Sec. 5. Retroactivity; transition. That section of this Act that repeals the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 36, chapter 713 applies retroactively to February 1, 2000. The State Tax Assessor shall refund to a packer of sardines any amount of tax paid under Title 36, section 4697 on all sardines reported as packed between February 1, 2000 and the effective date of this Act.

Sec. 6. Effective date. That section of this Act that repeals the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 32, chapter 61, subchapter II takes effect on March 31, 2000 and the Maine Sardine Council shall cease its activities and terminate on that date.

Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this Act takes effect when approved.

SUMMARY

This bill implements the recommendations made by the Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources as a result of the committee's review of the Maine Sardine Council under the State Government Evaluation Act. The bill, which is an emergency, retroactively repeals the sardine excise tax on February 1, 2000 and terminates the Maine Sardine Council on March 31, 2000. The bill requires the Maine Sardine Council to remit $5,000 to the State Treasurer to be credited to the marine research fund at the Department of Marine Resources and requires the transfer of the remaining assets as of March 31, 2000 to the 3 packers represented on the Maine Sardine Council according to their share of the total quantity of sardines, kippers, steaks and other canned herring products packed during calendar years 1998 and 1999.