An Act to Eliminate the Excise Tax on Recreational Vehicles and Permit Municipal Adoption of Fees to Cover the Cost of Municipal Services to Campgrounds and Recreational Vehicle Parks
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1524
Committee: Taxation
Sponsors: SAMPSON, LYMAN, WOODSOME
Amends: 30-A MRSA §3982, 36 MRSA §1483

Legislative Document
No. 1524
H.P. 979
House of Representatives, April 5, 2023
An Act to Eliminate the Excise Tax on Recreational Vehicles and 
Permit Municipal Adoption of Fees to Cover the Cost of Municipal 
Services to Campgrounds and Recreational Vehicle Parks
Reference to the Committee on Taxation suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative SAMPSON of Alfred.
Cosponsored by Representatives: LYMAN of Livermore Falls, WOODSOME of Waterboro.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  30-A MRSA §3982 is enacted to read:
§3982.  Fees for recreational vehicles and campgrounds
1.  Fees on certain recreational vehicles and hosting entities.  A municipality may 
impose fees on the use of recreational vehicles located in the municipality that are exempt 
from excise tax under Title 36, section 1483, subsection 17 and on campgrounds or parks 
located in the municipality that host those recreational vehicles. The fees must be calculated 
to produce annual revenues that would offset the revenue lost by the municipality due to 
the excise tax exemption and may be based on factors related to size of the lot or campsite 
used by a recreational vehicle.
2.  Fees on campground use of great ponds.  A municipality may impose a fee on 
campgrounds for permission to construct or to lease land to another person or entity to use 
docks, floats, piers, boat lifts and riprap that occupy space that is within 100 feet from the 
shoreline of a great pond.
Sec. 2.  36 MRSA §1483, sub-§15, as amended by PL 2015, c. 267, Pt. BBBB, §2, 
is further amended to read:
15.  Adaptive equipment.  Adaptive equipment installed on a motor vehicle owned by 
a disabled person or the family of a disabled person or by a carrier engaged in furnishing 
passenger service for hire to make that vehicle operable or accessible by a disabled person; 
and
Sec. 3.  36 MRSA §1483, sub-§16, as amended by PL 2013, c. 532, §1, is further 
amended to read:
16.  Active military stationed in Maine.  Vehicles owned, including those jointly 
owned with a spouse, by a person on active duty serving in the Armed Forces of the United 
States who is permanently stationed at a military or naval post, station or base in the State. 
Joint ownership of the vehicle must be indicated in the vehicle's title documentation. A 
member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed in the State, or that member's 
spouse, who desires to register that member's vehicle in this State pursuant to this 
subsection shall present certification from the commander of the member's post, station or 
base, or from the commander's designated agent, that the member is permanently stationed 
at that post, station or base. For purposes of this subsection, "a person on active duty serving 
in the Armed Forces of the United States" does not include a member of the National Guard 
or the Reserves of the United States Armed Forces.; and
Sec. 4.  36 MRSA §1483, sub-§17 is enacted to read:
17.  Certain recreational vehicles.  Beginning January 1, 2024, recreational vehicles, 
as defined in Title 10, section 1432, subsection 18-A, that have electrical systems of at least 
amps, water storage and graywater and blackwater holding tanks. For the purposes of 
this subsection, "graywater" has the same meaning as in Title 38, section 423-D, subsection 
1, paragraph D and "blackwater" has the same meaning as in Title 38, section 423-D, 
subsection 1, paragraph A.
SUMMARY
This bill provides an exemption from the motor vehicle excise tax for recreational 
vehicles that have electrical systems of at least 30 amps, water storage and graywater and 
blackwater holding tanks and permits municipalities to impose fees on exempt recreational 
vehicles and campgrounds or parks that host those recreational vehicles. The fees must be 
calculated to produce annual revenues that would offset the revenue lost by the 
municipality due to the excise tax exemption. The bill also authorizes municipalities to 
impose a fee on campgrounds for permission to construct or to lease land to another person 
or entity to use docks, floats, piers, boat lifts and riprap that occupy space that is within 100 
feet from the shoreline of a great pond.