An Act to Support Emergency Shelter Funding Using Revenue from
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 2124
Committee: Taxation
Sponsors: GATTINE, TALBOT ROSS, FECTEAU, DAUGHTRY
Amends: 36 MRSA §4641-B

Legislative Document
No. 2124
H.P. 1439
House of Representatives, January 7, 2026
An Act to Support Emergency Shelter Funding Using Revenue from 
the Real Estate Transfer Tax
Approved for introduction by a majority of the Legislative Council pursuant to Joint Rule 
203.
Reference to the Committee on Taxation suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative GATTINE of Westbrook.
Cosponsored by Senator TALBOT ROSS of Cumberland and
Representatives: Speaker FECTEAU of Biddeford, GERE of Kennebunkport, RANA of 
Bangor, ROEDER of Bangor, SAYRE of Kennebunk, Senators: CURRY of Waldo, President 
DAUGHTRY of Cumberland, ROTUNDO of Androscoggin.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  36 MRSA §4641-B, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2025, c. 498, §2, is repealed 
and the following enacted in its place:
3.  Disposition of funds.  Funds from the tax collected pursuant to this section must be 
disbursed as provided in this subsection.
A.  Beginning September 1, 2026, each register of deeds, on or before the 10th day of 
each month, shall pay over to the State Tax Assessor 91.8% of the tax collected 
pursuant to this section during the previous month. If the tax collected is not paid over 
by the 10th day of the month, the State Tax Assessor may impose interest pursuant to 
section 186.
B.  The remaining 8.2% of the tax collected pursuant to this section after the payment 
made pursuant to paragraph A must be retained for the county by the register of deeds 
and accounted for to the county treasurer as reimbursement for services rendered by 
the county in collecting the tax.
Sec. 2.  36 MRSA §4641-B, sub-§4-B, ¶E-4 is enacted to read:
E-4.  Beginning September 1, 2026, the State Controller shall credit 1% of the tax 
collected pursuant to this section during the previous month to the Maine State Housing 
Authority to be allocated as part of the operations share of the shelter operating subsidy 
program prior to any other transfers made pursuant to this subsection. Beginning 
August 1, 2027, the State Controller shall credit 1.8% of the tax collected pursuant to 
this section during the previous month to the Maine State Housing Authority to be 
allocated as part of the operations share of the shelter operating subsidy program prior 
to any other transfers made pursuant to this subsection.
Sec. 3.  Effective date. This Act takes effect September 1, 2026.
SUMMARY
Under current law, 90% of the revenue from the real estate transfer tax is submitted to 
the State and 10% is retained by the counties, except that, for fiscal years 2025-26 and 
2026-27, the percentage retained by the counties is reduced to 9.2%.
This bill reduces the percentage of the real estate transfer tax revenue retained by 
counties by 1.8% and requires 1% of the revenue to be transferred to the Maine State 
Housing Authority for deposit in the shelter operating subsidy program beginning 
September 1, 2026; beginning August 1, 2027, 1.8% of the revenue is required to be 
transferred to the Maine State Housing Authority to be allocated as part of the operations 
share of the shelter operating subsidy program.  Beginning September 1, 2026, the 
percentage of the real estate transfer tax retained by counties is reduced to 8.2%.