An Act To Connect Benefits Provided under the Circuitbreaker Program with the Payment of Property Taxes
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0136
Committee Amendment CA_A_H82 (House)
Amends: 36 MRSA §191, 36 MRSA §906, 36 MRSA §6211-A, 36 MRSA §6218

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to H.P. 111, L.D. 136, Bill, "An Act To 
Connect Benefits Provided under the Circuitbreaker Program with the Payment of 
Property Taxes" 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the title and before the summary and 
inserting the following: 
'Mandate preamble. This measure requires one or more local units of government 
to expand or modify activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local 
revenues but does not provide funding for at least 90% of those expenditures. Pursuant to 
the Constitution of Maine, Article IX, Section 21, 2/3 of all of the members elected to 
each House have determined it necessary to enact this measure. 
Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not 
become effective unti190 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and 
Whereas, this legislation requires beneficiaries of the Circuitbreaker Program to pay 
the property taxes for the property connected to the benefit they receive; and 
Whereas, the next application period for the Circuitbreaker Program begins August 
1,2013; and 
Whereas, Maine Revenue Services needs no less than 90 days before the application 
period begins in order to implement the program; 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. 36 MRSA §191, sub-§2, ~XX is enacted to read: 
XX. The disclosure of information to an authorized representative of a municipality 
necessary for the administration of scction 6211-A. 
This paragraph does not 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to H.P. 111,L.D. 136 
authorize the disclosure of a claimant's income. 
A municipality recelVlng 
information under this paragraph, either from the bureau or the claimant, shall keep 
the information confidential. 
Sec. 2. 36 MRSA §906, as enacted by PL 1985, c. 653, is amended to read: 
§906. Application of payments to unpaid taxes 
The municipal officers of a municipality may, upon request of the municipal treasurer 
or the tax collector, require that any tax payment received from an individual as payment 
for any property tax be applied against outstanding or delinquent taxes due on that 
property in chronological order beginning with the oldest unpaid tax bill, except that 
payments received pursuant to section 6211-A must be applied only to the unpaid taxes 
for the year for which relief is requested under chapter 907 unless the taxpayer requests 
that the payment be applied to an older unpaid tax bilL Taxes may not be applied to a 
period for which an abatement request or appeal has not been resolved unless approved in 
writing by the taxpayer. 
Sec. 3. 36 MRSA §6211-A is enacted to read: 
§6211-A. Payment of benefit when property taxes unpaid 
1. Determination of unpaid property taxes; payment. If the assessor, either due 
to information provided on the application or by other means, detennines that the 
property taxes accrued on the homestead for the year for which relief is requested by the 
claimant have not been paid at the time of application, the assessor shall issue the benefit 
jointly in the name of the claimant and the name of the municipality to which the property 
taxes accrued are owed or, if the homestead property is located in the unorganized 
territory, jointly to the claimant and the Unorganized Territory Education and Service~ 
Fund established in section 1605, subsection L 
2. Endorsement process. A claimant that receives a benefit payment pursuant to 
subsection 1 shall endorse the benefit to the Unorganized Territory Education and 
Services Fund established in section 1605, subsection 1 or the municipality named on the 
benefit payment. 
Upon receipt of the endorsed benefit payment, the Unorganized 
Territory Education and Services Fund or the municipality named on the benefit payment 
shall apply the benefit payment to the claimant's unpaid property tax bill in accordance 
with section 906 and, within a reasonable time period, issue a check for the remainder of 
the benefit to the claimant, unless the claimant expressly approves in writing that an 
additional amount may be withheld from the benefit payment. 
Sec. 4. 36 MRSA §6218, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 534, Pt. A, §10, is amended 
by adding at the end a new paragraph to read: 
The application form must be designed to provide information to the assessor as to 
whether the property taxes accrued on the homestead for the year for which relief is 
requested have been paid in full at the time of application. 
Sec. 5. Application. This Act applies to applications for benefits under the Maine 
Revised Statutes, Title 36, chapter 907 filed on or after August 1,2013. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to H.P. 111, L.D. 136 
Sec. 6. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and 
allocations are madc. 
ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF 
Revenue Services - Bureau of 0002 
. Initiative: Provides an ongoing Gencral Fund appropriation to the Bureau of Revenue 
Services for one Tax Examiner position and related expenses, including computer 
programming, printing and postage. 
GENERAL FUND 
Personal Services 
All Other 
GENERAL FUND TOTAL 
2013-14 
$60,820 
$17,9l3 
$78,733 
2014-15 
$64,655 
$9,364 
$74,019 
Emergency clause. 
In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this 
legislation takes effect when approved.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment adds a mandate preamble and an emergency preamble and 
emergency clause to the bill. It includes provisions with respect to the Circuitbreaker 
Program to address the confidentiality of claimant information at the municipal level, 
homestead property located in the unorganized territory and the application of program 
benefits to unpaid taxes. It clarifies the method for processing a joint benefit payment. It 
provides that the bill applies to applications for the Circuitbreaker Program filed on or 
after August 1, 2013 and adds an appropliations and allocations section. 
The amendment, like the bill, requires the application form for the Circuitbreaker 
Program to include a method of determining whether the property taxes being claimed 
have been paid at the time of application. The amendment provides that, if the State Tax 
Assessor determines that the property taxes have not been paid, the benefit must be issued 
jointly to the claimant and the municipality or, if the homestead property is located in the 
unorganized territory, to the claimant and the Unorganized Territory Education and 
Services Fund. The claimant is required to endorse the check to the municipality or the 
Unorganized Temtory Education and Services Fund, which is required to apply the 
benefit to the claimant's property taxes accrued and unpaid on the homestead for the year 
for which relief is requested, unless the claimant requests that the payment be applied to 
an older unpaid tax bill. The municipality or the Unorganized Territory Education and 
Services Fund must pay any remaining benefit to the claimant, unless the claimant in 
writing permits the municipality or the Unorganized Territory Education and Services 
Fund to retain an additional amount of the benefit. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 03/06113 
~ac.. 
LD 136 
LR 474(02) 
An Act To Connect Benefits Provided under the Circuitbreaker Program with the Payment of 
Property Taxes 
'\ 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment "ft" (H -~ d-; 
Committee: Taxation 
Net Cost (Savings) 
General Fund 
Appropriations/Allocations 
General Fund 
State Mandates 
Fiscal N!!te Required: Yes 
Fi~cal Note 
State Mar..date - Exempted 
FY 2013-14 
FY 2014-15 
$78,733 
$74,019 
$78,733 
$74,019 
Projections 
FY 2015-16 
$77,252 
$77,252 
Required Activity 
Unit Affected 
Municipalities will incur administrative costs to track and process checks to 
Municipality 
circuitbreaker claimants who owe outstanding property taxes and who receive more 
in a circuitbreaker benefit than what is owed. 
Projections 
FY 2016-17 
$80,64{ 
$80,646 
Local Cost 
Insignificant 
statewide 
Pursuant to the Mandate Preamble, the two-thirds vote of all members elected to each House exempts the state from 
the constitutional requirement to fund 90% of the additional costs. 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
The bill includes General Fund appropriations of$78,733 in FY 14 and $74,019 in FY 15 to Maine Revenue Services 
for the programmatic change to the Circuitbreaker program. Costs include one Tax Examiner position to process the 
identified applications, computer programming activities to update application forms and related office, postage and 
printing expenses. 
LR0474(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1