An Act To Improve Compliance with the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 1891
Committee: Taxation
Sponsors: CUSHING, KINNEY
Amends: 36 MRSA §575-A

Legislative Document
No. 1891
S.P. 722
In Senate, March 28, 2018
An Act To Improve Compliance with the Maine Tree Growth Tax 
Law
Reference to the Committee on Taxation suggested and ordered printed.
HEATHER J.R. PRIEST
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator CUSHING of Penobscot.  (GOVERNOR'S BILL)
Cosponsored by Representative KINNEY of Knox.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  36 MRSA §575-A, sub-§3 is enacted to read:
3.  Review of forest management and harvest plan by Bureau of Forestry.  The 
Director of the Bureau of Forestry within the Department of Agriculture, Conservation 
and Forestry, referred to in this subsection as "the forestry bureau," is authorized to 
initiate a review of the forest management and harvest plan of any parcel enrolled under 
this subchapter for which there is no apparent evidence of timber harvesting within the 
previous 20 years, based on notifications of harvesting received by the forestry bureau 
under Title 12, section 8883-B, to determine whether the plan complies with this 
subchapter.  The director shall notify the owner of any parcel that the forestry bureau 
intends to review for compliance under this subsection at least 15 days prior to initiation 
of the review.
A.  The director of the forestry bureau shall limit reviews authorized under this 
subsection to parcels for which there is a difference between the valuation under this 
subchapter and just value of at least 25% or parcels for which an assessor requests a 
review.
B.  For the purposes of reviews authorized under this subsection, the director of the 
forestry bureau or the director's designee may:
(1) With prior written notification to the landowner, enter and examine forest 
land for the purpose of determining compliance with the forest management and 
harvest plan required under section 574-B;
(2) Request and review a forest management and harvest plan required under 
section 574-B, which must be provided by a landowner or the landowner's agent 
upon request; and
(3) Request and review an expired forest management and harvest plan, which 
must be provided by a landowner or the landowner's agent upon request.
C.  If the forestry bureau determines, within one year after initiating a review under 
this subsection, that a landowner is not in compliance with this subchapter or that a 
parcel is not being managed in compliance with a plan developed under section 
574-B, subsection 1, the forestry bureau shall provide notice of its determination to 
the landowner, the assessor and the forester who prepared or reviewed and certified 
the plan. With this notice, the forestry bureau shall provide to the landowner the 
reasons that the landowner is determined to be in noncompliance and a list of 
consulting foresters and shall offer the assistance of the forestry bureau in achieving 
compliance. The landowner has 180 days to come into compliance with this 
subchapter and 18 months to bring the parcel into compliance with the plan. If the 
landowner does not come into compliance with this subchapter within 180 days or 
does not come into compliance with the plan within 18 months, the forestry bureau 
shall report that finding of noncompliance to the landowner and the assessor.
A forest management and harvest plan provided to the director of the forestry bureau or 
the director's designee under this subsection is confidential and is not a public record as 
defined in Title 1, section 402, subsection 3, except that the director may publish at least 
one summary report annually, which may not reveal the activities of any person and 
which must be available as a public record.
Except when requested by the landowner or a transfer of the property occurs, the assessor 
may not withdraw a parcel from tree growth classification while it is under review 
pursuant to this subsection.  An assessor may not unreasonably deny a request to transfer 
a parcel reviewed by the forestry bureau to classification as farmland or open space land 
under subchapter 10.
No later than March 1st of odd-numbered years beginning in 2019, the forestry bureau 
shall issue a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction 
over taxation matters that summarizes the activities of the forestry bureau with regard to 
reviews of parcels conducted pursuant to this subsection.
SUMMARY
This bill makes the following changes to the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law.
1. It authorizes the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of 
Forestry to review certain parcels of land classified under the Maine Tree Growth Tax 
Law to determine whether the landowner is complying with the requirements of the law 
and whether the land is being managed in compliance with the forest management and 
harvest plan for that parcel. The bureau is required to report any noncompliance after a 
specified period to the assessor. The owner of a parcel found by the forestry bureau to be 
in noncompliance with the law may apply to reclassify the parcel as farmland or open 
space under the farm and open space tax law.
2. It requires the bureau to offer assistance to landowners found in noncompliance.