Sec. 1. 36 MRSA c. 103, sub-c. 1, Art. 1-A is enacted to read:

ARTICLE 1-A

LIMITATIONS ON REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY TAXES

§351.__Definitions

As used in this article, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.

1.__Base-year value.__"Base-year value" means the 1996-97 full-cash value of real and personal property as shown on tax bills under "total value."

2.__Change in ownership.__"Change in ownership" means the sale, transfer or acquisition of real or personal property.__ "Change in ownership" does not include the acquisition, prior to January 1, 1999, of real or personal property as a replacement for comparable property if the person acquiring the real or personal property has been displaced from the property by eminent domain proceedings, by acquisition by a public entity or by governmental action that has resulted in a judgment of inverse condemnation.__"Change in ownership" also does not include transfer between spouses or transfers between parents and children.

3.__Comparable property.__"Comparable property" means real or personal property that is similar in size, utility and function to the property being replaced or property that conforms to state regulations governing the relocation of persons displaced by disaster or government action.

4.__Full-cash value.__"Full-cash value" means the governmental entity's total assessed valuation of real or personal property as shown on the 1996-97 tax bill under "total value."__For newly constructed or newly purchased real or personal property that changes in ownership after the 1996-97 assessment, "full-cash value" means the appraised value.

5.__Governmental entity.__"Governmental entity" means any city, town, county, plantation, unorganized territory, district or other municipality that assesses ad valorem taxes on real or personal property as of the 1996-97 fiscal year.

6.__Local affected agency.__"Local affected agency" means any city, town, county, plantation, unorganized territory, school