000,000 $180,000,000 consisting of not more than 
$275,000,000 $150,000,000 for loans and up to $55,000,000 $30,000,000 for use of 
bond proceeds to fund capital reserve funds for revenue obligation securities issued 
pursuant to this subchapter relating to loans for electric rate stabilization projects or 
loans for energy distribution system projects, except that the authority's ma}timum 
finaneialliability for any energy distribution system proj €let may not exeeed the limits 
established annually by the authority; 
Emergency clause. 
In view of the emergency cited 111 the preamble, this 
legislation takes effect when approved.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment is the majority report. This amendment strikes the bill. It expands 
the definition of "energy distribution system project" for the purpose of receiving 
financing assistance from the Finance Authority of Maine to include systems that 
distribute or transmit oil, biofuels, propane, compressed natural gas or liquefied natural 
gas. It requires energy distribution system projects regulated by the Public Utilities 
Commission to provide at least a 25% equity contribution to the cost of the project in 
order to receive a certificate of approval from the Finance Authority of Maine. This 
amendment decreases the total debt obligation limit for securities to fund energy 
distribution system projects from $330,000,000 to $180,000,000 and removes the Finance 
Authority of Maine's authority to set limits for these types of securities annually. Finally, 
this amendment prohibits the Finance Authority of Maine from issuing revenue 
obligation securities for energy distribution system projects after January 1,2018, unless 
a certificate of approval was issued before that date. 
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