An Act To Update and Amend the Finance Authority of Maine Act
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1056
Committee: Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business
Sponsors: FECTEAU, HERBIG, AUSTIN, DAUGHTRY, GUERIN
Amends: 10 MRSA §963-A, 10 MRSA §1026-A, 10 MRSA §1043, 10 MRSA §1053, 10 MRSA §1054, 24-A MRSA §2303-B

Legislative Document
No. 1056
H.P. 779
House of Representatives, March 5, 2019
An Act To Update and Amend the Finance Authority of Maine Act
Submitted by the Finance Authority of Maine pursuant to Joint Rule 204.
Reference to the Committee on Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and 
Business suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative FECTEAU of Biddeford.
Cosponsored by Senator HERBIG of Waldo and
Representatives: AUSTIN of Gray, DAUGHTRY of Brunswick, Senator: GUERIN of 
Penobscot.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  10 MRSA §963-A, sub-§§5-A, 5-B and 5-C, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 
500, §1, are repealed.
Sec. 2.  10 MRSA §963-A, sub-§10, ¶O, as amended by PL 1997, c. 500, §2, is 
repealed.
Sec. 3.  10 MRSA §963-A, sub-§10, ¶Q, as corrected by RR 1999, c. 1, §7, is 
repealed.
Sec. 4.  10 MRSA §963-A, sub-§31-A, as amended by PL 2001, c. 417, §2, is 
repealed.
Sec. 5.  10 MRSA §1026-A, sub-§1, ¶A, as amended by PL 2009, c. 124, §3, is 
further amended to read:
A.    Loan insurance may not exceed:
(1)  One hundred percent of the principal amount of the loan made to any 
borrower including related entities for any of the following types of loans or 
projects:
(a)  Loans to veterans and wartime veterans, except that the authority may 
not at any time have, in the aggregate amount of the principal and interest 
outstanding, loan insurance obligations pursuant to this division exceeding 
$5,000,000;
(b)  Underground and aboveground oil storage facility projects and projects 
to install equipment related to the improvement of air quality pursuant to 
requirements for gasoline service station vapor control and petroleum liquids 
transfer vapor recovery, except that the authority may not at any time have, in 
the aggregate amount of the principal and interest outstanding, loan insurance 
obligations pursuant to this division exceeding $5,000,000;
(c)  Clean fuel vehicle projects and sustainable Sustainable biofuel vehicle 
projects, except that the authority may not at any time have, in the aggregate 
amount of the principal and interest outstanding, loan insurance obligations 
pursuant to this division exceeding $5,000,000;
(d)  Waste oil disposal site clean-up projects, except that the authority may 
not at any time have, in the aggregate amount of the principal and interest 
outstanding, loan insurance obligations pursuant to this division exceeding 
$1,000,000; or
(e)  The Plymouth waste oil remedial study, except that the authority may not 
at any time have, in the aggregate amount of the principal and interest 
outstanding, loan insurance obligations pursuant to this division exceeding 
$1,000,000; and
(2)  Ninety percent of the principal amount of the loan made to any borrower, 
including related entities for any other manufacturing enterprise, industrial 
enterprise, recreational enterprise, fishing enterprise, agricultural enterprise, 
natural resource enterprise or any other eligible business enterprise;
Sec. 6.  10 MRSA §1043, sub-§2, ¶J, as amended by PL 2003, c. 506, §2, is 
repealed.
Sec. 7.  10 MRSA §1053, sub-§6, as amended by PL 2015, c. 504, §5, is further 
amended to read:
6.  Securities outstanding.  The principal amount of revenue obligation securities the 
authority may have outstanding at any one time, to which subsection 5 is stated to apply 
in the trust agreement or other document, may not exceed an aggregate principal amount 
equal to $912,000,000 $762,000,000 as follows:
A.  The sum of $180,000,000 consisting of not more than $150,000,000 for loans and 
up to $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, loans for energy generating system projects or loans for 
energy distribution system projects;
B.  The sum of $120,000,000 consisting of not more than $100,000,000 for loans and 
up to $20,000,000 for use of bond proceeds to fund capital reserve funds for revenue 
obligation securities issued pursuant to this subchapter relating to loans for major 
business expansion projects;
C.  The sum of $57,000,000 consisting of not more than $45,000,000 for loans and up 
to $12,000,000 for use of bond proceeds to fund capital reserve funds for revenue 
obligation securities issued pursuant to this subchapter relating to workers' 
compensation residual market mechanism projects;
D.  The sum of $150,000,000 $270,000,000 less the aggregate outstanding balance of 
mortgage loans secured by capital reserve funds pursuant to section 1032 for all other 
revenue obligation securities issued pursuant to this subchapter;
E.  The sum of $120,000,000 consisting of not more than $100,000,000 for loans and 
up to $20,000,000 for use of bond proceeds to fund capital reserve funds for revenue 
obligation securities issued pursuant to this subchapter relating to loans for paper 
industry job retention projects; 
F.  The sum of $100,000,000 consisting of not more than $85,000,000 for loans and 
up to $15,000,000 for use of bond proceeds to fund capital reserve funds for revenue 
obligation securities issued pursuant to this subchapter relating to loans for 
transmission facilities projects as defined in section 963-A, subsection 49-H; and
G.  The sum of $35,000,000 consisting of not more than $30,000,000 for the purposes 
stated in section 1020-A, subsection 1, paragraphs A and C and up to $5,000,000 for 
use of bond proceeds to fund capital reserve funds for revenue obligation securities 
issued pursuant to section 1020-A, subsection 1, paragraph A.
The amount of revenue obligation securities issued to refund securities previously issued 
may not be taken into account in determining the principal amount of securities 
outstanding, as long as proceeds of the refunding securities are applied as promptly as 
possible to the refunding of the previously issued securities.  In computing the total 
amount of revenue obligation securities of the authority that may at any time be 
outstanding for any purpose, the amounts of the outstanding revenue obligation securities 
that have been issued as capital appreciation bonds or as similar instruments are valued as 
of any date of calculation at their then current accreted value rather than their face value.
Sec. 8.  10 MRSA §1054, as amended by PL 1995, c. 4, §9, is further amended to 
read:
§1054.  Taxable bond option
With respect to all or any portion of any issue of any bonds or any series of bonds 
that the authority may issue in accordance with the limitations and restrictions of this 
subchapter, the authority may covenant and consent that the interest on the bonds is 
includable, under the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or any subsequent 
corresponding internal revenue law of the United States, in the gross income of the 
holders of the bonds to the same extent and in the same manner that the interest on bills, 
bonds, notes or other obligations of the United States is includable in the gross income of 
the holders under the United States Internal Revenue Code or any subsequent law. Bonds 
issued pursuant to this section are not subject to any limitations or restrictions of any law 
that may limit the authority's power to issue those bonds or to the procedures set forth in 
section 1043 or in section 1044, subsections 1, 11 and 12; except that the procedures set 
forth in section 1043 do apply with respect to major business expansion projects.  The 
foregoing grant of power may not be construed as limiting the inherent power of the State 
or its agencies under any other provision of law to issue debt, the interest on which is 
includable in the gross income of the holders of the interest under the United States 
Internal Revenue Code or any subsequent law.  Any action or proceeding in any court to 
contest the issuance of the securities, the approval by the authority of a project to benefit 
from issuance of the securities or the approval by the authority of mortgage insurance or 
the provision of a capital reserve fund for the securities for any reason must be started 
within 30 days after the date on which the members of the authority adopt a formal 
resolution approving issuance of the securities and otherwise must be governed by Title 
5, chapter 375, subchapter VII 7.  Once the authority has adopted a resolution to approve 
the issuance of securities pursuant to this section, any action by the authority to amend, 
alter or revise the resolution may not commence a new period of time within which any 
such action or proceeding may be commenced.  Notwithstanding the provisions of section 
969-A, subsection 11 and Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter VII 7, including, but not 
limited to, Title 5, sections 11002 and 11003, any such action or proceeding may be 
commenced only by first serving the petition for review upon the authority, in hand, 
within that 30-day period.  After the expiration of the 30-day period of limitation, no right 
of action or defense founded upon the invalidity of the resolution or contesting any 
provision of the resolution, any amendment to the resolution or the issuance of the 
securities may be started or asserted nor may the resolution or the issuance of the 
securities be open to question in any court upon any grounds.
Sec. 9.  24-A MRSA §2303-B, last ¶, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 500, §7, is 
amended to read:
For purposes of this section, "clean fuel vehicle" has the same meaning as set out in 
Title 10, section 963-A, subsection 5-B means a vehicle that may be propelled by a clean 
fuel or a fuel-cell electric vehicle that uses any fuel.  For purposes of this paragraph, 
"clean fuel" means all products or energy sources used to propel motor vehicles, as 
defined in Title 29-A, section 101, other than conventional gasoline, diesel or 
reformulated gasoline, that, when compared to conventional gasoline, diesel or 
reformulated gasoline, result in lower emissions of oxides of nitrogen, volatile organic 
compounds, carbon monoxide or particulates or any combination of these. "Clean fuel" 
includes, but is not limited to, compressed natural gas; liquefied natural gas; liquefied 
petroleum gas; hydrogen; hythane, which is a combination of compressed natural gas and 
hydrogen; dynamic flywheels; solar energy; alcohol fuels containing not less than 85% 
alcohol by volume; and electricity.
SUMMARY
This bill amends the Finance Authority of Maine Act by removing various references 
to bond financing for major business expansion projects and eliminating that financing.  It 
also reallocates the bonding authority for securing the Finance Authority of Maine's 
capital reserve funds supporting other programs.  It also removes definitions pertaining to 
the Clean Fuel Vehicle Fund, which was repealed in 2013.