An Act To Attract Entrepreneurs to the State
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 1332
Committee: Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development
Sponsors: ALFOND, GOODE, BREEN, CYRWAY
Amends: 5 MRSA §13056-G

Legislative Document 
No. 1332 
S.P. 481 
In Senate, April 14, 2015 
An Act To Attract Entrepreneurs to the State 
Reference to the Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development 
suggested and ordered printed. 
HEATHER J.R. PRIEST 
Secretary of the Senate 
Presented by Senator ALFOND of Cumberland. 
Cosponsored by Representative GOODE of Bangor and 
Senators: BREEN of Cumberland, CYRWAY of Kennebec. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  5 MRSA §13056-G is enacted to read: 
§13056-G.  Maine Coworking  Development Fund 
The Maine Coworking Development Fund is established within the department to 
strengthen opportunities for entrepreneurship, stimulate innovation in the State by 
increasing the availability of collaborative workspace environments and address a 
regional market demand for affordable work environments that support communication, 
information sharing and networking opportunities.  The fund is established to match 
public and private funds to further the purposes of this section. 
1.  Definitions.  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings. 
A.  "Business" means a corporation, partnership, limited liability corporation, 
professional corporation or other legal business entity recognized under the laws of 
the State engaging or proposing to engage in economic activity within the State. 
B.  "Collaborative workspace" means coworking, shared working environments that 
promote collaboration, interaction, socialization and coordination among tenants 
through the clustering of multiple businesses or individuals within the shared work 
environment. 
C.  "Fund" means the Maine Coworking Development Fund established in this 
section. 
D.  "Transformative development" means redevelopment on a scale and of a 
character capable of catalyzing significant follow-on private investment, leading over 
time to transformation of an entire downtown or urban neighborhood and consistent 
with local plans.  Transformative development may involve major investment in new 
construction, rehabilitation and adaptive reuse or multiple smaller investments on a 
sustained basis. 
2.  Organization.  The department has all the powers and authority not explicitly 
prohibited by law necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the functions, duties 
and responsibilities of the fund, including, but not limited to: 
A.  Promoting transformative development by taking actions in partnership with 
private enterprise and the Federal Government to: 
(1)  Make equity investments and provide technical assistance to revitalize and 
support residential, commercial, industrial and institutional development, or any 
mix of such uses, in order to promote collaborative workspaces; 
(2)  Promote the creation of collaborative workspaces by providing financial 
assistance for capital investments in underutilized buildings; 
(3)  Foster collaboration and connections among innovative and creative 
enterprises by providing central locations for such businesses or individuals to 
work in an environment designed to promote sharing of resources, experience 
and expertise; 
(4)  Support partnerships between municipalities, property owners and businesses 
to establish such collaborative workspaces; and 
(5)  Require such collaborative workspaces to provide shared space that promotes 
the interaction, socialization and coordination among tenants through the 
clustering of multiple businesses or individuals within the collaborative 
workspace; 
B.  Soliciting, borrowing, accepting and receiving money from a public or private 
source to augment state contributions to the fund; 
C.  Approving an annual budget for the fund and investing and expending money 
from the fund; 
D.  Contracting with public entities as necessary to further the purposes of this 
section; 
E.  Carrying forward any unexpended state appropriations and allocations into 
succeeding fiscal years; 
F.  Receiving and accepting allocations, appropriations, grants or contributions of 
money to be held, used or applied to carry out this subchapter, subject to the 
conditions upon which the grants and contributions may be made, including, but not 
limited to, appropriations, allocations, grants or gifts from any federal agency or 
governmental subdivision or the State and its agencies.  The amounts of the revenues 
generated by the investment of money contained in the fund may be used to pay the 
department's operating expenses associated with the operation of the fund; 
G.  Engaging in matching grants activities, including, but not limited to, federal, 
private and foundation awards that require state funding matches and are considered 
consistent with the purposes of the fund; and 
H.  Awarding collaborative workspace grants in an amount not to exceed $25,000 per 
collaborative workspace.  All awards must be tied to specific and demonstrated 
financial need to achieve the goals set forth under this section. 
3.  Guidelines.  The department shall establish guidelines for the fund in accordance 
with this section. 
A.  Loans or grants made from the fund may be made to collaborative workspace 
businesses for building improvements used by the collaborative workspace 
participants as long as the use of the fund results in corresponding private investment 
that matches or exceeds the loans or grants from the fund.  In the case of a grant, any 
participating collaborative workspace business shall at least match the investment of 
the fund.  In the case of a loan, the department shall reasonably anticipate that its loan 
will leverage additional private investment in the property. 
B.  The department shall solicit applications for grants or loans from the fund through 
a request for proposals, which must include, at a minimum, the following criteria for 
the submission of applications: 
(1)  A description of the parties involved in the project, including the professional 
expertise and qualifications of the principals; 
(2)  A description of the scope of work that will be undertaken by each party 
involved in the project; 
(3)  The proposed budget, including verification of funding from other sources; 
(4)  A statement of the project objective, including specific information on how 
the project will promote the use of the space as a collaborative workspace; 
(5)  A statement that sets forth the implementation plan, the facilities and 
resources available or needed for the project and the proposed commencement 
and termination dates of the project; 
(6)  A description of the expected significance of the project, including a 
description of the market demand for the type of collaborative workspace 
proposed in the region in which the space will be located and the number of 
businesses or individuals that will be served as a result of the project; and 
(7)  Guidelines for the review and approval of applications that include 
preferences for applications that propose to redevelop existing properties located 
in the downtown area of a municipality, dedicate at least 25% of accessible space 
to collaborative use and support a cluster of at least 5 separate occupants. 
C.  The department shall enter into an agreement with each collaborative workspace 
business that receives a grant or loan under this section.  The agreement must include 
performance measures and indicators to evaluate the performance of the collaborative 
workspace business in carrying out the activities described in its application and any 
other indicators determined to be necessary to evaluate the performance of the 
business.  A collaborative workspace business shall submit an annual report for the 
department's review for the duration of the collaborative workspace project. 
4.  Report.  Beginning February 1, 2016, the department shall submit an annual 
report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over 
economic development matters.  The report must include a current assessment of the 
progress of each project funded through the fund and the progress of the participants in 
the project. 
Sec. 2.  Appropriations and allocations.  The following appropriations and 
allocations are made. 
ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, DEPARTMENT OF 
Maine Coworking Development Fund 
Initiative:  Provides funds for the Maine Coworking Development Fund to support 
collaborative workspace businesses. 
SUMMARY 
This bill establishes the Maine Coworking Development Fund within the Department 
of Economic and Community Development.  The fund is established to strengthen 
opportunities for entrepreneurship, stimulate innovation in the State by increasing the 
availability of collaborative workspace environments and address a regional market 
demand for affordable work environments that support communication, information 
sharing and networking opportunities.  The fund will match public and private funds to 
create collaborative workspaces in order to foster innovative communities and spur 
creative business growth and economic activity.  The bill includes an appropriations and 
allocations section that provides for a $250,000 General Fund appropriation to the fund 
for fiscal year 2015-16 and fiscal year 2016-17. 
GENERAL FUND 
2015-16
2016-17
All Other 
$250,000
$250,000
GENERAL FUND TOTAL 
$250,000
$250,000