Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §4301, sub-§14-A is enacted to read:

14-A.__Service center community.__"Service center community" means a municipality or group of municipalities identified by the office according to a methodology established by rule that includes 4 basic criteria, including level of retail sales, jobs- to-workers ratio, the amount of federally assisted housing and the volume of service sector jobs.

Sec. 2. 30-A MRSA §5903, sub-§8-A, as enacted by PL 1993, c. 721, Pt. D, §2 and affected by Pt. H, §1, is amended to read:

8-A. Public service infrastructure. "Public service infrastructure" means those facilities that are essential for public health, welfare and safety. Those facilities include, without limitation, sewage treatment facilities, municipal water supply and treatment facilities, solid waste facilities, fire protection public safety equipment and facilities, roads, traffic control devices and other transportation facilities, sidewalks, trees, buried utility lines and other streetscape improvements, parks and other open space or recreational areas, public access to coastal and inland waters, geographic information systems, and any other public facility that benefits the public.

Sec. 3. 30-A MRSA §5953-D, sub-§4, as corrected by RR 1999, c. 2, §34, is amended to read:

4. Criteria; conditions for public service infrastructure grants and loans. The Department of Economic and Community Development, in conjunction with the bank, shall develop criteria and conditions for the award of public service infrastructure loans and grants to eligible municipalities subject to the requirements of this section. The department shall:

A. Give highest priority to those municipalities that are experiencing rapid growth and possess a public service infrastructure inadequate to accommodate that growth service center communities.__For the purpose of this section, "service center community" has the same definition as in section 4301;

B. Establish Following the highest priority described in paragraph A, establish a preference for those municipalities eligible under subsection 3, paragraph D, subparagraph (1) over those municipalities eligible under subsection 3, paragraph D, subparagraph (2);