An Act To Make Changes to the Allocation of Revenue from Watercraft Registration
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 1019
Committee: Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Sponsors: PARRY, SNOWE-MELLO, BELIVEAU, HARVELL, KRUGER, LIBBY, OLSEN, PRESCOTT, WEAVER
Amends: 12 MRSA §10206

Legislative Document 
No. 1019 
H.P. 755 
House of Representatives, March 10, 2011 
An Act To Make Changes to the Allocation of Revenue from 
Watercraft Registration 
Reference to the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife suggested and ordered 
printed. 
HEATHER J.R. PRIEST 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative PARRY of Arundel. 
Cosponsored by Senator SNOWE-MELLO of Androscoggin and 
Representatives: BELIVEAU of Kittery, HARVELL of Farmington, KRUGER of Thomaston, 
LIBBY of Waterboro, MacDONALD of Boothbay, OLSEN of Phippsburg, PRESCOTT of 
Topsham, WEAVER of York. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  12 MRSA §10206, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2009, c. 652, Pt. A, §15, is 
further amended to read: 
3.  Watercraft revenues.  Except as provided in subsection subsections 6 and 11, all 
revenues collected under the provisions of this Part relating to watercraft, including 
chapter 935, are disposed of as follows. 
A.  All fees collected for certificates, licenses and permits by the commissioner are 
paid daily to the Treasurer of State and accrue as undedicated revenue to the General 
Fund and as dedicated revenue to the Department of Marine Resources in accordance 
with paragraph C. 
B.  Each court shall pay all fines, forfeitures and penalties collected for violations of 
the provisions of this Part relating to watercraft, including chapter 935, and all 
officers' costs collected for either coastal wardens or game wardens to the Treasurer 
of State, monthly, and that money accrues as undedicated revenue to the General 
Fund, except that all fines, forfeitures and penalties collected as a result of the efforts 
of municipal law enforcement officers or harbor masters enforcing the provisions of 
this Part relating to watercraft, including chapter 935, in their respective jurisdictions 
are paid to that municipality for the local enforcement efforts.  The department shall 
record as dedicated revenue to the Department of Marine Resources that portion of 
fines, forfeitures and penalties allocable to the Department of Marine Resources in 
accordance with paragraph C. 
C.  All revenues collected under the provisions of this Part relating to watercraft, 
including chapter 935, including fines, fees and other available money deposited with 
the Treasurer of State, must be distributed as undedicated revenue to the General 
Fund and the Department of Marine Resources according to an allocation rate that 
directly relates to the administrative costs of the Division of Licensing, Registration 
and Engineering.  Eight dollars of each motorized watercraft registration is dedicated 
to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and is not subject to the split with 
another agency as required under this paragraph.  The Legislature shall appropriate to 
the department in each fiscal year an amount equal to the administrative costs 
incurred by the department in collecting revenue under this subsection.  Those costs 
must be verified by the Department of Marine Resources and the Department of 
Administrative and Financial Services.  The allocation rate must also allow for any 
necessary year-end reconciliation and accounting distribution.  The allocation rate 
must be jointly agreed to by the department and the Department of Marine Resources 
and approved by the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of 
the Budget. 
The fees outlined in section 13056, subsection 8, paragraphs A and B for watercraft 
operating on inland waters of the State each include a $10 fee for invasive species 
prevention and control.  This fee is disposed of as follows: 
(1)  Sixty percent of the fee must be credited to the Invasive Aquatic Plant and 
Nuisance Species Fund established within the Department of Environmental 
Protection under Title 38, section 1863; and 
(2)  Forty percent of the fee must be credited to the Lake and River Protection 
Fund established within the department under section 10257. 
Sec. 2.  12 MRSA §10206, sub-§11 is enacted to read: 
11.  Increase in watercraft revenues.  Five dollars of the fees collected by the 
commissioner for certificates as set out in section 13056, subsection 8, paragraphs A and 
B for watercraft operating on inland waters of the State must be paid daily to the 
Treasurer of State and credited evenly between the department and the Department of 
Marine Resources. 
SUMMARY 
This bill requires that the money collected from the increase in fees pursuant to 
Public Law 2009, chapter 213, Part OO, sections 14 and 15 for certificates for watercraft 
must be credited evenly between the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the 
Department of Marine Resources.